On Thursday 5 November, the European Commission presented a new ‘Education and Skills’ package to reverse the decline in basic skills, help schools integrate AI and digital technologies into learning, and address teacher shortages.
Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, responsible for Jobs and Skills, presented a strategy on vocational education and training for 2026-2030 along with two draft Council recommendations: one on making teaching more attractive, and the other on reversing the decline in basic skills.
“Europe is living through a transformation that will define generations to come. Artificial intelligence is changing the way in which we work, in which we teach or learn. This information is really testing our democracies, an aging workforce which is putting pressure on our economic competitiveness, but also on our public services”, the Vice-President said.
She also recalled the latest PISA test results, which confirm that “one out of three of our 15-year-olds underachieve in two important basic skills: reading and mathematics. These are not problems for our education system. These are challenges for our competitiveness, for our democratic resilience, and for our preparedness”.
The Commission has therefore presented a proposal for a Council recommendation aimed at reversing the decline in basic skills.
“We are proposing a council recommendation with the aim to reverse the decline in literacy, mathematics, science, digital, and citizenship skills. And this means - and it is reflected in the recommendation - spotting difficulties early, timely targeted tutoring, extra learning time where needed, and the right challenge for pupils ready to go further”, she explained. “Citizenship, as a basic skill, is very well mentioned as part of these foundational skills.”
Young people “should learn how democratic institutions work, how to test a claim, and how to take part and engage in their communities. From 2027, as a very specific deliverable that I want to use as an example for this pillar, European schools alliances will help schools work on improving basic skills across borders so that they can spread approaches that improve learning”.
European School Alliances will bring together schools and education authorities from different Member States in long-term partnerships to improve pupils’ results in at least one basic skill. Each alliance will have a measurable improvement plan, the Commission explained.
The Erasmus+ programme is preparing to launch these alliances from 2027.
“Our ambition must reach children growing up in poverty, children with disabilities, learners in places where support is hardest to find”, the Vice-President added.
On 3 November, the Commission also established the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium for Education (EDU-EDIC). The Commission will develop age-appropriate learning benchmarks and assessment guidance for digital literacy, based on the EU-OECD digital literacy framework, and pilot a digital literacy certificate from the 2027/28 school year.
Identifying the causes of teacher shortages. “Less than one in five teachers feel that their voices are heard, that they have agency in the educational policies. At the same time, we have an aging workforce. Over 40% of the teaching workforce is over 50. A wave of retirement is coming”, she also noted. “40% of our pupils study in schools with teacher shortages”, Roxana Mînzatu added, describing the figure as “alarming”.
The recommendation therefore calls on Member States to examine barriers to entering the teaching profession and address shortages “through attractive careers and working conditions, stronger initial education and professional development, and teachers’ agency in the use of AI”.
“We also propose to give teachers a voice in a regular European dialogue with the social partners able to discuss the main challenges at EU level”, she added.
On vocational education and training, one thing the strategy proposes is a ‘European sectoral training accelerator’, with a pilot project set to launch in early 2027.
It will offer short, flexible training modules that providers can incorporate into national programmes. The modules will be developed alongside industry, and partnerships between businesses and educational institutions will be established to create new training centres.
A European mobility platform will be set up to help learners and apprentices find training abroad.
In terms of vocational training occupations, the largest employment increases are expected among craft and technical workers, plant and machine operators, and metal, machinery, and related trades workers. This points to a growing role for advanced manufacturing and automated production, the Commission explained.
Demand for technicians and engineers is also seeing a notable rise. Several manual and artisanal occupations – including food processing, woodworking and other crafts, assembly work, and labour jobs in mining, construction, manufacturing, and transport – are also seeing increased demand.
Links to the communication, strategy and proposed recommendations: https://aeur.eu/f/o9g ; https://aeur.eu/f/o9j ; https://aeur.eu/f/o9h ; https://aeur.eu/f/o9i (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)