European Trade Union Committee for Education

On the occasion of the first “European Education Summit – Laying the foundations of the European Education Area: for an innovative, inclusive and values-based education" organised by the European Commission on 25 January 2018 in Brussels, ETUCE welcomes the strong focus of the strategic discussions on education.

ETUCE which represents 131 education trade unions asks the leaders present at the Summit to understand education as a human right and public good and to consider immediate actions to implement the 1st principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights on ensuring now and for the future that education is a right for all in the European Union.

Education should be seen as enriching the life of citizens and not as a tool for the labour market as it is about more than employment and developing the future workforce. We ask the leaders of the summit to put stronger focus on building resilience, inclusion and wellbeing as well as skills in the European Education Area. The ‘European Education Area’ must aim at supporting member states in improving life and opportunities for its citizens while contributing to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a European.

Democratic governance of education at the national and local levels and collaborative leadership in schools are fundamental requirements of high quality education systems. This entails essential involvement of education trade unions in the framework of effective social dialogue with education employer organisations, including governments, in designing and implementing necessary educational reforms. In the post-2020 strategy, the assurance of effective social dialogue with education trade unions should be a target.

In the post-2020 EU strategy on education, the focus should be on teachers. The teaching profession should be more attractive and the recruitment and retention of teachers should be better supported.

“A highly valued teaching profession is a prerequisite for providing high quality education for all which is itself a precondition for social cohesion and democratic citizenship. It is therefore of the utmost  importance to achieve by 2030 that the teaching profession has a well-deserved status in society, political thinking and in the media.” – said Susan Flocken, European Director, in relation to the Commission’s initiative on the European Education Area.

The post-2020 strategy should emphasis the need for further public investment in education. The suggestion of 5% of GDP as a target of minimum investment in education is not challenging as only 9 countries of the EU have not achieved this goal yet. The target should be more forward looking in order to ensure sustainable investment to high quality education and to invest more in order to facilitate innovation and creativity with the best learning and teaching equipment in schools.