Your opportunity to influence the Key Competences framework in the EU

The European Commission has launched a public consultation which will run until 19 May 2017. This is part of a process within the Skills Agenda, aiming at boosting human capital in Europe and updating EU - and subsequently hopefully also national - policies to make one more attempt to modernise education in Europe so that it supports what is necessary for learners' success. The review and update of the 2006 Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning is part of this process and the public consultation is the opportunity for your voice to be heard on European level. EPA has been active in the process and will submit its own contribution, but all readers of our blog, especially our national members are encouraged to do so, too.

New Skills Agenda launched

On 20 June the European Commission organised a high-level event to launch the New Skills Agenda for Europe to boost human capital, employability and competitiveness, adopted on 10 June 2016. EPA was represented at the event by Vice President Janko Korosec.

On 10 June, European Commissioners Thyssen and Katainen announced the adoption of a new and comprehensive Skills Agenda for Europe, that was officially launched at the Brussels event. The aim of this new policy framework is to ensure that the right training, skills and support is available to European Union citizens and to equip them for good-quality jobs and help them fulfil their potential as confident, active citizens. According to the communication of the EC it will ultimately boost employability, competitiveness and growth in Europe. The agenda includes provisions for non-EU citizens and their inclusion in education and the labour market.

Parents concerns about the Skill Agenda

On 14^th March the European Commission is holding a consultation with representatives of civil society. There has been a background paper issued on the Skills Agenda that will be discussed at the meeting. As those organisations that are not Brussels based are not financially supported by the Commission to participate at the meeting, the European Parents’ Association (EPA) has compiled a position paper instead to express our concerns. We keep demanding that there must be an obligation for EU institutions as well as national governments and other decision makers to involve those most directly concerned, namely children, young people and their parents when preparing national skills strategies, action plans, and last but not least in the activities connected to the European Semester and in its annual review.

Our greatest concern is that the holistic approach to education and the network of education institutions is missing, thus it does not tackle the fact that it is schools (primary, secondary and VET) that are the cheapest and most hands on places to support the skills development for local communities, but only if education segments cooperate and manage to change the face of schools, which means to open them up to all locals as community learning spaces. Successful projects all over Europe show that this is the right approach, but it need a very strong collaboration and an even stronger political will to rejuvenate systems that have been in place for 150-200 years. As there has been a huge emphasis on higher education in EU policies, we applaud to the approach that highlights vocational education and adult education as at least equally important policy areas. Parents have been concerned that pushing higher education attainment instead of giving equal support and promotion to other forms of tertiary education may not be the real solution for youth unemployment.

Implementation of competence-based education in a school at all levels:What is the role of the school leader and stakeholders?

Nelly Guet, a former school head, advisor in the field of education and long-time EPA partner shares her presentation with our readers on this topic. (Original presentation was done at the ATEE Hungary conference in Veszprém, 27 June 2014)

Why do we need competence-based education?

Europeans should be more interested in the future of Europe if they want benefits for the youth in their own countries. Those experiencing a high rate of youth unemployment must urgently adopt different measures, otherwise violence, youth unemployment, lack of interest in school, anxiety about the future and lack of confidence will increase among youngsters.

Knowledge is not enough if we want to engage ourselves for more democracy and more equity at school and if we want to prepare our youth for lifelong learning. 

Online consultation on the future of education

KeyCoNet, the Key Competence Network on School Education invited EPA to become its associate partner. In the framework of our co-operation parents are invited to take part in an online consultation on 21st century school eduaction.  Thedeadline was extended and thus the online consultation is open until 4th July in several languages.

ATEE Spring Conference in Riga

The pedagogic partnership of parents with teachers is one of EPA's key paradigms. Thus the board decided to register the EPA-President as member of ATEE, thei Association for Teacher Education in Europe. EPA's contributions in prior conferences dealt with co-operation between teachers and parents as a key issue in teachers' initial and in-service-training and introduced the European agenda against Early School Leaving (ESL).

Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan in the EU

The new Entrepreneurship Action Plan prepared for the European Parliament by the Commission sets out a number of actions to be taken at both EU and Member States' level to support entrepreneurship in Europe. The plan emphasizes the importance of improving entrepreneurial education and training. One of its three pillars is increasing the prevalence and quality of entrepreneurial education and training, which is considered one of the highest return investments Europe can make. Among other objectives, the Commission will develop a pan-European entrepreneurial learning initiative bringing together existing European and national expertise for impact analysis, knowledge sharing, development of methodologies and peer mentoring between practitioners from Member States.

Key competences for lifelong learning

Key competences in the shape of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to each context are fundamental for each individual in a knowledge-based society. They provide added value for the labour market, social cohesion and active citizenship by offering flexibility and adaptability, satisfaction and motivation. Because they should be acquired by everyone, this recommendation proposes a reference tool for European Union (EU) countries to ensure that these key competences are fully integrated into their strategies and infrastructures, particularly in the context of lifelong learning.

New Eurydice study calls for stronger focus on IT and entrepreneurial skills in schools

All European countries have made significant progress in embedding key skills into school curricula to meet today's societal demands, according to a new Eurydice report published today. The study shows that not all competences are treated equally at school. While the status of basic skills (literacy, mathematics, science and foreign languages) is well established, the promotion of transversal skills, such as digital, civic and entrepreneurship skills, which are equally important for preparing young people for today's job market, is lagging behind.