School gateaway: a great tool for teachers! 
The School Education Gateway platform offers its readers every month new articles, interesting publications, videos, expert opinions, and many more, and it focuses each month on a specific topic. During the month of May if focused on cultural awareness and expression (CAaE) which can be used as a versatile cross-curricular tool in classrooms. Find out more about it in the following articles:
- three examples on delivering and incorporating CAaE into classrooms
- expert article on the recently published CAaE handbook
- interview on why cultural education matters
- a short article on how heritage can contribute to CAaE
Youth work campaign
The European Youth Forum has launched the ‘We are youth work campaign’! The campaign aims at raising awareness about the great number of diverse players in the youth work sector and thus have a stronger voice.
Visit the website: http://www.weareyouthwork.eu/
World Refugee Day
The 20th June – World Refugee Day -was even more important this year, given the refugee crisis which sees thousands of people fleeing war and coming to Europe and outside Europe, where for example in Lebanon 90 percent of Syrian youth between 15 to 24 years old is out of school. On this day, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) called on European leaders to act urgently to ensure the protection and integration of young refugees. The YFJ is particularly engaged on this topic. At the European Youth Event, they released the documentary “Voices of Refugees” aimed at showing the human faces of the current “migration crisis”, such as the one of the 25-year-old Syrian architect Nour Machlah which delivered a moving speechdefending refugees. YFJ also coordinated the drafting of a statement by youth organisations on Investing in solutions for refugees/migrants and creating quality jobs for young people which impresses that a European solution to the migration and refugee crisis focusing on solidarity and European values is urgently needed. YFJ also signed the Joint NGO statement ahead of the European Council of 28-29 June 2016 which strongly condemned the new EU policies to contain migration and expressed their grave concern about the direction the EU is taking by making deterrence and return the main objective of the Union’s relationship with third countries. Also the European Economic and Social Committee will draw up an exploratory opinion on the “Integration of refugees in the EU”, drawing on current experiences and seeking inspiration from times that witnessed the arrival of refugees and other migrants on a comparable or far larger scale, focusing on the role of civil society organisations. The EESC calls not only for strengthening those measures within Europe but also outside the European Union. In June, also the UNHCR consulted NGOs on civil society’s role in the refugee crisis and focuses on the role of youth.
Young people are more and more marginalised
The European Youth Forum published the report “Social inclusion and young people – excluding youth: a threat to our future” which highlights that the European social model is no longer protecting young people, and they are now at higher risk of social exclusion and poverty. The latest Eurobarometer poll finds that more than half of young Europeans aged 16-30 feel marginalised in their own country. The European Sting analyses the results of the Eurobarometer poll in detail, identifying some of the causes why overwhelming percentages of EU youth feel excluded.
Time to keep investing in youth!
For 2017, no funding is now foreseen for the Youth Guarantee which provides an opportunity for education or work to any young person who is not in education, employment or training (NEET). A coalition of civil society, youth organisations, social partners and European cities, including the Youth Forum, has 
Slovakian Presidency of the Council of the EU: priorities in the field of education.
On 1 July 2016, the Slovak Republic took over from the Netherlands in the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The Programme of the Slovak Predidency is based on four priorities: an economically strong Europe, a modern single market, a sustainable migration and asylum policies and a globally engaged Europe. In the education sector, the priorities of the Slovak Presidency follow the objectives of the New Skills Agenda for Europe. As regards the negotiations on a Council Recommendation on establishing a skills guarantee, the Slovak Presidency aims to increase the level of adult education, including digital, entrepreneurial and transversal skills. In the context of the revision of the Recommendation on the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning, the Slovak Presidency will focus on developing tools and services for skills and qualifications and on improving their comparability. It will also address the modernisation of higher education and digital skills. Further to the Commission communication on supporting the prevention of radicalisation leading to violent extremism, the Slovak Presidency will prepare Council conclusions highlighting the role of education and youth work in preventing radicalisation and extremism.
Check out these open consultations!
- What makes an active citizen? Volonteurope has teamed up withEuropean Civic Forum to answer this question, but they need your help by completing the survey
- The European Commission is launching an online consultation for young people to share their opinion and ideas on how to encourage more young people to get involved in their communities, through volunteering and other activities.
- The LLLPlatform has launched a Erasmus+ Survey 2016 . If you have used the programme, give your feedback to help the platform build their position on changes to be made!
Check out these publications:
– TASKs for democracy, 60 activities to learn and assess transversal attitudes, skills and knowledge (Council of Europe):
– World Education Blog: it is hosted by the team working on the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Reportpublished by UNESCO). The blog aims to raise fundamental questions about global education.
– Recommended Annual Instruction Time in Full-time Compulsory Education in Europe 2015/16, Eurydice: based on 42 educational systems in Europe, this report analyses the recommended minimum instruction time by education level and across core subjects in 2015/16. It also looks into the degree of flexibility that schools have to shape the curriculum.
– EU Commission, Country Recommendations in 14 Countries: The recommendations focus on the key policy priorities for each country. The issues covered include: early school leaving and low levels of basic skills among young people, teachers, education for disadvantaged youth, cooperation between higher education institutions and the business sector. National governments will discuss the Commission proposals in June and the Council will adopt the final version of the country-specific recommendations in July.
Prizes:
2016 EESC Civil Society Prize – Migrants: deadline 09 September 2016.
LLLAwards2016– Celebrating Creative and Inclusive Initiatives in Lifelong Learning: deadline 31 August 2016.