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The EESC Civil Society Days 2023 featured three days of debates and exchanges around the link between civil society organisations and democracy, and the need to ensure an active, engaged participation to face the current societal challenges.   LLLP, alongside the European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB) and Cooperatives Europe hosted the workshop “Skills and Lifelong Learning for Democratic Societies” to highlight how the life course perspective, education, training and transversal skills are the way forward for Europe. There are skills, competences and attitudes that ultimately enable people to find fulfilment in their lives, adapt to fast-paced changes and become more conscious about their potential in society.   This workshop conceived the following recommendations: 1. Education and training are not a matter of government only. We must adopt a holistic and cooperative approach on education and training. To face our current challenges, we need to shape skills provision in partnership with civil society and all social partners who have political capital, concrete knowledge and understanding of the current needs and shortcomings. Introducing reforms in a holistic manner is the only option. By listening to those on the ground, building bridges across partners and by leaving no one behind, we will build a truly inclusive and sustainable learning societies. 2. Transversal competences are the key for citizen’s conscious and active participation in society. While education and training policies often focus on job-specific skills, transversal competences are the true backbone of a participatory and deliberative democracy: cooperation, critical thinking, problem-solving, democratic and collective management, conflict-resolution. These competences are based on common European values: democracy, solidarity, inclusion. They allow citizens to consciously participate in society and actively engage in our economy. We must focus on these transversal skills through formal and non-formal education, we must practice these in the workplace and take example on alternative governance models like cooperatives for example. But above all, we must work on boosting and recognizing these competences, otherwise they will remain invisible and so will our efforts to adapt to this fast-paced world.

Finance Watch co-published a civil society briefing on how to ensure a reformed European economic governance framework supports the EU’s goals and helps tackling Europe’s multiple crises. Europe faces serious economic, environmental and social challenges that require reforms and investment. But EU actions to tackle these challenges are constrained by Europe’s own economic governance framework, which has grown overly complex and out of date over the years. The Fiscal Matters coalition, a group of NGOs, unions and think tanks of which Finance Watch is part of, has reflected upon many elements of the European Commission’s orientation paper , and views it as a good starting point for the review. The paper makes seven proposals on how to improve the European Commission proposal: QUALITY PLANS: Ensure the quality of national medium-term fiscal structural plans FUTURE GENERATIONS: Free future-oriented spending from arbitrary constraint DEBT SUSTAINABILITY: Improve the monitoring of debt sustainability CO-ORDINATING SUCCESS: Reform the European Semester to deliver on EU environmental, economic and social objectives MONITORING RISKS: Broaden and deepen the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP: Increase national and democratic ownership GROWING STRONGER: Establish European fiscal capacities Download the policy brief here

This study is the result of research, led by Caritas Italiana, Caritas Europa and Don Bosco International in examining the situation for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and those not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) to transition from schooling into the labour market and to examine the significance of apprenticeships and Vocational Education Trainings (VETs) in supporting this transition and contributing to reducing school dropouts. The findings are based on an analysis of over 375 surveys completed by young people, aged between 14 and 22, who have themselves or their families been relying on Caritas’ social services in five different countries (Albania, Finland, Greece, Italy and Portugal), as well as on surveys conducted with those working in the VETs run by Don Bosco. It also contributes to understanding correlations between the COVID pandemic and the economic difficulties of these young people impacting on their transition into employment. Read the study here

The EU institutions launched a process of reviewing the EU economic governance process framework based on lessons learned during the pandemic and the energy crisis. The first step in the review process has been a European Commission Communication on orientations for a reform of the EU economic governance framework , published on 9 November 2022. To better understand the economic governance framework, as well as the proposed new rules, LLLP prepared an InfoNote which is accessible here . The Reaction will be based on the contents presented in the InfoNote. LLLP has been calling for a ‘golden rule’ in the economic governance framework to be applied so that public investment in education and training would be excluded from debt sustainability calculation . The initial Commission suggestions do not feature such a rule, though the claims have been that the revised rules would allow Member States to invest freely to address comprehensive challenges. Though it is true that the flexibility is increased, the absence of a clear exclusion of certain forms of public investment would mean that the approach would be wildly divergent across Member States and the increased focus on the energy and climate crisis might cause education and training to fall down on the agenda over the years. Such a situation does not bode well for the EU findings regarding the structural inequity issues in learning across all of Europe but also for the fact that the boost in public funding post-COVID-19 has not yet compensated for the decades of underinvestment in the sector. Read the full reaction here

In 2016, the Lifelong Learning Platform launched the Lifelong Learning Awards to celebrate creative and inclusive initiatives from organisations and individuals all over Europe to bring visibility on lifelong learning and inspire new actions and policies. The 2023 edition will seek to receive practicesin the topic of ‘ Key competences for all: a lifelong learning approach to skills ’, a theme that will encompass all year for LLLP since 2023 is the European Year of Skills , a welcomed initiative to highlight the need for education and lifelong learning for all, by equipping learners with transversal competences to navigate daily life and not only the work environment. The LLLAwards 2023 will recognise and award three initiatives in three different categories, as follows: System level: successful practices for transversal competences for learning and resilient societies Provider level: embedding transversal competences in formal, non-formal and informal learning environments Learner level: acquiring necessary transversal competences for active participation through non-formal and informal learning and their validation and recognition Apply here by 31 August

Youthwise , the OECD’s Youth Advisory Board, is made up of brilliant young people aged 18‒30. They bring their perspectives and ideas to the OECD, while also learning about the work of the Organisation and international policy making. In 2022, Youthwise members helped to inform policy debates on issues that affect them first hand, from high-level OECD events to COP27. Highlights include exchanging with Ministers from OECD member countries at the 2022 Ministerial Council Meeting and organising an event at the OECD COP27 Virtual Pavilion . After the success of Youthwise over the past two years, applications are now open for Youthwise 2023 until 12 January . All applications are welcome! We are looking for a variety of profiles, experiences and points of view, and expertise in policy isnot at all required. Applications can be made through the Youthwise page here .

LLLP has just published the policy recommendations on implementing CHOICE’s MOOC and the overall STE(A)M approach in school curricula,in STE(A)M education. What can be done at regional, national, and European level for this to happen? Click here to read CHOICE’s Policy Recommendations

The Commission presented its six priorities in 2019 with a view to build a greener, more digital, more inclusive and more resilient EU. While the bulk of education and training policies were assigned to the priority on Promoting our European way of life, all the other dimensions foresee a reliance on education and training systems: since by its very nature education and training is a key transversal policy area for the achievement of all their objectives . When considering the European Green Deal (EGD) priority, it has been, at times, difficult for education and training stakeholders to identify how education and training policies connect with the very technical legislative packages that command the political and media attention. Similarly, there has been an issue with the lack of connections with broader social policies that will ensure that implementing the technical files such as retrofitting, greenhouse emissions, among others are done in a way that puts people and planet first.   Education and training in the Green Deal: is it enough? It is encouraging to see the interconnections between the initiatives from the European Education Area and the EGD . More concretely, the EGD highlights the development of a European competence framework and the support of exchanging on good practices in EU networks. These initiatives were developed more in depth as part of the C ouncil Recommendation on learning for the green transition and sustainable development , the GreenComp and the Education for Climate Coalition . It is also promising to see the connections with files from the Skills Agenda such as the investment in re-skilling and upskilling which were among the main focus points of the Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality .   However, within the Communication on the EGD , only formal education institutions such as schools, training institutions and universities are explicitly considered as key actors to engage pupils, parents and the wider community on the changes needed for a successful transition. This focus on the formal education sectors versus a lifelong learning approach continues with calls for financial resources to make school buildings and operations more sustainable. While these aspects are an important part of the efforts, to make our education and training systems truly sustainable and resilient, investments need to go beyond physical infrastructure and the formal sector to simultaneously investing in direct support to learners of all ages, parents, educators (and their communities) as well as the non-formal and informal learning sectors . In our upcoming position paper, LLLP brings attention to the importance of investing in curricular changes and pedagogies – such as project-based and practical oriented learning which also demand investment in non-formal and informal sectors. Other key areas include ancillary services (such as housing), participatory decision-making and adequate funding for monitoring and evaluation with concrete qualitative and quantitative indicators.   As part of the EGD, the Commission also highlights the importance of proactive reskilling and upskilling strategies and measures in which the Skills Agenda, the Youth Guarantee and the European Social Fund+ will play an important role in helping Europe’s workforce. While this is a necessary step, it must be accompanied by ensuring reskilling and upskilling opportunities for all, regardless of the industry and current employment situation , but with greater targeted attention directed towards those most disadvantaged in society and towards low-skilled learners considering that they usually do not benefit of the available learning offer. This also implies a need to broaden the learning from sector-specific green skills to a more holistic development of key competences which can guarantee the opportunity for everyone to navigate the green and digital transitions and any other societal, economic or environmental changes that we will face in the future. LLLP invites the EU institutions to go further in their ambitions to integrate EGD and social – including education and training – policies. It became apparent straightaway that whenever the Green Deal is discussed the focus falls often on the more technical aspects than on the social ones, with the former gathering a majority of the political and media attention as Member States struggle to reach agreements around several files. Given the different competence levels, key social aspects have been addressed through non-binding legislation, only inviting Member States to implement necessary changes and calling for proper monitoring of their implementation. However, this leaves a gap in which compliance with measures from Fit-for-55 (focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions) become enforceable and key files to ensure a people- and planet-centred transition lag behind.   In light of this situation, the Lifelong Learning Platform joined last year the European Alliance for a Just Transition, an initiative of SOLIDAR . The Alliance brings together organisations coming from the social, economic, environmental and political spheres to jointly advocate for immediate, bold, and transformative action at all levels of society to build a sustainable and safe future for all. This includes among other dimensions the re-shaping of our economies and the world of work, tackling inequalities, mainstreaming Just Transition through policy, recognising the role of education in the transition, delivering global climate justice, and drawing on human rights frameworks and science .   Making sure these dimensions are underpinning the European Green Deal will be the basis for a successful transition which gives all an opportunity for a decent life in harmony with each other and with nature. This cannot happen without ensuring that education and training is recognised as more than a tool for decent employment but as the foundation for well-rounded individuals that are active members and co-creators of sustainable and resilient societies, be that at work, at home, in their local communities or with nature . Read the 7 Recommendations to maximise the social benefits of Climate Action . The Recommendations were developed in the framework of the European Alliance for a Just Transition .

Students with specific learning difficulties (SLD) often feel excluded and misunderstood throughout their school journey, and are subject to early school leaving . The issue lies in school methodologies: with universal learning methods, students are left behind and their potential is un-expressed. To increase social inclusion and decrease early school leaving, students’ needs must be accommodated. The project “ Specific Learning Disorders no more! (LEAD!) ” precisely aims to empower students with specific learning disorders aged 9-14 years old, to develop the right competencies, through promoting adaptive technologies and their use . The project’s overarching mission is to enable students with SLD to understand their own difficulties and to support them in using adaptive methodologies, to thrive in education. Consequently, students not only learn adaptive ways to read, write, make calculations, but also develop lifelong learning competencies such as learning to learn and being autonomous. “LEAD!” is a two-year-long Erasmus+ project. Its partnership spans across four European countries – Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Romania – and is composed of: ‘ ENFOR , an Italian training and social research organisation; University of Valladolid ; the Lifelong Learning Platform, an umbrella for 42 European organizations active in the field of education, training and youth; the schools ‘ Istituto Comprensivo 2 Giovanni Paolo II ’ofPolicoro (Italy) and of the ‘ Inspectoratul Școlar din Iași ’ (Romania). The project’s direct target group is students aged 9-14 years old with SLDs, namely dyslexia (difficulty reading), dysgraphia (difficulty writing), dysorthography (difficulty writing and following grammatical rules), dyscalculia (difficulty calculating). Besides teachers and tutors, the project’s indirect target groups include all of the school and not-in-school staff involved with the students with SLD. The indirect beneficiaries are instead the students’ families. The ‘ MY SKILLS ’ online platform – one of the project’s results – meets the project’s objective of empowering students with SLD and of achieving more inclusive education. The platform guides students in their learning, and, in doing so, provides them with the right competences and increases inclusion in school, as a consequence.   Project Outputs: ‘MY SKILLS’ Platform & Student License   ‘ MY SKILLS ’ is a platform for students to learn compensatory tools for reading, writing, making calculations, and their uses, where teachers can also access student progress. Its content is designed following the European Guidelines of the Validation of Formal and Informal Learning (CEDEFOP). The platform has a twofold advantage: (a) it can be accessed both online and offline, so that learning paths are readily available no matter the context; (b) it encourages the use of information and communication tools, and telematic forms of communication between teachers and students. Towards the end of one’s journey on the platform, students have the opportunity to gain the European license on the use of compensatory instruments. Overall, the project’s two outcomes denote innovation from both a content and digital point of view by embedding compensatory tools for SLD students within the digital world. At the end of the project, the partners organised multipliers events in each country involved, as well as an international conference in Brussels, entitled: “Achieving inclusive and learner-centred schools”. The conference included an interactive panel discussion with experts (Luisa Lopez, member of the Italian Dyslexia Association, board member of the European Dyslexia Association ; Augustin Mihalache, Attaché Education, Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union ; Rachel Vaughan, Head of Operations, EASPD ; Erik Ballhausen, Senior officer in EU program management, EACEA ). The project’s conference highlighted three main points in relation to the project “LEAD!”: 1. Importance behind inclusive education ; 2. Importance behind inclusive communities ; 3. Need for evidence-based good practices for inclusive education . Firstly, embracing diversity is essential , and empathy is key in doing so. “LEAD” reflects how it is important for education to be inclusive, because we all have different learning methods and paths. Students with SLD should be offered the possibility to make use of adaptive technologies when reading, writing, calculating. If not, education is not inclusive because it does not allow equal learning opportunities for all. Secondly, building learning communities is important to achieve inclusive education . “LEAD” kickstarts the possibility of having an interaction between parents, teachers, and students. Here, just like for teachers, parents can learn from how children learn, and adapt to their needs accordingly. COVID-19 and homeschooling is a good moment to learn how children learn, and we should, therefore, take advantage of it.   Lastly, there is a lack of practices – and, more specifically, of evidence-based ones – that address inclusive education . Drawing on the project “LEAD”, new practices may be added and built upon, to collect a database of practices on inclusive education for students with SLD. Insights into pedagogy are relevant and are impactful to use to establish such good practices. Overall, the Erasmus+ project “LEAD” stems from a pan-European partnership which aims to increase inclusive education and decrease early school leaving of students with specific learning disorders (SLD). The project’s outcomes – the ‘MY SKILLS’ platform and the resulting student licenses – attempt to empower students with right competencies – both concerning reading, writing, calculating ones and learning- to-learn – to succeed in school. Ultimately, the project’s final conference both re-enforced and shed new light into the need for inclusive, community-centered education, and the creation of evidence-based practices that address inclusive education. The aforementioned points are some of the policy recommendations raised from the data, observations and feedback collected throughout the project, which address policy makers at local, regional, national and EU levels. The conference’s discussion supported how “LEAD!” is the right step towards achieving inclusive education and creating standardized good practices for it . How do I Access the Platform? To become more familiar with the ‘MY SKILLS’ platform, have a look at the explanatory video on how the platform works . Both teachers representing a class, and individual students, can sign up. Whereas students wishing to join ‘MY SKILLS’ can select “Student” as a role during the registration process, teachers can ask to have their school involved by sending an email to myskills@myskillslead.eu .

As a member of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children , the Lifelong Learning Platform endorses the recent position paper from the EU Alliance on the European Care Strategy and the revision of the Barcelona Targets. This position paper clearly recognises the links between early childhood education and care, and a sound development of all children. The position paper also addresses a comprehensive reaction to the strategy, an analysis of the proposal for a Council Recommendation on the Revision of the Barcelona Targets on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) , and an analysis of the proposal for a Council Recommendation on the access to affordable high-quality long-term care (LTC).   The European Care Strategy is an important framework to address the needs of children, their families and carers by proposing that care be affordable, accessible, high quality and provided at all ages. It also brings attention to gender stereotypes in the care sector, improving working conditions, among others.  The European Commission’s Council Recommendation on the revision of the Barcelona Targets on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) tackles on relevant aspects including the recognition of educational equity for children, and guaranteeing affordable and high quality care for children with disabilities and special educational needs. The Alliance also brings together important recommendations on the topics of mental health support for children and families, discrimination of vulnerable groups and the role of local communities for example. Read the full position paper here

In 2017, there were around 35.67 million students with specific learning difficulties across the EU: 13.88 and 21.7 million in primary and secondary school respectively (EPALE, 2017). For this group, the rate of early school leaving is stark: 1 out of 4 students equates to 25%; a considerable leap from the general early school leaving rate which stands at just under 10%(Eurostat, 2018).   The LEAD! Project aims to identify and overcome the barriers that such students (aged 9-14) encounter at school with an eye on mitigating early school leaving and ultimately work towards achieving early school leaving targets as set out in the EU 2030 strategic framework. A figure that stands at 9% (Eurostat 2022).   Empowerment forms a key focus of the project. The aim being to equip students with learning difficulties with the right competencies to succeed and reach their potential at school. This requires a concerted effort that considers not only students but also teachers, headmasters, tutors and trainers and all the school staff involved in supporting these students, as well as their families, to give young people and adults involved in their education the tools to better understand the difficulties they experience at school, and how to overcome them. The main outcome of the project is the digital platform MY SKILLS that offers both online and offline learning paths (blended learning). The platform hosts training material for students, teachers and trainers, a sharing space for users (Community), and a Help Desk for schools, families, pupils (in the following languages: English, Italian, French, Romanian and Spanish). After the end of the project, the Help Desk service will be available only in Italian and English. The platform is accessible to all students with SLD as well as their families and teachers interested in expanding their knowledge on the topic. The platform will be presented to the public in early November, during the International Conference on Specific Learning Difficulties which will be held the 9th November in Brussels from 3PM Participation is free, but registration below is mandatory. Registration will be open until the 20th of October 2022 .   Spots are limited, confirmation of participation will be provided on a rolling basis from the 10th of October 2022. Register by clicking here .

The European Commission’s recently adopted – New European Innovation Agenda – sets out a number of key actions to further the development of innovation ecosystems in Europe. As the communication rightly highlights, un-tapping Europe’s innovation potential presents a key hurdle to overcome in the bid to effectively navigate the twin green and digital transitions and to identify effective solutions to the most pressing societal and economic challenges. Based on a range of core pillars, the initiative takes aim at a number of bottlenecks inherent in the current innovation landscape including: lack of synergies between existing policy and funding instruments, asymmetries between different innovation actors, innovation divides between regions and Member states, and overly-complicated and ineffective financing mechanisms.   While acknowledging the relevance of the issues highlighted in the communication and the basic premise that Europe can do more to unleash its innovative potential, it is regrettable that the problems identified are not matched with a more holistically grounded set of solutions. This is, in part, an issue of conceptualisation.   The conceptualisation of innovation upheld in the communication is largely oriented towards technological development and deployment, with much attention given to deep tech start-ups and their financing. Additional references to diversifying suppliers, markets and businesses, and a significant emphasis on competitiveness, indicates an over-emphasis on innovation as a new market potential to tap but with little reference to solving our social and environmental problems.   As LLLP argued in a recent position paper, Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies , innovation is rooted in the co-creation and transfer of knowledge that generates social, economic and environmental benefits by means of novel approaches, ideas or ways of organising. While technological solutions are indeed an important part of this process, it is just as likely for social innovation and social entrepreneurship, or for perspectives from the Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, to support the unleashing of Europe’s innovative potential. A radical reconceptualisation of what innovation entails is required. One that finally recognises the contribution and value of different stakeholders. Only then can the NEIA begin to achieve what it sets out to do. Read the full communication here !