Join the celebration of #ParentsAndSchools Day
on 10 October, organise an event in your school or publish your videos on
social media. This years main topics are career guidance, inclusion and 21st century education.
On 10
October, as on the second Tuesday of every October, Europe celebrates the European
Day of Parents and Schools since 2002. Initiated by the European Parents’
Association (EPA), this day is used to highlight the importance of parents
and teachers working together for the benefit of children. Events are organised
all over Europe by parents’ organisations, often supported by their respective
national Ministries of Education. In the past few years European-level
celebrations were joined by members of the European Parliament and education
organisations such as ESHA or OBESSU (Organising Bureau of Secondary School
Student Unions).
Every year
there is a topic EPA and its partners are focusing on, but national
celebrations can highlight areas of cooperation relevant in their national or
local contexts. This year the European messages will focus on the need for all
educators, including school professionals and parents alike, in career guidance
from early ages on. This will be a prelude to EPA’s international conference on
career guidance and diverse tertiary education forms to be held at the end of
November in Tallinn, as an event of the European Vocational Skills Week.
As last
year #ParentsAndSchools Day is a good occasion to promote and
advocate for the implementation of 2016 policy messages by
the European Commission on transforming schools to make
them more attractive for students and families alike in order to achieve
the EU2020 headline target of reducing early school leaving. These
recommendations fundamentally build on the school community, parents,
teachers and students taking ownership of learning by actively
participating in transforming the school to meet the needs of
today’s children as well as preparing them for the challenges of
the 21st century.
Active participation is another key issue for concerned parents of
Europe. Our continent has been in turmoil for the past couple of years as a
result of the migrant crisis and the underlying problems it brought to
daylight, especially the need for action to prevent or stop
exclusion. Involvement of parents and students in all
aspects of school life is a form of active citizenship,
offering meaningful, hands-on experience. Parents and teachers need to
work together in order to transform all schools into becoming open and
inclusive, to make it possible for everybody, regardless of their socio-economic
status, be them people with special needs or migrants – parents and children,
newly arrived as well as second-third generation, coming from war zones or from
other EU countries – to fully participate, and to feel accepted and included.
In the
present situation, active parents must engage to ensure the rights of all
children, in the school context
·
the
right to childhood, to play and express themselves,
·
the
right to an education that meets their needs/necessities/wishes,
·
to
equal access to adequate services regardless of the financial situation of the
family,
·
to
education in the mother tongue as well as,
·
supporting
everybody to have an operational knowledge of the majority language and
everyday life,
·
to
foster the education of parents to understand and be able to help protecting
the rights of their children and that of others.
This year a
Europe-wide awareness raising campaign is accompanying the event. EPA and
OBESSU are asking students to make a short video answering the simple question:
Why are parents important for you and your school? Everybody is invited make
videos and share them on social media using the hashtag #ParentsAndSchools.
Some of last year’s videos of teachers, school heads and MEPs are there on the
EPA YouTube
Channel.
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