Schools Policy
School education is important for everyone's life chances. The quality of the school experience affects our personal development, our place in society, our educational attainment, and our place in the world of work. Yet school systems in Europe face a number of common challenges, such as the high proportion of young people who leave school early, who do not complete their secondary education, or who do not acquire key competences.
In line with its role of helping Member States to tackle these challenges, the European Commission undertook a public consultation on 'Schools for the 21st Century'. This led to a Communication "Improving Competences for the 21st Century: An Agenda for European Cooperation on Schools", in which the Commission proposes an agenda for European cooperation to make school systems more relevant to the knowledge-based Europe of the future.
Education and training policies can have a positive impact on economic and social outcomes, but the present inequities in education and training have significant hidden costs both for individuals, for societies and for the economy. The challenge is to ensure that systems are simultaneously efficient in producing high levels of excellence and equitable in raising the general level of skills. Social inclusion is a key concern.
Member States agree that better and more accessible pre-school provision is required in order to ensure that education and training systems are equitable, efficient and of high quality. A recent expert symposium considered the research evidence in this field and arrived at a series of conclusions for policymakers.
School should help pupils take responsibility for their own learning and personal development throughout life. It should provide them with the essential skills for successful membership of society and the workforce. Several Member States are in the process of revising their school curricula in line with the changing needs of society and the economy. The European Union's Framework of Key Competences is designed to help them with this, and several Member State experts are working with the Commission to implement it.
The Member States of the European Union have set themselves targets to improve performance in key areas such as literacy and attainment in Maths, Science and Technology. Information and Communications Technologies have a great potential to support autonomous learning, the collaborative construction of knowledge and the development of skills. Member State experts are working together on this issue, and on new ways to validate the outcomes of learning.
Member States have set themselves a number of other benchmarks for improving education. These include benchmarks on reading proficiency, early school leaving, and completion of secondary school.
Schools are a microcosm of society. The full inclusion of disadvantaged groups in school is a challenge for education authorities. School populations reflect migration patterns. In several countries, over 10% of pupils aged 15 have parents who were born abroad; some Member States are facing this phenomenon for the first time. The presence of pupils from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds is a rich source of learning opportunities. But dealing effectively with the increasing cultural diversity in classrooms presents a challenge to some Member States. The Commission has published a Green Paper in this issue.
Through school, society helps to prepare young people to live in community and to be responsible and active citizens. Democracy in schools is an effective way for creating a climate of confidence and responsibility within schools. However, trends such as increased violence, radicalism or fundamentalism in society, and expressions of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism are inevitably also reflected in school communities; bullying is a problem that several Member States have identified as a priority for action.
The quality of the education experienced by pupils is linked directly to the quality of teaching. But the demands placed upon teachers are increasing and changing, and the education they receive is not always adequate to prepare them for their changing roles. Member States have therefore agreed to improve the quality of Teacher Education and the Commission is working with them in this task.
Evaluation and inspection systems can provide valuable feedback to enable a school to build upon its achievements and meet changing needs. The European Parliament and Council have recommended that Member States establish transparent quality evaluation systems.
Documents
- European Symposium on Improving Early Childhood Education and Care - conclusions
- Preparing young people for the 21st century: an agenda for European cooperation on schools
Conclusions of the Education Council (November 2008)
- "Migration and Mobility: challenges and opportunities for EU education systems" - European Commission Green Paper (July 2008)
- Efficiency and equity in European education and training systems
Communication from the Commission to the Council and to the European Parliament (September 2006) - European cooperation in quality evaluation in school education
Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council (February 2001) - Improving Competences for the 21st Century: An Agenda for European Cooperation on Schools
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (July 2008) - Improving Competences for the 21st Century
Commission Staff Working Paper, SEC(2007)1009 (July 2007)
