An informal meeting to “kick-start the development of vocational training in the European Union”. This is how Germany’s Federal Minister of Education, Anja Karliczek, described the meeting with her European counterparts on 16 and 17 September.
This is the first time that the ministers have met physically since the start of the German EU Council Presidency, whose schedule has been greatly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Three topics were on the ministers’ agenda: the effects of the pandemic on education, vocational education and training (VET), which is very much in vogue in Germany, and the European Commission’s future initiatives (see EUROPE 12559/22).
VET and the Osnabrück Declaration
The aim of this meeting was in particular to prepare the Osnabrück Declaration, which will be submitted for adoption at the same time as the Recommendation on Dual Learning at the Education Council in November (see EUROPE 12518/1).
For Mrs Karliczek, VET is clearly an “attractive alternative to university education”.
The aim of the Declaration is to modernise European vocational training and to deepen transnational cooperation within a European education area. The objectives of the declaration include improving economic resilience, jointly developing a culture of lifelong learning, anchoring sustainability in vocational education, and strengthening the international dimension by promoting cross-border mobility.
Digital Literacy Action Plan
Speaking by videoconference at the press conference, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel recalled that the Commission is currently finalising the Digital Literacy Action Plan and the Communication entitled ‘Making a European Education Area a Reality’, both scheduled to be released on 30 September.
She suggested that the action plan would address, inter alia, lifelong learning and non-formal education. It will also aim to reduce the digital gender divide, improve access to technology and infrastructure, and exchange best practices. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)