Results of
today's Education and Youth Council
Education
The Council adopted conclusions on:
• effective teacher education, addressing concrete issues such as how to attract and retain the best candidates, how to ensure the relevance of teacher education programmes and how to better exploit the potential of new technologies and resources. Member states are also invited to use the funding opportunities in EU instruments, such as the Erasmus+.
• multilingualism and the development of language competences, inviting member states to adopt and improve measures aimed at promoting multilingualism and enhancing the quality and efficiency of language learning and teaching.
• quality assurance supporting education and training, which cover specific issues such as the quality of cross-border education and the extent to which quality assurance arrangements could be developed in other areas of education and training, such as schools, work-based learning and non-formal learning.
It also held, in public deliberation, a policy debate on the subject: "Education crossing borders: new opportunities and challenges". The Secretary-General for Education and Religious Affairs of the Greek government and President the Council, Professor Athanasios KYRIAZIS, declared that “the three sets of conclusions constituted the basis for a rich debate on this issue which is increasingly important in Europe. The national and international higher education institutes and studies providers should work together to ensure the quality of cross-border curricula and diplomas”.
Youth
The Council and the representatives of the governments of the member states adopted two resolutions on:
• the EU Work Plan for Youth, which is a medium-term plan for 18 months, with key initiatives in specific youth policy areas, so as to enable the EU and its member states to address urgently the high youth unemployment rates and the consequences of the current crisis for young people.
• the structured dialogue process, which is a forum for continuous joint reflection on the priorities, implementation and follow-up of European cooperation in the youth field, involving a wide range of young people and youth organisations.
The Council also adopted conclusions on promoting youth entrepreneurship to foster social inclusion, focusing on fostering creativity, innovation and green jobs and inviting member states to recognise the importance of entrepreneurial education from an early age, highlighting the role of non-formal and informal learning to ensure the autonomy and the personal development of young people, as well as to facilitate their successful integration into the labour market.
In this context, ministers also discussed, in public deliberation, how to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among today's younger generation. The discussion brought together experiences and proposals from member states and had the contribution of an external guest speaker, Mr Konstantinos Kollias (President of the Economic Chamber of Greece). Professor KYRIAZIS underlined that "this issue is a priority for the Greek Presidency, given the still high youth unemployment rate in Europe and in particular in Greece ".
