Brussels, 14/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 9 July and Friday 10 July, the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU Council organised a symposium in Luxembourg called “Staying on track - tackling early school leaving and promoting success in school”.
Almost 200 experts from the formal and informal education sectors took part in the event whose goal was to provide a mid-term review of the strategies EUROPE 2020 and Education and Training 2020, on the measures initiated and the efforts to be pursued by the member states to reduce early school leaving (ESL) in Europe. On the basis of the ideas and recommendations that emerged, the Presidency will propose a project of conclusions that will be submitted to education ministers during the Council “Education, youth and culture” in November 2015.
In an effort to provide a new boost to the subject at European and national levels, six workshops were organised. For Sophie Beernaerts from the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission, these messages are “clearly encouraging” for the Commission in persuading Member States to develop a “holistic” national strategy to tackle ESL. She emphasised that “At a European level, we will continue to share best practices”. Michel Lanners, government chief advisor to the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, explained that the “shared conclusion show that tackling ESL is more than ever a goal that we should take seriously” and that “The sharing of experiences with one another is effectively an essential catalyst that will enable us in our respective countries to put in place the best policies”. (Isabelle Lamberty)