14 EU Countries To Receive Country-Specific Recommendations On Education Under European Semester 2016

European Cooperation On Education And Training

The European Semester is the EU's cycle of economic policy coordination. Every year, the Commission undertakes a detailed analysis of EU countries' budgetary, macroeconomic and structural policies and provides them with recommendations for the next 12-18 months. The recommendations focus on the key policy priorities for each country.

The Commission proposes that 14 countries receive education country-specific recommendations:

    Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain

The issues covered include:

Early school leaving is linked to unemployment, social exclusion, and poverty. There are many reasons why some young people give up education and training prematurely: personal or family problems, learning difficulties, or a fragile socio-economic situation. The way the education system is set up and the environment in individual schools are also important factors.

Since there is not a single reason for early school leaving, there are no easy answers. Policies to reduce early school leaving must address a range of triggers and combine education and social policy, youth work and health related aspects such as drug use or mental and emotional problems.

Basic Skills:

 Europe 2020 , the EU's strategic growth strategy, seeks to promote smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. A key factor in the achievement of this strategy concerns literacy, numeracy, science, and technology, so called basic skills.

Literacy, numeracy, science, and technology are the foundation for further learning and are a gateway to employment and social inclusion. In Europe, approximately 20% of the young generation is not equipped with the necessary basic skills in literacy, mathematics, science and technology.

These skills are becoming even more important as the digital revolution gives rise to new forms of reading and writing, as well as diversifying sources of information. At the same time, the demand for a qualified workforce in technology and research intensive sectors remains high.

Teaching Professions:

The knowledge, skills and attitudes of each of Europe's 6 million teachers are of great importance. The quality of their teaching has a direct effect upon learners’ attainment.

The demands made on teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators are increasing and changing. They are called on to play a key role in modernising education. To do that, they need to develop their own knowledge and skills. Initial education and continuous professional development of the highest quality, and access to support throughout their careers are both essential.

The European Commission works with EU countries to raise standards of teaching and teacher education by.

Education And Training For Social Inclusion:

Education and training policy should enable all citizens to benefit from quality education and to acquire and update over a lifetime the knowledge, skills, and competences needed for employment, inclusion, active citizenship and personal fulfilment.

Inequalities persist in European education systems. Pupils from poor socio-economic backgrounds perform worse at school than their peers in all EU countries. Children from immigrant backgrounds, the disabled, and Roma children are among the most vulnerable groups affected. At the same time, there are large differences between countries in the extent to which family background influences learning outcomes.

Against this background, Europe needs more efficient but at the same time more inclusive and equitable education systems, which give access to quality educational provision. The European Union actively supports and supplements Member States efforts in this regard.

Migration And Ethnic Diversity:

Schools across Europe are seeing a rise in the number of children born and raised in a different country. This can place strain on language teaching capacity and many immigrant children lag behind in academic achievement. In fact, students born outside the EU are twice as likely to leave school early. At the same time, increased diversity is an opportunity to make schools more inclusive, creative and open-minded.

National governments will discuss the Commission proposals in June and the Council will adopt the final version of the country-specific recommendations in July.