On Monday 28 November, EU education ministers adopted a recommendation entitled ‘Pathways to School Success’ setting out principles and advice to Member States, particularly on how to tackle early school leaving.
“We need to reduce underachievement in writing, reading and mathematics”, Czech minister Vladimír Balaš told reporters.
According to a recent report by the European Commission, significant progress has been made in the fight against early school leaving in Portugal, Spain and Greece (see EUROPE 13066/14).
Currently, the average rate in the EU of early school leavers has decreased from 12.6% in 2012 to 9.7% in 2021, with a target of 9.0% by 2025.
“The focus should be on following up on initiatives” to make the European Education Area a reality by 2025, said European Commissioner for Education Mariya Gabriel. She announced the launch of the ‘Learning Lab’, a voluntary initiative to evaluate quality investments in education policies.
See the EU Council recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/4bx
The ministers also adopted conclusions on the evolution of education systems in a digital world.
The rise of new technologies presents an opportunity in terms of training, but also poses challenges such as the fight against “the digital divide and cyberbullying”, noted Mr Balaš.
In this context, Ms Gabriel mentioned two sets of guidelines which aim to help teachers combat disinformation (see EUROPE 13040/24) and to fight against misconceptions about artificial intelligence (see EUROPE 13050/14).
See the EU Council conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/4by
Finally, the Education Council discussed Ukrainian pupils and students being welcomed in the education systems of the Member States, with the participation of the Ukrainian minister via video conference. We want to “put the interests of the child first”, said the Czech minister.
According to the Commissioner, the recognition of the educational achievements of Ukrainian pupils in the EU was also discussed. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)