In my paper, I will discuss Europeanisation and globalisation as diverging frames of reference affecting education policy, practice and research. Based on a micro-level case-study situated in a transnational field of inclusive educational practice I will illustrate how constructions of belonging and competence (in the sense of responsibility) are mobilised by supra-national policy programs and enacted in emerging transnational spaces of educational practice.
Traditionally, the access to general, vocational and adult education is regulated and defined within a national frame of reference and is object to national legislation. Concepts like civil engagement, political participation, competence building and qualification are shaped by policies, which are tied to national territory and national citizenship. Within this framework inclusiveness just like exclusiveness are regulated and legitimized. Belonging to and being eligible for education, training and other kinds of social support are determined within this national system of order. They are enacted and put into practice by corresponding cultures of teaching and training, caring or counselling.
Transnational movements like processes of Europeanisation and Globalisation question these established cultures, practices and policies (which are reflected in a corresponding body of knowledge and research findings). The mobilising and transcending of – mental, geographical, political or educational – b/orders flexibilises established patterns of differentiation, causing contradicting, opposing, paradoxical developments on multiple levels. Additional dimensions of in- and exclusion give evidence to the confusing and complex interplay of global, European, national and regional education spaces.
Europeanisation refers to a commonly agreed education policy of the EU-member states, following neo-liberal principles, applying vocabulary and instruments of economic governance, targeted at a very selective suspension of inner-European borders. Yet, these national borders remain important frames of orientation. Globalisation, in contrast, appears as a less governed, world-wide unfolding of capitalist markets, as demonstrated by global flows of money, goods and “human resources” – and by the related global dimension of social inequality with its resulting migration flows.
The interplay of educational norms as established patterns of orientation, the limited range of national legislation and the disturbing effects of global movements display within a case study of inclusive pedagogy. The analytical reflections on the re-making of spaces of education build on field notes, observations and selected interview transcripts collected from an EU-financed education project, situated in the German-Danish border region and targeted to promote work- and learning mobility for disadvantaged young learners on both sides of the border. While project and EU-funding rhetoric highlights the importance of vocational integration for the development of a common, cross-border labour market, young refugees are conceived as a major challenge for this type of inclusive educational practice. Irritating as it is, this exclusive concept of inclusion prompts questions about the construction of b/orders in education policy, practice and research. While practitioners in the field see the number of refugees threatening the established balance within the market of vocational inclusion and challenging their educational targets, in a more general perspective the own and the other, the general and the special, belonging and exclusion are at disposition in this case. A closer examination allows to re-construct the patterns of meaning shaping a now Europeanised educational practice. Furthermore, in a second step, it enables to identify the differing concepts and theories, which refer to the different levels of EU, global, macro- or micro-level education practice and politics, to illuminate their explanatory potential – and the limits of it.
