Chapter 12: Global, European, or Local Citizenship?: The Discursive Politics of Citizenship Education in Central and Eastern Europe

The story of international schools in the Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) is one piece of a modern educational narrative mirroring larger geopolitical shifts and changes over the past 60 years. The sixteen schools in CEESA share a unique experience of moving from a Soviet to a post-Soviet geopolitical space where international politics have shaped, and continue to shape, each school’s curricular emphases. As a result of the blurring of geographic, ethic, and religious barriers inside classrooms in the post-Cold War years, CEESA schools reflect both the development of an international perspective on education and the history of American political hegemony in Europe. With student bodies diversifying in the schools, global citizenship education has become not only a reality in CEESA curricula but also a necessity.