European Trade Union Committee for Education

On 30 May 2018, the European Commission published its proposal for establishing “Erasmus” 2021-2027: the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport. This new proposal will be the successor of the present Erasmus+ Programme 2014-2020, focusing on all education sectors. The programme’s beneficiaries will be school pupils, higher education students, trainees, teachers, trainers, youth workers, sports coaches, and also learners in vocational education and training and adult learning staff.

In this proposal, the European Commission sets out to double the budget to €30 billion for 2021-2027 and triple the number of beneficiaries. The programme also aims to reach out to people from all social backgrounds and build stronger relations with the rest of the world. In addition, it focuses on promoting forward-looking study fields, such as artificial intelligence and climate change.

ETUC and ETUCE warmly welcome many of the programme’s aims, in particular the emphasis on democratic citizenship and European values. At the same time, the joint statement requests that the budget should be used to implement the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights to guarantee rights to inclusive and quality education for all.

ETUC and ETUCE jointly call for more transparency and effective involvement of the social partners in designing and decisions related to the programme.

ETUC and ETUCE call for more specific support to socio-economically disadvantaged people and disabled people so that they can fully participate in this programme. We also request recognition of mobility experience of teachers as continuous professional development, more support to adult learning, and quality assurance and recognition of the mobility period abroad to all learners, in particular to apprentices.

The joint statement can be found here.