Erasmus+ should be accessible for everyone. Commission, Parliament and civil society draw lessons from the last programme generation to improve inclusion.
Inclusion is one of the main cross-cutting themes of the flagship EU education programme Erasmus+, as important as the green transition and digitalisation. This topic has recently entered the spotlight again: the European Commission (EC) released a new analysis report of the previous Erasmus+ generation on 15 June 2022, and the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on the implementation of inclusion measures in Erasmus+ at the end of June.
The Commission report assesses what we can learn for inclusion from projects funded by the previous Erasmus+ generation 2014-2020. The report was published in the wake of the upcoming programme evaluation of Erasmus+ (2014-2020 and mid-term evaluation 2021-2027) and it contributes to the same goals as the recent proposal for a Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success, addressing low achievement and dropping out of school education as well as strengthening basic competencies. This recommendation is planned to be adopted at the next meeting of the EU education ministers on 28 November 2022.
The report collected and analysed data from 15 Erasmus+ funded projects in the school education sector. Based on the analysis of the case studies, the report makes a set of recommendations to enhance inclusion for projects in the current Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027: i. Projects should not focus on the needs of a specific target group but rather on the needs of an individual learner and on the local contextual needs and specificities. ii. Projects should experiment with a broader range of learning environments. iii. Peer-to-peer monitoring should be set up to support low-achieving participants. iv. The whole school, particularly the school management, and local public authorities should be involved in the Erasmus+ projects. V. Lastly, projects should be rendered more inclusive by having an extended implementation period of 2 or 3 years and by providing funding for follow-up activities.
At the same time, the European Parliament (EP) has been working on a report and a resolution on the implementation of inclusion measures within Erasmus+ 2014-2020. The preparatory report was drafted by the EP rapporteur MEP Laurence Farreng (Renew Europe / France). The EP subsequently adopted a resolution based on the report on 23 May 2022 with a significant majority. The resolution reflects on the learnings from the last programme generation and puts forward concrete proposals to improve inclusion in the current programme 2021-2027. Concretely, the resolution states that the size of the financial contributions is one of the most significant barriers to more people participating and benefiting from the programme, especially for lower-income groups for whom the grants are insufficient. Not only the size of the grant but also the type and timing of the funding are seen as obstacles: the resolution proposes therefore more tailored ways of funding, such as pre-financing and upfront payments. Further, the MEPs call for an easier application process to reach people with specific needs or from less advantaged backgrounds. And lastly, the resolution calls for closer links between Erasmus+ and other programmes, such as Interrail (for example implemented in DiscoverEU). This would not only foster inclusion but also make the programme greener (see SwissCore article). The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) has recently launched a joint call with the association Erasmus by Train to propose the introduction of a train ticket for all people who participate in Erasmus+. In their letter, they reiterate that affordability is a barrier to sustainable travel in Erasmus+. While the current Erasmus+ programme generation introduced €50 top-ups and additional travel days for those participants who chose to travel by train, ESN argues that this is insufficient to cover the differences in the price of green travel. ESN proposes to solve this by providing a free Erasmus+ train ticket to travel to and from the destination.
In a recent article entitled ‘Changing the tide on learning mobility: for all not the few’, the Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP), representing European civil society for education, put forward criticisms and ideas similar to the ones voiced by the EP. They argue that 75% of learners from lower income groups, who would like to go on Erasmus+, considered the costs for an exchange as too high to apply. According to the LLLP, this is particularly damaging as European mobility experiences lead to better employment opportunities and many other benefits.
While the European Commission, the European Parliament, ESN, and LLLP all agree that the Erasmus+ programme should be open and accessible for every European, independent of their background, there are still differences in the approach and measures to take to make this a reality. As the Swiss programme for Erasmus+ largely follows the Erasmus+ programme, the same challenges of inclusion exist in Switzerland.