The EC launched the Education & Training Monitor 2019, which shows further progress towards targets and also highlights the need to better support teachers.
Tibor Navracsics, EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport launched the 8th Education & Training Monitor during the 2nd European education summit, a high-level event gathering more than 800 participants, including more than 100 teachers and 19 EU Education Ministers. The aim of the summit was to discuss challenges related to education and ways forward, particularly at EU level and in relation to building the European Education Area.
The Education & Training (E&T) Monitor presents the yearly evaluation of E&T systems in EU Member States, drawing mainly on data from Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The current volume shows that the EU’s weakest point in relation to the E&T targets set in the strategic framework for European cooperation Education and Training (ET 2020) remains the achievement in basic skills. The target of having less than 15% young people underachieving in reading, mathematics and science in the EU by 2020 will most probably not be achieved and will remain a challenge for the EU. The current EU shares are 19.7% for reading, 22.2% for maths, and 20.6% for science, while the E&T monitor leaflet shows that the Swiss shares are 20% for reading, 15.8% for maths and 18.5% for science.
Another EU challenge for the next decade is increasing participation in adult learning. In this domain, Switzerland fares very well with 31.6% of adults participating in formal or non-formal learning compared to the European average of 11.1% and the EU-top performer Sweden with 29.2%.
This year’s edition incorporates new evidence on teachers’ careers and lifelong learning from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 survey. Among the topics covered are teacher shortages, salaries and social recognition of the profession. Regarding teachers’ lifelong learning, the TALIS survey shows that teacher demand (more) training in 1) teaching special needs students, 2) ICT skills for teaching as well as 3) dealing with multicultural classrooms. International mobility of teachers during teacher education is not very common. Navracsics highlighted that the EC already supports teachers’ lifelong learning and international exposure e.g. through eTwinning and the Erasmus+ programme, but wants to achieve more through building the European Education Area by 2025.
It has been 10 years now since the launch of the ET 2020 strategy, and it is the second last benchmarking exercise under this framework. The European Commission (EC) will present a proposal for a new strategic framework in early 2020, once the new European Commission is in place.
The education summit coincided with the European Day of Languages. On this occasion, the Eurydice network launched its newest report on “The Teaching of Regional or Minority Languages in Schools in Europe” (available in an English, French and German version). The report provides an overview of current policy efforts in Europe that support the teaching of regional or minority languages in schools. In May 2019, EU education ministers adopted recommendations on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages (see SwissCore article), and languages feature a prominent role in the European Education Area. While there is agreement that multilingualism is relevant to the EU, national sentiments regarding language policies are there as well, and we will see how the learning of languages will be addressed in the strategic E&T framework post-2020.
Also in September, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its Education at a Glance 2019. The 2019 edition includes a focus on tertiary education. It displays new indicators on tertiary completion rates, doctoral graduates and their labour market outcomes, and on tertiary admission systems. In addition, it looks in particular at the Sustainable Development Goal 4 that aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030.