At this point in time, it has become apparent that the COVID-19 outbreak is an unprecedented global public health crisis, a danger to social and economic cohesion across our communities. But it is also a threat to education and training systems’ stability and sustainability, a red flag for the need to upskill teachers, educators and trainers, and ultimately to massively invest in education and training. One might even say that, to some extent, it has led us to question the whole learning process at a pedagogical level, to the point that we are obliged to tell ourselves: we were not ready and we were not aware.   Read here the full statement

EU Member States are dedicating an ever-smaller share of their budget to education and training: unfortunately, this trend is well consolidated and alarming. Eurostat , the European agency dedicated to statistical analysis of EU Member States (and beyond), punctually publishes statistics about education and other sectors: its reports are of particular interest because they evoke a precise picture of countries’ investments in different budget areas.   At the LLLPlatform, we have compared the same study Eurostat publishes every year with the aggregated data of post-crisis Europe and found out what we feared: European countries seem to view education and training as an easy-to-cut budget item, despite the fact that most of them have not been implementing fiscal consolidation measures for a while, in the aftermath of the debt crisis. This was confirmed partially by the ET Monitor 2019 published in September at the European Education Summit ( see here LLLP’s reaction ). At the same time, such a trend goes against the view on the importance of investment in education expressed by several Member States at the joint meeting of EU education and finance ministers last November.   The role of education in times of crisis cannot be overstated: it is thanks to virtual and distance learning that our education systems keep on functioning during the COVID-19 outbreak – and this kind of learning needs more than promises. The very implementation of the European Green Deal and of the new Digital plan will depend on a clear political will to invest in education.   2009 – 2013 This early report from Eurostat helps us set the context. In 2009 the average EU budget for education was 5.5% . It then decreased to 5.4% in 2010 and 5.3% in 2011. In 2012 it went further down to 5.2% of the total national GDP, while in 2013 it stagnated. In times of crisis and expenditure-based austerity, education and training were amid the sectors to suffer the most, notwithstanding a general recovery in the economy. This is part of a global trend where public institutions rely on the private sector to fill the gaps in sectors it is no longer willing to keep ( see this UNESCO paper on the consequences of privatisation for the education sector). It is worthwhile to note that in 2013 there has been a change in the classification of the sector . 2014-2018 In 2014 , Juncker’s Commission settled in. The new President announced that education would be a vital part of their European programme, and stated that MSs could be convinced to invest in education programmes thanks to their high return-on-investment rate. However, Eurostat studies show that, at that time, the EU average was slightly above 5.0% . During these years the downward trend consolidated, and this is all the more worrisome because the total level of GDP in Europe rose well above pre-crisis levels. Europe is richer than ever, and yet the percentage of funds allocated to education and training keeps on decreasing.   In 2015 , over €721 billion of general government expenditure was spent by the Member States on education. This expenditure is equivalent to 4.9% of the EU’s GDP . ‘Education’ is the fourth largest item of public expenditure, after ‘social protection’ (19.2%), ‘health’ (7.2%) and ‘general public services’ such as external affairs and public debt transactions (6.2%). In 2016 , despite the pull of countries such as Finland, Denmark, UK and Belgium, countries from the European periphery started the downfall. Italy, Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania are well below the threshold of 4% of their GDP, marking a clear division with northern and central Europe. We learn that this trend not only affects education and training, but it is a much broader trend that sees disinvestment in all social areas. In fact, this study published by Eurostat reminds us that investment in the social sector was rising pre-crisis and steeply decreasing after 2009. However, once the crisis ended, social investment never really recovered and one could argue that policy measures based on expenditure cuts have continued even without fiscal consolidation needs.   In 2018 , even virtuous examples like Denmark, Finland and Sweden reduced their share of investment in education and training. Sweden is the EU country that spends the most on E&T (6.9%) but Denmark saw its share of GDP in education and training fall from 7.9% in 2012 to a staggering 6.4% in the span of seven years. Countries like Romania and Ireland are perilously close to the threshold of 3%, which is unlikely to sustain the needs of a healthy public education system.   Takeaways To sum up, the average expenditures on education decreased constantly from a share of 5.5% of GDP in 2009 to only 4.7% in 2018, despite the claims of the European Commission and national governments. We are talking about a 17% disinvestment since 2009. While we should not forget that the absolute amount of money destined to education and training has increased , it is the percentage over GDP that gives the real measure of the importance of our sector to European countries. And our sector has never been this irrelevant.   Data source: Eurostat ; Elaboration: Lifelong Learning Platform The breakdown of the data by countries gives us an even grimmer image. Only three countries have increased their percentage of investment in education: Belgium (+0.1%), Sweden (+0.1%) and Croatia (a very positive example with +1.7%). On the other side of the scale, most countries have registered a decrease; amid the most staggering lie Cyprus (-1.2%), Slovenia (-1.2%), UK (-1.4%), Ireland (-1.5%), Portugal (-2.0%) and Lithuania (-2.6%). This trend is extremely worrying and the shrinking of funding undermines education in all of its sectors and forms. It undermines the personal development of individuals, it undermines the availability of skilled workers on the labour market, it undermines the wider benefits of learning, and it undermines our very society as we know it. Decreasing the percentage destined to education and training means that public expenditure cannot keep up with the dynamic pace and the countless transformations that education is currently experiencing, at the risk of leaving behind those who cannot afford higher costs. By the same token, this trend reflects the increasing privatisation and commodification of education in our continent, that will eventually and inevitably widen the economic and social cleavage in Europe. Current trends of investments are moving from “education & training” to “skills” provision to further support this market approach where skills are understood as a product to sell rather than intangible and invaluable knowledge.   The Lifelong Learning Platform vehemently opposes the diminished share of investment in public education and the increasing tendency to treat education as a marketable good: we will not stop asking the European institutions and the Member States to increase their expenditures in education at European, national and local level. European education and finance ministers have already spoken the truth about the value of such investment, and we now ask them to translate their acknowledgement into robust and concrete commitment.

The Lifelong Learning Platform has decided to postpone the launch of registrations for its Annual Conference “Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies” to be held on Zagreb on 27-28 May. Because of the outbreak in COVID-19 across all Europe, the LLLPlatform has decided to postpone the launch of the registrations until the end of March, when the Steering Committee will be assessing the situation again. This also applies to the timing of the General Assembly 2020, initially foreseen for 26-27 May 2020, in Zagreb. The whole membership including LLLP staff thanks you for your understanding.

In 2018, LLLP joined a consortium of 5 organisations to start a new project called TaMPADA , which will be implemented until 2021. Partners are now launching its first achievement: an Evidence collection toolkit and framework for tracking and monitoring the progress of disadvantaged learners. This is designed to be of great use to adult education training providers in showing evidence of quality design, implementation and impact of adult education. The TaMPADA tool can be integrated into quality assurance processes that enable providers to best meet the needs of disadvantaged learners. The TaMPADA tool has been developed following extensive research by partners in the following areas: Existing tracking and monitoring systems within adult education systems across Europe – through desk-based research and focus group activity with experts in adult education Focus group and desk-based research on the impact and advantages of participating in adult education, beyond accreditation, that are of particular relevance to disadvantaged and harder to reach learners: ‘soft skills’ and broader social outcomes Focus groups held with disadvantaged learners themselves to ensure that the design and content of the framework and tool best meets their needs and would be of most advantage to them to use The TaMPADA Evidence collection toolkit and framework comprises: A comprehensive learning outcomes index – against which the provider can plan and the learner can self-assess; A framework for planning tailored programmes designed to meet the needs of the disadvantaged learners, supporting adult education providers to use, collect and assess learner data throughout and beyond their learning, including post-course progress tracking and destination monitoring. You can freely access and download the toolkit here . Moving on, the TaMPADA consortium will be working towards a Manual of recommendations to enable inter-institutional working to better meet the needs of, and track the progress of, disadvantaged learners. This will be launched later this year.

On February 17-18 DIMELI4AC partners flew to Pallini (Greece) to discuss the work done in the past few months and decide on the next steps towards the implementation of the DIMELI@SCHOOL programme. DIMELI4AC is an Erasmus+ KA2 project which aims to promote the development of digital media literacy (DML) and critical thinking skills among students aged 10 to 15 with the support of their parents, teachers and schools. After concluding the initial research stage and finalizing a Competence Framework, DIMELI4AC partners have been hard at work to develop teaching and learning materials for students on the topic of digital media literacy. The resources, which will eventually become part of a comprehensive implementation pack for schools, cover six crucial topics within the framework of digital media literacy education: Each Module will contain a minimum of three resources : A PowerPoint presentation : to easily present the topic in class Teachers’ notes : to guide teachers in planning DML classes Pre- and post-assessment : to evaluate students’ understanding and issue Open Badges All resources will become available before summer on the DIMELI e-learning platform , where students, teachers and parents will be able to access the files and communicate with each other through the forum. Stay tuned! Until the end of the year, DIMELI4AC partners plan to focus on the next two crucial resources: An interactive game for students which will allow them to test their knowledge and, after obtaining an Open Badge for each of the six modules, receive the overall DIMELI Open Badge; An Implementation Pack for schools , containing all necessary resources to implement the DIMELI4AC programme in their classrooms (including teaching and training materials, GDPR consent form templates, promotional material etc.) Despite Athens’ public transport strike, DIMELI4C never stops! After a pleasant and productive two days, DIMELI4AC partners are looking forward to the months to come and to the opportunity to test their training materials before the project final conference, which will take place in Brussels (Belgium) in the spring of 2021.

On February 14th, the LLLPlatform was awarded by Trusted Jobs as the 2nd best employer in Brussels! The ceremony took place in the context of the POLITICO Job Fair ad was hosted by Trusted Jobs, the new social enterprise that allows employees and trainees to rate their employer, thus giving employment a new democratic dimension. For the first time, people working in EU Affairs got to have a say on their working conditions and can improve the work culture in the sector of the EU. We invite you to review anonymously your work experiences in EU Affairs, including your current job. The 2020 Trusted Jobs Ranking gives recognition to organisations with the best working conditions. It encourages others to improve their work culture and has the ultimate goal to create better jobs for all. The LLLPlatform is very happy to see that its efforts in creating a healthy culture and a learning work environment have been recognised.

LLLP has just launched a survey on the EU Education and Training (ET2020) framework! The survey aims to gather the views of education and training stakeholders on the ET2020 framework, feeding into a short study that LLLP will publish as own initiative with a “shadow report” for the ET2020 Monitor. LLLP has selected five countries to target: Slovenia, Ireland, Austria, Romania & Portugal and three specific areas of the framework to assess: early school leaving , inclusive education , and adult learning . The survey is available here (only in English) and takes around 10 minutes to complete. The survey has a first section about policies on inclusive educationin general (including feedback on EU initiatives such as the Paris Declaration) and then questions specifically on adult learning and early school leaving (respondents can choose to answer on both topics or only one). LLLP aims to hear from a variety of stakeholders including civil society organisations, formal education institutions, social partners and local/regional authorities. The deadline for responses is 15 March. Only 1 response per organisation is possible. Share it around and do not hesitate to get in touch with us for further info!

On January 23-24, CODESKILLS4ROBOTICS partners flew to the north of Sweden to discuss the work of the past six months and discuss the next steps ahead. CODESKILLS4ROBOTICS is an Erasmus+ KA2 project which aims to promote the development of STEM skills among students aged 9-12 through the channel of educational robotics (in particular through the LEGO Boost set). In the second half of 2019, CODESKILLS4ROBOTICS partners have focused on finalising one of the core project results: a comprehensive Educational Back Pack which supports the introduction of educational robotics in the classroom through the LEGO Boost set . As foreseen in the previously developed Competence Framework , the Back Pack guides students and teachers in exploring basic and advanced robotics functionalities with the help of REA, a custom build which allows students to quickly move from building to coding. Vernie from the LEGO Boost set The Back Pack is already available in PDF version but will also be accessible on the project e-learning platform , where students and teachers will be able to go through the material, assess their understanding of the contents and earn 6 different badges . The Back Pack is accompanied by a collection of 4 creative scenarios which allows students to test their competences by tackling different (and easily customisable) challenges related to space , music , history and the environment .

For two years, the Lifelong Learning platform cooperated with 8 organisations (university, research centers, municipality, social cooperative, NGOs) from across the EU to develop a new inclusive programme for youth workers and young people, the COMANITY programme . As the European project is coming to its end and because it was such a great and successful programme, we want to give it a legacy. That’s why we are launching this call for interest and participation.    What is it?   The COMANITY programme is a unique blended programme for youth workers and volunteers working with disadvantaged young people (NEETS, at-risk behaviours, substance misuse, offenders, mental health difficulties, socio-economic barriers and others), and aims to enhance their competences in empowering young people in their community.   See the project’s Brochure here for an overview of the project. The COMANITY programme includes: a competence framework, which defines the skills that community animateurs must develop to fulfil at best their role, a training programme to learn about those competences, a self-assessment tool to assess these competences, an online knowledge space, the “ COMANITY HUB ” and participatory action-research methodologies to implement and evaluate the programme.   What makes COMANITY different? The programme is innovative at European level because it promotes a “ community approach ” to working with disadvantaged youth, by better understanding and connecting to the young person’s lifeworld. It engages young people directly in the activity in their own community using a participatory action-research approach. To whom? The call addresses youth organisations mostly (professionals, youth workers, and volunteers) but it is also open to a wider range of stakeholders from social services, youth services, public authorities, other NGOs to companies with social mission. How do you express your interest? >>> Fill the following Google Form here and we will get back to you in a few weeks. What do you commit to?   It’s up to you! Based on your expression of interest, we will send you in few weeks the Toolkit “Ten steps to develop a COMANITY programme” and you are free to use it if you find it interesting.

On November 13th, LLLP with the support of COMANITY project partners organised an EU Round Table on the very timely topic of ‘ Skills for the Future of Youth work ‘ in Brussels ( agenda ). It was the COMANITY project’s final conference . The event was therefore also a celebration of two years of fruitful collaborative work between the nine organisations that composed the partnership. Over 60 participants from across the EU attended and actively contributed to the discussions.   See the photos of the event here Joe Cullen, COMANITY project coordinator and founder of the COMANITY idea, presented the project results ( PPT presentation ): a competence framework for youth workers, a training programme and the successful implementation of the pilots in four EU countries (UK, Greece, Spain and Italy). The added value of the ‘community animateur’ in comparison with a youth worker is the capacity to enhance the sense of community belonging in young people and engaging them actively in their community.    The first panel of the Round Table, ‘From Research to Policy’, gathered policy-makers from the European Commission, the EU Council of Europe – Youth partnerships, a Member of the European Parliament, as well as a civil society representative from the European Youth Forum. They agreed that the availability of funding and support to youth workers is very unbalanced between EU countries and generally insufficient. Research, such as the ‘action-research’ performed in COMANITY has long been proven useful and successful, including to inform policy-makers on policy design. It was also said that youth is listened to and taken into consideration by policy-makers at EU level, but to which extent are those suggestions and recommendations adopted and implemented? This needs to be monitored.   In a session called ‘ The Voice of Youth ‘, 8 youth workers from Greece, UK, Italy and Spain who participated in the COMANITY programme, went on the stage to share their heartwarming experience with the audience. Fields of experiences from the COMANITY programme pilot implementation were very diverse and ranged from young people with at-risk behaviours, others dealing with former drug addictions, mental health issues, or disabilities. See the presentation from Spain ( PPT ). In the interactive session called ‘The stakeholders’ perspective ‘, participants were invited to split into four groups, each of which tasked to discuss a specific theme on social inclusion of marginalised young people. The four themes discussed were ‘engagement in the community’, ‘community work and young people’, ‘vulnerable groups and social inclusion’ and ‘education’.   Engagement in the community For marginalised and vulnerable young people to become engaged as volunteers, activists and Animators in their local communities, they need to be given trust, love and respect. The formulation of – and subscription to – ‘Group Values’ is a paramount factor in the success of initiatives like COMANITY. Community Animators – and youth workers in general – need to understand what these group values are before trying to engage with young people. Early intervention is key, even starting from primary education levels. At policy level, the nature of community engagement – and the role of the Community Animateur – means that youth policy cannot be fragmented. ‘ A holistic approach to youth work is critical ‘ Community work and young people The second group talked about the tension between a professional development building on education standards and the inherent flexibility of youth work. Indeed, sometimes, training and competence framework can be seen as imposing formalisation. It was also suggested that local authorities could be instrumental in supporting initiatives like COMANITY – on the one hand by providing access to the COMANITY training programme for young people with few or no qualifications – and on the other by acting as certification and accreditation bodies to recognise their engagement. Vulnerable groups and social inclusion One of the major problems highlighted by this group was that evidence suggests that policy-makers and other key stakeholders in the youth and social inclusion fields are not sufficiently aware of the dynamics that drive marginalisation and social exclusion. The situation of young people – particularly those who are ‘on the margins’ – is complex and challenging. Policy-making tends to be preoccupied with easy-to-categorise ‘target groups’ – like NEETs, young immigrants and educational drop-outs. The reality is that these target groups are blurred – and excluded and marginalised young people are faced with multiple, and mutually-reinforcing issues (like poverty, limited opportunities, health issues). There is therefore a need for policy-making to become more aware of these dynamics, more reflective and more evidence-based.   Education The key issue highlighted by this group was the ‘meaning’ of education – and a key question was ‘what should be the connection between formal and non-formal learning in the youth and community environment?’ It was argued that there is a pressing need in general to bring down the barriers between ‘society’ and the formalised world of educational systems and practices. A radical idea proposed was to open up formal education and take students out of the school and into civil society. Although active citizenship is to some extent on the formal educational curriculum, most students, it was argued, have no idea of what active citizenship means in practice and what are the key issues and problems that need to be addressed through active citizenship.   Closing words and Reception in Music Finally, the youth Attaché of the Bulgarian Permanent Representation, Yasen Gyurov, closed the conference by saying encouraging words on the Council conclusions that were just approved by the Permanent Representations of the EU. He recommended that COMANITY results should get into the ears of national policy-makers as they are committed to improving quality and professionalisation of youth work in the EU. COMANITY partners will make sure to follow-up! Last but not least, members of the Strofi band from Greece, invited by MEP Arvanitis and KETHEA, partner in COMANITY, play rock covers for the participants at the reception.

December 3, Brussels – The OECD PISA 2018 and of the EU results were launched on the 3 December in Brussels. The Lifelong Learning Platform participated in the launching event which confirmed our biggest concern: pupils’ wellbeing is a major challenge. While PISA focuses on fundamental competencies such as reading, mathematics, and sciences it also looks at the general satisfaction of pupils with school experience. Building on a detailed analysis, the report shows that the number of underachieving students in the EU has increased from 2015 to 2018. This prompts the reader to understand that EU countries are not doing enough to “equipping citizens with the knowledge and skills”. The reason behind such an increase differs from country to country and thus the mechanisms to deal with them need to be adapted to the specific challenges while also, and most importantly, adopting a holistic approach to learner well-being and development. The report shows a big difference between the EU Member States in relation to their funding of education and student achievement. Even though it is not possible to establish a direct linear relationship between spending and educational achievements, one can observe, from the PISA report, that countries that spend more in education most of the time achieve better results of their students . The Lifelong Learning Platform strongly believes that education is a public good and a human right and, as such, should be at the forefront of every national policy with a clear investment strategy. This is a vital step to help students achieve their full potential, both as individuals and as part of a complex society. The report also shows that students’ socioeconomic status continues to affect their performance. In fact, the proportion of underachievers (in reading in particular and education in general) in most countries is much larger in the bottom quarter of the Economic, Social and Cultural Status of Students (ESCS) index compared to pupils in the top quarter of ESCS: up to more than 40 percentage points in Romania and Bulgaria. Socioeconomic status also strongly affects pupils’ educational expectations. In the many EU Member States, more than 80% of pupils from advantaged families think they will complete tertiary education, while fewer than 50% of disadvantaged pupils do. This is because the latter do not usually get the help they need and as such lose their hunger and determination for school. Their chances of future employment thus decrease and they are more inclined to rely on social welfare later in life. This is a worrying sign, especially because of its recurrence: the EU Member States are not acting upon it. The proportion of underachievers is even worse for students from a migrant background . The situation is usually worse for pupils born abroad (their underachievement rate exceeds 50% in Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden) than for native-born pupils with parents born abroad. The main cause is the difference in language, because language barriers play a negative role in the reading performance of pupils with a migrant background, to a greater extent than for mathematics or science. Another discrepancy in students’ performance – and especially reading – is based on their gender. Even though there is no big difference in achievement between boys and girls, girls outperform boys in reading skills in all EU countries. The EU average is 26.3% for boys and 16.9% for girls. These differences arise from the social and cultural context, pupils’ non-cognitive abilities (such as motivation and self-esteem), and gender stereotypes that translate into parents’, teachers’ and pupils’ gender-oriented expectations. Our school systems need to implement changes so as to make them as welcoming as possible for all and make sure that every pupil is valued for their skills, abilities and unique characteristics, regardless of gender. Students should not fit pre-crafted containers, but their education should, on the contrary, be tailored towards their needs and aptitudes. Another important issue discussed in the PISA report is the wellbeing of pupils in school. There are many factors that determine the wellbeing of students in school but bullying (including cyberbullying) and violence undermine both pupils’ well-being and their performance at school. More than one in five pupils reported being bullied at least a few times a month. EU countries should work more on making schools as friendly and inclusive spaces as possible, guided by strategic leadership and in close collaboration with parents, social services and other stakeholders in the wider community. After all, as the saying goes, it “takes a whole village to raise a child”. LLLP believes that investing in early childhood education would be of utmost help in order to alleviate the above-mentioned problems. High-quality Early Childhood Education boosts cognitive, character and social skills. It also has wider and long-term social benefits: it increases the likelihood of healthier lifestyles, lowers unemployment and reduces overall social costs of poverty and inequality. It can also ease inequality by enabling mothers to get back to work and support the household’s budget with a second income. All in all, the Lifelong Learning Platform calls for a rethinking of the “performance-based” approach to education and urges policymakers to make cautious use of PISA results. The performance of education systems themselves seems to be determined by a single survey representing 80 percent of the world’s economy (and not citizens) and assessing 15-year-olds in mathematics, science, and reading – only three subjects, more linked to economic outcomes of education. PISA results are often used selectively to justify policy-making, as they in fact do not claim to explain the causes and effects of phenomena in education. M. Sadler, one of the most influential comparativists of education warned already in 1900 that educational policies cannot be treated as “pick a flower from one bush and leaves from another, and then expect if we plant it at home we shall have a living plant.” Hence, we need to carefully consider education within its cultural context and local circumstances, looking at the differences between curricula, teaching and learning practices, teacher training and professional development, and practices of cooperation among the various actors and services that impact the lives and overall well-being of learners. This is the key to helping them achieve their full potential and deal with the challenges of 21st-century life. For more information about the results find here a few useful links: Our member’s view on PISA – OBESSU (Organising Bureau of European School Student Union) : link to the reaction . You can watch the web-streaming during which our Director, Brikena Xhomaqi raise the issue of PISA limitations and lack of focus on pupil’s wellbeing. Contact us for more information at policy@lllplatform.eu .

LLLP and partners launched a survey on the needs for a Community of Practice in the field of Validation for Prior Learning – VPL and Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning – VNFIL. Please find the survey here: https://bit.ly/2PAv9Kg