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The European Commission’s revised proposal for the next long-term EU budget (2021-2027) brings both hope and disappointment. The strong commitment to European cooperation and public investment demonstrated by its proposed allocation of 1.1 trillion euros, along with 750 billion euros for recovery instrument NextGenerationEU, is a positive sign for the future of Europe. Addressing the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the green and digital transitions, certainly requires ambitious public investment. In this regard, Europe cannot afford to leave people behind by failing to adequately channel such investment into funding programmes which have a tangible and positive impact on their lives while also helping to tackle the above challenges and contribute to the EU’s recovery. However, compared to the Commission’s original proposal from 2018, the revision surprisingly reduces the allocation to such programmes. Read the full statement here

On June 22-23, IN-QUAL partners met online to wrap up the socially-distanced work of the past few months and make plans for the last phase of the project. IN-QUAL project aims to support entrepreneurship education providers in the implementation of quality assurance systems and to promote a EU-wide culture of quality inspired by EQAVET standards. Over the last few months since our meeting in November 2019, we have been hard at work on the development, revision and finalization of the contents of an online training course for Quality Managers , which will soon become available on our website. The training course is composed of 5 Modules structured around the 4 phases of the quality improvement cycle (PDCA cycle): Introduction Planning Implementation Check Review The 5 Modules comprise a total of 28 Action Cards , short learning blocks designed to be easily implemented in a VET/EE institution to improve its quality management system. While the online platform receives its finishing touches, the partnership is looking for VET/EE providers interested in testing the online course ! If you are a Quality Manager in Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands or Portugal and are interested in this opportunity, learn more here and get in touch with us ! After selecting 30 Quality Managers, we will officially launch the testing phase starting in September 2020, followed by a final review of our online material and a set of final recommendations for entrepreneurship education providers and policy-makers. COVID-19 has kept us apart but we are looking forward to these last few months of work with positive spirits and an even stronger desire for collaboration.

The Lifelong Learning Platform is delighted to announce that it will be holding its 2020 General Assembly on 25 September . The GA will be held in an online format due to the restrictions on meetings and travels, and will see the participation of the whole membership. Members will gather to discuss the general direction of the LLLP, and will also proceed to the election of four new Steering Committee members . The rotation system has it that three members of the Steering Committee will end their mandate this year, and two more resigned in the last year; the General Assembly will thus be tasked with electing these new representatives, a stated in our statutes and internal rules. Members of the LLLPlatform are currently presenting their applications, with a deadline on 4 September. The General Assembly will also elect a new President for LLLP, as Luis Costa’s mandate is coming to an end. As our statutes and internal rules state, the new President shall be elected between the Steering Committee members whose mandate has been lasting for at least one year. During the General Assembly members will be discussing the next cycle of the Erasmus+ programme as well as the LLLP positions on Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies and the role of education in active citizenship. The E&T post-2020 policy developments will be part of the discussions too. Two Working Groups will also take place. The General Assembly will also be an occasion to vote on and welcome new members in the LLLP family. The LLLPlatform also invites interested organisations to come forward and apply as members of the Platform. If you are interested to become a member of the LLLP and would like to learn more about the procedures and added value, find more info here . Deadline for applications is 25 August 2019. Please get in touch with the LLLPlatform for any other matter.

The Lifelong Learning Platform is delighted to announce that it will be holding its 2020 General Assembly on 25 September . The GA will be held in an online format due to the restrictions on meetings and travels, and will see the participation of the whole membership. Members will gather to discuss the general direction of the LLLP, and will also proceed to the election of four new Steering Committee members . The rotation system has it that three members of the Steering Committee will end their mandate this year, and two more resigned in the last year; the General Assembly will thus be tasked with electing these new representatives, a stated in our statutes and internal rules. Members of the LLLPlatform are currently presenting their applications, with a deadline on 4 September. The General Assembly will also elect a new President for LLLP, as Luis Costa’s mandate is coming to an end. As our statutes and internal rules state, the new President shall be elected between the Steering Committee members whose mandate has been lasting for at least one year. During the General Assembly members will be discussing the next cycle of the Erasmus+ programme as well as the LLLP positions on Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies and the role of education in active citizenship. The E&T post-2020 policy developments will be part of the discussions too. Two Working Groups will also take place. The General Assembly will also be an occasion to vote on and welcome new members in the LLLP family. The LLLPlatform also invites interested organisations to come forward and apply as members of the Platform. If you are interested to become a member of the LLLP and would like to learn more about the procedures and added value, find more info here . Deadline for applications is 25 August 2019. Please get in touch with the LLLPlatform for any other matter.

On 27 May, the European Commission published its revised proposal for the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027) along with the new financial instrument Next Generation EU aimed at helping EU Member States recover from the crisis provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Together these amount to a total of 1.85 trillion euros for the next seven-year period.   We welcome this ambitious financial package as a clear demonstration of the added value that European cooperation brings in such challenging times. Nevertheless, while increases to many funding programmes including Erasmus+ compared to the current MFF are a welcome development, we are concerned that the key role of education, training and lifelong learning in the recovery and overall future of Europe have not been recognised. Indeed, the proposed budget for Erasmus+, which at 24.6 billion euros in 2018 prices amounts to less than the doubling put forward that year, falls short of the ambition expressed by the European Parliament and Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen herself. As drivers of social cohesion, economic prosperity and innovation, education, training and lifelong learning remain vital for the personal and professional development of all people across Europe, as well as their well-being. They are key for empowering citizens in their daily lives. Hence, we stress that they should be a cross-cutting priority across the next generation of EU funding programmes. Erasmus+, for instance, has repeatedly proven its immense value in promoting skills development across various fields, fostering a sense of European belonging and solidarity and supporting cross-border cooperation among learners, educators, civil society organisations and policymakers. In light of the far-reaching impact of the pandemic on our education and training systems, including the investment gap in digital solutions that it has brought to light, we need this now more than ever.   Synergies between the future Erasmus+ and other programmes touching on social welfare, skills and employment (European Social Fund Plus, 86 billion euros), digitalisation (Digital Europe, 8.2 billion euros), social infrastructure (InvestEU, 31.6 billion euros) and research and innovation (Horizon Europe, 94.4 billion euros) also have vast potential for supporting Europe’s path to recovery. After all, education, training and lifelong learning are not just means to an end, or for meeting short-term demands on the labour market, but serve as a vehicle for promoting creativity, adaptability, entrepreneurial spirit and innovative solutions. These will all be crucial in dealing with Europe’s common challenges in the months and years to come.   We call on the Member States to back an ambitious budget for education, training and lifelong learning – in all their shapes and forms – in the next MFF and as part of the EU recovery plan. As we navigate our way out of this crisis, they will be fundamental for empowering people, supporting their well-being and active participation in society, and ensuring our readiness to solve the challenges that lie ahead. ——————————— The Lifelong Learning Platform (European Civil Society for Education) is an umbrella that gathers more than 40 European organisations active in the field of education, training and youth. Currently these networks represent more than 50 000 educational institutions and associations covering all sectors of formal, non-formal and informal learning. Their members reach out to several millions of beneficiaries. Contact: policy@lllplatform.eu – Rue de l’Industrie, 10 – 1000 Bruxelles – 02 893 25 15

The European discourse on sustainability has gained the centre of policy arenas and has spilt over all fields, including lifelong learning. Nowadays, it is no longer enough to have an outlook on the future of education, and we rather have to imagine the future of learning with sustainability as a polar star. Such was the spark that lit the debate for the LLLP webinar “Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies” , that took place on May 27th.   To be sustainable, education and training needs to have a broader focus, on transversal skills and on key competences. In our current landscape, lifelong learning is a fresh, positive and transformative force, as it enables learners to think laterally. Education should be appreciated by its own benefits , and yet there is too much focus on the education-employability link. To narrow the scope of education to employment ends would mean to undermine its primary function, which is personal development – hinted Prof Jonathan Michie from the University of Oxford in his keynote speech. The moment when we will get rid of this ballast will be the moment when our systems will turn sustainable. As such, lifelong learning is essential because it enables people to face contemporary challenges: in his vision, a sustainable education system is a system that allows all of its citizens to enrol in learning at all times. Looking at education through this perspective, it seems like the road ahead is still long. A lively panel discussion brought us to the question on everyone’s mind: what is Europe doing to make education systems sustainable, all the more in this crisis? The European Union is focusing on empowering teachers and trainers ( see here the Council Conclusions on Teachers and Trainers ). Ms Daria Arlavi, representative of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU, stressed how important it is to have a forward-looking union that addresses the many challenges our educators are facing. Because, in her view, a sustainable education system is a system that addresses the needs of its pillar actors: teachers and trainers .   While it is difficult to predict where new technologies will bring us, and what pedagogical methods will be developed, it is essential that our education systems teach us how to learn. Dace Melbārde, Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the CULT Committee, chose to address the importance of key competences for lifelong learning to give meaning to “sustainable societies”. In her eyes, our collective efforts should go towards diversification of learning environments , with a renewed importance of non-formal education and lifelong learning , which are truly indispensable to foster one’s adaptability. In this, a sustainable education system is a system that does not let change lead us, but that enables us to be the leaders of change.   This is particularly obvious in the current health crisis, which rapidly turned into an economic and social emergency. But, if it is true that a crisis often accelerates existing problems, it is also true that it lets solutions surface more rapidly . Such was the focus of Ms Catherine Sustek, member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Schinas, as the current scenario is bringing the European Commission to reconsider its strategies. She updated the audience about the upcoming initiatives of the Commission, including the much-needed revision of the Skills Agenda and the European Education Area : a portfolio that, if it successfully puts the learner at the centre of the process, will invariably bring us closer to the idea of a sustainable education system.   2019 was the year when the whole world was made aware of the environmental disaster that lays ahead of us. According to Rilli Lappalainen, Chair of the Steering Group of Bridge 47 , environmental education is the biggest priority for curricula and must be reflected in education policies, too. The “leave no one behind” principle that made the top of EU jargon must be translated for climate justice and environmental education and thus climb the list of the European Education Area priorities. With this angle in mind, growing attention to adult education is needed: cooperation and intergenerational learning can be a crucial step to foster a “greener” education. In his view, a sustainable education system is a system that equips learners with the knowledge to face such immediate and potentially-disastrous challenges . To this extent, involving civil society organisations in the forward-looking discussions is a must.   The debate around a sustainable lifelong learning society is, by its own nature, adaptive. Participants and panellists to the webinar agreed that the first step shall be a truly multidisciplinary approach and representatives of the European institutions will put efforts to mainstream such an approach and promote it among EU Member States. Because mainstreaming sustainability in education “is the only way to save planet Earth and its people”. The Lifelong Learning Platform is excited to take the lead in the joint efforts to link sustainability and education. In fact, this webinar was the first step that will feed a year-long discussion and inform our work for the future months. For the full content of the webinar; please see the live recording .

The LLLPlatform runs anannual review of the Erasmus+ programme implementation amid beneficiaries and civil society organisations. Curious to know what beneficiaries of Erasmus+ think of the programme? Following the success of the Erasmus+ implementation surveys from previous years, the Lifelong Learning Platform ran its 2019 Erasmus+ Implementation Survey from 6 September to 14 November 2019. In the same lines as last year’s survey, only European level organisations were targeted and a total of 40 responses were collected. By targeting European networks exclusively the consultation aimed to gain views from stakeholders with a high-level of expertise and representing a large number of beneficiaries across the EU and at different levels (local, regional, national), as the vast majority of them have 5 or more years of experience working with Erasmus+ and its predecessor, the Lifelong Learning Programme. Thus, the Lifelong Learning Platform seeks to provide decision-makers with an evaluation – from the direct experience of beneficiary representatives – on what is working well, what could be improved and what is lacking in the current programme, and thereby provide reflections that can be useful for the successor Erasmus+ programme. Here are some key findings. While there have been some key improvements, still a lot needs to be done to make the Erasmus+ an includive programme. The new cycle will perhaps be the much shough-after opportunity to rethink the programme and make access to it surely universal. Read the report with the results

In these times many people want to help. And there is a lot to do! Despite the challenge, millions of volunteers across the EU show a lot of initiative, creativity and resourcefulness in finding solutions to support others. Are you currently volunteering?   Then let this voluntary commitment be recognised by assessing your competences! With us you can validate (identify, document, assess and certify) these new competences for free! You may even earn a digital badge like this one: Your volunteer activities make a relevant contribution to your personal development. You acquire a whole range of life skills which you may be able to use in the labour market at a later stage. No matter if you, for example, chat on the phone with senior citizens, give digital tutoring or build up a help network in your neighbourhood, you will always gain important experience and develop social, personal and organisational skills. For further information or to express your interest, please fill in this Google form and we will be in touch very shortly. This initiative is part of the European project Job Bridge . The Lifelong Learning Platform is a partner in this project.

We are happy to announce that the Lifelong Learning Platform, with the support of external experts from UIL UNESCO, EESC, Cedefop and the European Commission, has launched a new project to redesign the concept of lifelong learning! This project aims to create a true Lifelong Learning Glossary, that will collect agreed definitions, words, abbreviations or acronyms giving the term and its full name, or its contextual meaning. While many definitions of key terms exist, we feel that most of them have not kept pace with the extraordinary revolutions that education and learning are undertaking. Because of this, we are gathering information from organisations and institutions as well as individuals working in education and training about different terminologies and definitions used in the field. We would like to know the needs and the best ideas from stakeholders, to better understand the main issues regarding terminology. Through this survey , LLLP aims to have a better overview of which terms might be problematic for end-users due to several factors such as national context, different understandings of the word, etc. Please find the survey here and provide your answers by 30 June : this will help us lay the foundation for a better understanding of education and lifelong learning.

“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan.It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity” Robert Schuman Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War and seventy years after the Schuman Declaration, another dangerous spectrum torments Europe and the whole world, once again testing our capacity to respond jointly to the great challenges of the present time. The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete well-being physical, mental and social and not just the absence of affections and illnesses”. The health crisis we are experiencing violently affects all dimensions of the self. In Europe and in the world millions of people, millions of citizens see life more complicated, their income reduced, their jobs lost, their well-being suddenly shuddered. And they would like to see Europe proactively countering both the immediate and the long-term effects of this crisis.   When we greet the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration in an effusive way, it is because we see the seed that bore fruit and allowed the construction of a more solidary and just Europe, despite the imbalances that remain and now, to a large extent, are worsening. Seventy years later, Europe cannot leave its citizens behind and needs to sow new seeds to nurture the path of progress and halt the violent impacts of the current crisis. At the Lifelong Learning Platform, we believe that the way forward lies in a ‘ learning Europe ’. As we hope it is now clear in every corner of the globe, learning does not manifest itself only in classrooms but is a fundamental part of our common living together. Learning for innovation, learning for our future jobs, but also learning from and with each other, learning for and from our personal development and learning to foster our values of solidarity, peace and democracy. We therefore call on decision-makers to take Europe forward on the basis of a renewed role for education and lifelong learning, to help lay the foundation for the Europe of solidarity that Robert Schuman so ardently aspired for.

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.