Joint Report 'Education and Training in a smart, sustainable and inclusive Europe' (30 January 2012)
January 26, 2012
The report assesses actions and developments during the first cycle of implementing ET 2020 (2009-2011) and establishes priorities for European policy cooperation during the next cycle (2012-2014) which are aimed to a large extent at mobilizing education and training in support of the Europe 2020 strategy.
It identifies progress and challenges in five priority areas:
¬ Investment and reforms in education and training
¬ Early School Leaving
¬ Tertiary or equivalent education attainment
¬ Lifelong learning strategies
¬ Learning mobility
The accompanying staff working documents include interesting information with an overview of results of the past two years, listed linked to the strategic priorities and results per country.
The Joint Report contains an important new suggestion related to stakeholder involvement:
The Commission suggests to review the working arrangements under ET 2020 that were devised before Europe 2020 and European semester were agreed. ET 2020 should better be aligned with Europe 2020; it should be the mechanism to mobilize ET 2020 stakeholders, increase their ownership and harness their expertise in support of Europe 2020. (…)
To strengthen the link between Europe 2020 and ET 2020, the Commission could organise every year an exchange of views between stakeholders in the field of education and training.
This new Education and Training Forum could in early October discuss progress in
modernising education and training systems drawing on the discussion of education issues in the European Semester.
The joint report http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st05/st05600.en12.pdf
The accompanying documents and the communication from the Commission http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc1532_en.htm