EFIL welcomes the proposals put forward by the European Commission in the Communication “Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture which will be discussed tomorrow at the debate on education and culture at the Informal meeting of the EU Heads of State in Gothenburg.
In fact out of the six proposals included in the Communication, two are mirroring the campaigns our organisations have been promoting in the last year, namely RecogniseStudyAbroad and More funding for pupils’ mobility.
In particular:
- Making Mobility a reality for all :“Increase pupil mobility up to 500,000 school pupils through simplified partnerships between schools.” with the aim of reaching out to learners coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- The mutual recognition of diplomas: “In May 2018, publish the Commission proposal for a Recommendation on the mutual recognition of higher education and school leaving diplomas/study periods abroad with Article 165 TFEU as the legal basis. This Sorbonne process would build on experiences from existing cooperation schemes to facilitate such recognition and take further the cross-border validation of training and lifelong learning certificates.
EFIL and EEE-YFU have drafted a joint position in reaction to the Commission’s proposals, which outlines the following main points:-Making mobility a reality for all: to ensure outreach to all schools and the quality of the exchange, non-profit organisations expert in pupils’ mobility should be included as eligible project partners in Erasmus+ pupils’ mobility projects.- Mutual recognition of diplomas: build on the best practices of Italy and Austria where the school study periods spent abroad are recognised on the basis of the principle of appreciation of diverse school systems, development of intercultural competence of students and focus on competence-based learning rather than on the subject-based curriculum.
The European Parliament will react to the European Commission’s Communication by including its input in the report on Modernising of education in the EU which is being drafted my MEP Lybacka.
On 14 December the EU Council has already reacted by committing to implement the proposalssuggested by the European Commission.
For more information: elisa.briga@afs.org