To conclude the ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council (EYCS) meeting, the EU ministers devoted the afternoon of Wednesday 17 May to education, in a session chaired by the Swedish Minister for Education, Lotta Edholm.
European Education Area
They approved a resolution on the implementation of the European education area (EEA) by 2025 (see EUROPE 13166/30). Prepared by the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council, the text identifies priority areas where action is needed in order to fully realise the ambitions of the EEA.
“Things are going well in certain indicators: we have a reduction of early school leavers and an increase in higher education graduates. But we still need to continue working on inclusion, on integration, on the valorisation of the teaching profession, on mobility and life-long learning”, summarised the European Commission Vice-President, Margarítis Schinás, who is responsible for promoting the European way of life. The Commission is expected to present a mid-term review of the EEA in the course of 2023.
The resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/6x8
The Council of the EU also gave the green light to a series of conclusions on the mutual and automatic recognition of competences within the Union (see EUROPE 13157/22, 13128/19). While such recognition is a central element in achieving an effective European education area, the text stresses the need to develop trust between the education systems of the different Member States.
The conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/6x9
Promoting reading
Finally, the Swedish Presidency added to the agenda a political debate on reading as a vehicle for citizens’ active participation in society. The executive director of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Dirk Hastedt, was invited to present the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which was published on the same day.
The results show that despite a high level of literacy among EU students (94%), reading and writing skills declined between 2016 and 2021. This decline is even more pronounced for pupils from deprived socio-economic backgrounds. In addition, Mr Hastedt noted a persistent gender difference, with boys generally performing at a lower level.
Furthermore, digital technology has changed the way students read. They have switched from books to web pages. “This requires new skills in reading non-continuous texts [...] and it needs to be emphasised in countries’ curricula”, Hastedt said.
Commissioner Schinás, who was also present at the debate, highlighted the Commission’s various initiatives to encourage reading, such as the Passport to success at school (see EUROPE 13072/5) or the €20 million from Creative Europe dedicated to the European book sector.
The Member States, for their part, put forward various suggestions for advancing reading in the EU, ranging from access to bookshops to teacher training. They also highlighted the challenges of the digital transition.
The PIRLS 2021 study: https://aeur.eu/f/6xa (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)