Education and Cultural Diplomacy in the Spring of Europe (1948-1954)

The role played by schools and education in the so-called European spring has not been sufficiently assessed. Institutions such as the Western European Union, the Unesco, the European Movement or the Council of Europe have organized a great number of seminars and meetings attended by primary and secondary teachers, education inspectors and intellectuals who discussed how to teach the values of peace and international cooperation and how to introduce the idea of Europe at schools. By applying the theoretical principles of Nye's soft & relational power and using a qualitative and historiographic methodology, we aim at analysing those meetings documents in order to identify the resources are used by each state in their fight for cultural hegemony in education, and to lay the foundations for Europe to be taught at schools. Thus, Modern Languages and History are the most studied disciplines. It is also stated that the teaching of a foreign language is necessary in primary school curricula; English leads the way as schooling language and French fights for keeping its hegemony resorting to a highly active cultural diplomacy. A general European history book won't be warmly received, but to lessen the excesses of national myths in text books is said to be indispensable. Finally, it is considered that recent history must own a place in the curricula so as to avoid the risks of its possible manipulation by European younger generations.