On 27 November, education and training stakeholders at EU level were reunited by the Lifelong Learning Platform for the annual European Lifelong Learning Stakeholders Forum. After five years in which the European Education Summit replaced the traditional format of the Forum, this year’s edition saw the support of the European Commission as well as the inclusion of the outcomes of the Forum in the Summit discussions.
For a full day, over 100 EU civil society organisations were engaged in World Cafe discussions to:
– Discuss the successes and remaining challenges of the implementation of the European Education Area for each of the main sectors of education and training (early childhood education and care, school education, vocational education and training, higher education, adult education, non-formal education and youth).
– Discuss the successes and remaining challenges with regard to the six dimensions of the European Education Area.
– Elaborate recommendations on five aspects of the European Education Area: investment and funding for the achievement of the EEA, governance of the EEA, policy coherence within the EEA and with other EU policies, monitoring of the implementation of the EEA and achieving equity within the EEA: the time for new strategic priorities.
The discussion on the EEA was prompted by the fact that 2023 was the year that marked the mid-term review of this initiative which will have implications on its further implementation until 2025 and for its future cycle of implementation until 2030. LLLP recalls that the EEA is the principal education and training strategy at the EU level and has started its implementation as of 2020.