EU education ministers met on Tuesday 7 March for an ‘Education, Culture, Youth and Sport’ Council dedicated to education. On the menu: the skills needed for the green transition and the shortage of teachers in the Union.
Promoting “green” skills
The Council of the EU has thus given the green light to Conclusions aimed at encouraging the development of skills relevant to the green transition, for all levels and types of education.
In particular, the text calls on the Member States to develop educational opportunities on the subject, both in terms of content and form. Indeed, the Swedish Presidency stresses the importance of ensuring not only that the content of training is consistent with market needs, but also that it is delivered in a flexible and innovative way. It suggests, for example, “developing small and tailored learning modules that can lead to, among other things, micro-credentials”.
The conclusions also emphasise the training of teachers in “green” skills. In addition to continuing education, the Swedish Presidency asks the European Commission to encourage exchanges through Erasmus+ and to promote cooperation between institutions, such as alliances between European universities and centres of professional excellence (see EUROPE 13106/4).
Finally, the text calls for a clear identification of the green skills needed in the labour market, by promoting consultation and cooperation between industrial ecosystems, social partners and the education sector.
“The fight against climate change starts in the classroom”, said Swedish Education Minister Lotta Edholm, adding that “a skilled workforce is also a key element of a strong and competitive EU economy”.
Read the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/5o9
Enhancing the attractiveness of the education profession
In a second step, the ministers shared their respective solutions to attract and retain teachers. “Despite our various national contexts, it is obvious that we share a number of challenges associated with teachers shortages”, Ms Edholm stressed, recalling that this is a priority area for action to achieve the objectives of the European Education Area (EEA).
All felt that the teacher shortages are a long-term, even structural problem. For the ministers, making the profession more attractive will require not only an increase in salary, but also better working conditions (job stability, prevention of burn-outs, etc.) and interesting career prospects, in particular by facilitating mobility and encouraging cooperation between institutions.
They also recommended facilitating career transition to teaching and supporting professionals in their first years of practice.
The Commissioner for Education, Mariya Gabriel, who attended the exchanges, announced the closure of the selection procedure for 16 new Erasmus+ academies for teachers. “With the eleven existing academies, we will already exceed the target set in the EEA communication of 25 funded academies by 2025”, she said.
She also recalled the Commission’s “multiple commitments” to address these shortages. The commitments are threefold: to support Member States in making the profession more attractive, to provide high quality initial and in-service training for teachers and to enhance the value of the profession.
The Belgian delegation, supported by various Member States, proposed the establishment of a European Year of Teachers. A proposal that did not convince Ms Gabriel, who called for “seizing the opportunity” offered by the European Year of Skills to highlight their role, before considering a new one.
Promoting the employment of Ukrainian teachers
Finally, the ministers discussed, over an informal lunch, ways to mobilise displaced teachers from Ukraine to help integrate Ukrainian refugee children. “We heard about ways to make it easier for displaced teachers from Ukraine to work in schools in Member States through temporary legislation and, in some countries, an exception for mutual recognition [of diplomas] for a certain period of time [...] Many teachers also mentioned various types of scholarship programmes, [learning] platforms and language courses”, Ms Edholm said. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)