The European Commission has laid another stone in the construction of a “European education area” by 2025. During the Education Council on Tuesday 22 May, it presented a new raft of measures to promote the mobility of young people in education, as well as a level of provision for pre-school education and foreign language learning and culture.
This package closely resembles what EUROPE announced just over two months ago (see EUROPE 11981). It is based on a youth strategy, a new agenda for culture and three non-binding recommendations (on early childhood, the recognition of diplomas and language learning). It is all summed up in a general communication.
The main difference focuses on early childhood: the Commission is not ultimately proposing to reduce the age when children start pre-school education. The package follows the Gothenberg social summit in 2017 and the conclusions from the European Council last December (see EUROPE 11907, 11927). It completes a first raft of initiatives in the lifelong education and training domain by adding digital skills and those that promotes common values and inclusive education (see EUROPE 11941).
A political vision
The communication oversees the raft of measures and highlights the general Commission vision. It also provides an insight into the progress achieved with the “European universities” networks promoted by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. To this effect, it announces pilot projects in 2019 and 2020 as part of the Erasmus + programme and a comprehensive implementation of the initiative in 2021.
The European youth strategy focuses on the 2019-2027 period and seeks to provide more of a voice for young people in Europe. It is suggesting that alternative forms of participation are allowed, such as online campaigns and consultations on digital platforms.
The agenda for culture, hailed by the European Youth Forum, aims to raise public awareness about European heritage. It is proposing the following areas of action: promoting the mobility of artists; better support for the cultural and creative sectors by strengthening the ties with industrial policy and; cooperation with third countries, such as the Western Balkans. The agenda also announces the publication by the end of the year of an action plan for cultural heritage.
Recommendations and pre-school education
The recommendation on the automatic mutual recognition of diplomas and education periods abroad seeks to facilitate educational mobility in Europe. It defines the conditions that need to be fulfilled for automatic recognition to become a reality, as well as the existing EU tools, such as the European system for transferring and accumulating credits and the European certification system.
The recommendation on foreign languages aims to put a 2002 objective into practice so that young people speak at least two foreign languages. The document supports the mobility of teachers, innovative pedagogy and introduces the concept of “language awareness”.
The recommendation for education systems and quality early childhood care mainly develops the concept of “quality service”. Contrary to what was included in its contribution to the Gothenberg summit, the Commission is not yet proposing a revision of the targeted objective for the education and training 2020 (ET2020) strategy, namely, at least 95% of children aged between four and compulsory school age, attending preschool education by 2020.
A Commission spokesperson explained that “The recommendation is not proposing a compulsory age (Ed: the contribution to the Gothenburg summit mentioned three years instead of four). It is leaving this issue entirely up to the member states and parents, who are expected to receive an interesting offer”. This proposal could, however, be made during the revision of the ET 2020 strategic framework. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)