Brussels, 15/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a report expounded to Commissioners Janez Potocnik (research) and Jan Figel (education) on Tuesday 12 June, a group of experts calls for a new approach to science teaching to be adopted, breaking completely with the traditional teaching methods. Michel Rocard, former French prime minister and a member of the European Parliament as well as chairman for the group of experts, presented the final report and its recommendations. On this occasion, Janez Potocnik said: “After the Gago report, which covered the problems of human resources in science and technology, the Rocard report gives very clear recommendations about the course that must be taken to rekindle science teaching in Europe. These recommendations must be taken seriously. It is crucial to stimulate an interest in science and technology among the young in Europe if Europe is to base its future on the best possible use of knowledge”. The group maintains that redirecting science teaching in schools - from the current essentially deductive method to a more investigative approach - would allow an interest in sciences to be revived. The report also notes that effective collaboration at European scale means there is action at a local level, but that this lacks magnitude and that it would be greatly improved if it were better articulated with national programmes. Transition at the European level would not only allow the approach to be considerably broadened but would also allow a large number of pupils to benefit from it. It would give teachers experience and strengthen their knowledge within an enlarged network.
The rapporteur for the expert group is Valérie Hemmo, who has drafted several studies on the question. The complete report is to be found on: http: //ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/index.cfm?fuseaction=action=public.topic&id=1100&lang=1 (oj)