Students in Europe believe that the main objectives of the European Union's institutions should be to protect the environment, promote social equality and justice, and ensure lasting peace in Europe, according to a study by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), presented to the press on Wednesday 15 May.
"Both students in national and European schools believe that the European Union should address societal issues", said Andrew Todd, policy and advocacy officer of the Lifelong Learning Platform, one of the three civil society organisations that coordinated the study.
According to him, these results demonstrate in particular the growing importance given by young people to environmental protection, a phenomenon already illustrated by recent school strikes for the climate.
"My main expectation [in relation to the EU] is to fight climate change. I think this is the major challenge of our time", said Adelina Ilie, a 16-year-old student at the European School of Brussels IV.
Carried out at the initiative of the EESC's Group III/Diversity Europe, the study aims to provide an overview of the perceptions, knowledge and expectations of pupils aged 14 to 18 years with regard to the EU, as well as their openness to European diversity, while comparing national and European schools.
It was conducted with pupils from national schools in five EU Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Romania), as well as with pupils from the European Schools in Brussels in the language sections corresponding to these countries.
Among other findings, the study reveals that, while pupils in the European Schools perceive the benefits of the EU more than pupils in national schools, all pupils tend to consider that EU membership benefits them personally, whether they study in a national or European school.
Nevertheless, the pupils interviewed consider that the EU is only moderately effective in addressing global challenges such as terrorism or climate change.
In addition, many pupils consider themselves more or less European, as pupils of the European Schools are more likely to define themselves as European beyond their nationality.
Finally, the study also highlights the shortcomings of the European institutions in terms of communication with adolescents. According to the study, pupils do not feel that they have enough opportunities to acquire knowledge about the EU at school, including in the European Schools, and they tend to think that the EU institutions do not listen sufficiently to the opinions of young people face to face.
Therefore, its authors recommend, inter alia, to: - communicate more about what the European institutions are doing, in particular by using social networks to address young people directly; - integrate EU learning into school curricula; - create more face-to-face exchange forums between young people and representatives of the EU institutions.
Arno Metzler, President of the EESC's Diversity Europe Group, assured that this study - soon to be available on the EESC's website - and additional recommendations would be forwarded to the next European Commission.
To consult the summary of the study: https://bit.ly/2VuEILT. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)