Eurydice Voice

Welcome to the Winter edition of the Eurydice Voice, our quarterly newsletter.

First, some exciting news! In January, Eurydice has grown bigger to include Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in the Network. We are thrilled for the work ahead. Welcome to the whole education community of these three countries! Read all about it in our focus on article. As a reminder, we have also linked the two reports on supporting refugee learners from Ukraine published in 2022.

But this is not all. Erasmus Mundus is turning 20! We are celebrating with an interview to Dagmar Höpcke and Bart Cosyns, both project advisors at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency and actively working on this initiative.

In this issue, find also a new video offering a quick overview of key features from our report "Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in schools in Europe." Short and swift.

On the Youth Wiki front, discover an interactive map exploring policies on employment and entrepreneurship. The map showcases initiatives supporting young talents in starting their own businesses.

Stay informed with the latest education news from Portugal, courtesy of our National Unit.

Explore the pivotal role played by our Structural Indicators as an essential data source for the Education and Training Monitor.

Lastly, check out the report on Artificial Intelligence produced by the AI squad of the European Digital Education Hub.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea, a cozy blanket and take some E-YOU time!

The Eurydice Network has undergone a significant expansion this January. With the inclusion of National Units from Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, the network is evolving into a more encompassing platform for educational exchange and cooperation. The expansion of the Eurydice network signifies a collective commitment to building a more robust, inclusive, and innovative educational landscape. It underlines the opening of new avenues for cross-border cooperation and the development of joint educational initiatives.

This short report focuses on key policies and measures, developed by top-level education authorities across Europe, aiming to assist higher education institutions (HEIs) in integrating refugee learners from Ukraine.

These include recent policies and measures targeting specifically Ukrainian refugee learners as well as non-Ukrainian learners who were studying in a Ukrainian HEI at the time of the Russian invasion. The report builds partly on the findings of previous Eurydice reports on higher education, such as the ‘Bologna Process Implementation Report (2020)’ and ‘Integrating asylum seekers and refugees into Higher Education in Europe: National policies and measures (2019)’.

This short report focuses on some of the policies and measures developed by top-level education authorities across Europe that aim to assist schools in integrating and helping children and young people arriving from Ukraine.

These include recent policies and measures targeting specifically Ukrainian learners, and policies and measures targeting all newly arrived learners that were in place prior to the current conflict. The report builds on the findings of the 2019 report ‘Integrating students from migrant backgrounds into schools in Europe: National policies and measures’.

As the Erasmus Mundus programme celebrates its 20th anniversary, with this interview to Dagmar Höpcke and Bart Cosyns, both project advisors at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, we had the opportunity to reflect on the programme's legacy, its current impact, and the prospects it holds for the future.

No time to fully read our Eurydice report on promoting diversity and inclusion in schools? Don't worry! We have got you covered with our brand-new video that provides you with a quick and easy overview of its key features.

In November of last year, the Education Summit, the annual flagship event of the European Education Area (EEA), convened. This summit serves as a gathering point for policymakers from EU institutions and beyond, as well as the European education and training communities. Additionally, it marks the release of the Education and Training Monitor, presenting the European Commission's yearly analysis of the developments in education and training systems across the EU. The Eurydice Structural Indicators play an important role as a fundamental data source for this publication. Explore them here.

This report highlights both the potential benefits and risks associated with AI implementation. While AI can offer advantages like formative feedback and lesson planning assistance, there are also risks, especially when used without proper oversight. It is an outcome of the AI squad (working group) of the European Digital Education Hub which is an initiative of the European Commission, funded by the Erasmus+ programme (2021-2027).

Eurydice has recently launched the inaugural interactive web version of the “Teachers' and school heads' salaries and allowances in Europe – 2021/2022” report.

This new interactive format offers dynamic presentation of data, enabling precise data retrieval and export in various formats. It features interactive maps and graphs that present comparative and national information on a wide range of topics related to teachers' and school heads' salaries and allowances, qualification requirements, career progression, and salary trends.

The interactive tool covers 39 education systems. In addition to the 27 EU Member States, it also includes data for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, and Türkiye.

Are teachers in Europe well paid? What prospects for career development do they have? Have teachers gained or lost purchasing power in recent years? What are the minimum salaries for school heads? How does the size of their school impact their pay?

The annual Eurydice update on Teachers' and school heads' salaries and allowances in Europe has just been released in occasion of the World Teachers’ Day. Teachers’ remuneration and career prospects are indeed an intrinsic part of policies aiming to attract the best-qualified graduates to the profession and retain the best teachers.

Our publication shows the composition and differences in teachers’ and school heads’ earnings among the Eurydice countries. The comparative analysis is completed with national data sheets including detailed information on the salaries, allowances, and other additional payments that teachers and school heads receive. The national data sheets are published as open data. Data related to teachers' and school heads' salaries and allowances in Europe have been collected jointly by the Eurydice and the OECD/NESLI networks.

How are diversity and inclusion in school education promoted across Europe? This brand-new Eurydice report showcases the existing national/top-level policies and measures that tackle inequalities and discrimination. It focuses especially on learners who are most likely to experience disadvantage and/or discrimination in schools, including girls/boys, students from different migrant, ethnic and religious backgrounds, LGBTIQ+ students, and students with special educational needs or disabilities.

The report highlights existing targeted policy initiatives promoting the learners’ access to quality, inclusive, mainstream education. The findings show that, despite many efforts to ensure more equity and inclusion in schools, there is still work to be done when it comes to certain student groups or areas of intervention.

The publication provides a comparative overview of policies and measures across 39 European education systems. It presents many country examples, which showcase some of the most recent policy developments and provide an overview of current initiatives taken across Europe.

The Eurydice Network's task is to provide reliable information and comprehensive analyses of European education systems and policies. The network drafts descriptions of national education systems, comparative studies devoted to specific topics, indicators and statistics.

Through its work, Eurydice aims to promote understanding, cooperation, trust and mobility at European and international levels. All Eurydice publications are available free of charge on the Eurydice website. The network consists of national units located in European countries and is coordinated by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency.