The current paper analyses the historical path of European education and its essential contribution to the development of national identities, the reinforcement of the national features and the modern construction of a European identity. Since the French Revolution, education ceased to be the privilege of the elite and became a system of developing national consciousness and popular integration. By utilizing the analytical examination of the history of the development of the educational systems in the countries of central Europe, including Prussia, France, Britain and Italy, the study shows that education served as the strongest tool of creating the national identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As the wider geographical space of Europe was unified by the formation of the European Union and the working out of the European integration programs, the direction of education was shifted to the creation of the supranational European identity, and the continuation of the historical traditions of Greek philosophy and the Roman law, along with the Christian system of ethical and humanist values.The work has a longue durée historical approach to understanding education as a cultural phenomenon, and the construction of national identity, by focusing on the historical circumstances, the value system, and the cultural changes that informed it. It seeks to explore the importance of education as a dynamic agent towards political awareness and communal identity, both on the national and on the European level.
Keywords: European consciousness, European education, European education system, Europe’s common heritage, national education, national identity
