Equipping Europe's schools for the 21st century: the European Commission begins a public consultation

On July 12th the European Commission launched a public consultation entitled "Schools for the 21st Century". Based on eight key questions, the consultation seeks views about the development and modernisation of school education in the Member States. The objective is to identify those areas where joint action at the European Union level could effectively support the Member States in their own school modernisation efforts. The consultation will be available in all official languages and is open to stakeholders and the general public, including teachers', parents' and pupils' associations. It will be open until 15 October 2007.

The Commission supports the Member States in the field of education and training, especially by promoting policy cooperation and facilitating the exchange of information, data and best practices. The focus of this policy cooperation has increasingly shifted towards the issue of school education in recent years, as Europe faces a number of challenges:

• in 2005, about 6 million young people (18 to 24 year olds) left school prematurely;
• one fifth of 15 year-olds do not acquire adequate reading skills; and
• gender disparities continue to undermine the EU's potential in fields such as Maths and Science.

The Commission therefore decided to launch a public consultation, to seek views from all concerned about the future of Europe's schools. It is a very wide consultation, which is open to the general public and to all interested parties, including teachers', parents' and pupils' associations.

The aim is to see where cooperation at the European level can usefully support the Member States in their own efforts to modernise schools for the 21st century.

Commenting on the consultation, the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel', said "Education is at the heart of efforts to improve the EU's competitiveness and social cohesion. Schools are especially important in this process. Not only do they set the foundations for each individual's approach to lifelong learning, they also train people in citizenship, solidarity and participative democracy. However, further efforts are needed if our schools are to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In particular, they must be able to equip individuals with all the key competences they need to function in our increasingly competitive, knowledge-based society."

The public consultation document outlines eight different fields in which there is significant room for improvement, and on which some form of joint action could be beneficial:

1. The curriculum: How can schools be organised in such a way as to provide all pupils with the full range of key competences?
2. Lifelong Learning: How can schools equip young people with the competences and motivation to make learning a lifelong activity?
3. The economy: How can school systems contribute to supporting long-term sustainable economic growth in Europe?
4. Equity: How can school systems best respond to the need to promote equity, to respond to cultural diversity and to reduce early school leaving?
5. Inclusion: If schools are to respond to each pupil's individual learning needs, what can be done as regards curricula, school organisation and the roles of teachers?
6. Citizenship and democracy: How can school communities help to prepare young people to be responsible citizens, in line with fundamental values such as peace and tolerance of diversity?
7. Teachers: How can school staff be trained and supported to meet the challenges they face?
8. Management: How can school communities best receive the leadership and motivation they need to succeed? How can they be empowered to develop in response to changing needs and demands?

The findings of this Europe-wide consultation will guide future discussions with the Member States on school policy, and will subsequently feed into a formal policy statement, in the form of a Communication, by the European Commission.

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/consult/index_en.html.