Brussels, 17/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Nearly one in eight households in the European Union has a child under the age of six. However, 19 million (or one in five) face poverty. Under the strategic framework for European cooperation in the field of education and training, ministers from a number of member states have called on the European Commission to evaluate and analyse the progress made by the EU in improving access to education and reception for young children and creating an inventory of best practice. For this reason, the European Commission launched an action plan this Thursday 17 February, in favour of universal access to quality pre-school education. As well as wishing to give each child the best start in life by allowing him or her to attend school under the best circumstances, these measures will also help to achieve two major objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy: reducing the number of school dropouts and the number of people living in poverty and social exclusion. “Investing in quality pre-school education is more effective than intervening further down the line. This will give our young people better chances in life and actually helps us to make savings in the long term”, said Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou.
Compulsory schooling starts at the age of five or six in most member states, and earlier in Cyprus, Luxembourg and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom). Reception structures for young children not yet of compulsory school age vary widely in Europe, as regards funding, governors and staff recruitment policy. In 2009, the education ministers laid down a target of 95% of children from the age of four being able to access a place in education and reception structures. Currently, this percentage stands at 92.3%, with considerable variations from one member state to the next. The Commission's proposals recommend (1) access to quality pre-school education on the basis of stable and good-quality funding; (2) an integrated approach to education and reception, taking account of the overall needs of children; (3) age-oriented syllabi with a good balance between technical skills and social skills; (4) increased professionalisation of staff members by the position of appropriate qualifications together with appropriate levels of pay and working conditions; (5) systems and standards to guarantee quality to monitor progress made. The Commission's proposals will be assessed by the ministers at the forthcoming Education Council in May. (I.L./transl.fl)