News

Educational news from around the world

  UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “The Right to Education in Emergency Situations.”

http://www.unesco.org/en/education/dynamic-content-single-view/news/un_general_assembly_adopted_a_resolution_on_the_right_to_education_in_emergency_situations-1/back/9195/cHash/06d3bd3985/

15/07/2010 - In effect, the Resolution instructs Member States, UN agencies, and other partners to dedicate significant effort to ensuring that educational provision is supported and strengthened in the face of crises. Given its work in some 25 post-crisis settings, UNESCO applauds the Resolution, as it recognizes that conflicts and natural disasters are one of the most significant impediments to achieving Education for All. UNESCO advocates and contributes to a holistic approach to the early revitalization of education services and systems in many conflict- and disaster-affected countries, addressing vulnerable age groups at different levels of the formal and non-formal education system. UNESCO’s contribution further focuses on the often neglected yet critical early capacity-building for national education planners and managers, fostering a medium and longer-term perspective for quality education and safer learning environments. The Resolution serves as a powerful reminder that, in humanitarian response, education is a crucial part of recovery.  

  Teacher training primary concern for entrepreneurship education policy

http://www.etf.europa.eu/web.nsf/opennews/5E258798C80FC394C12577650030275F_EN?OpenDocument

19/07/2010 - A high-level reflection process involving policy makers from some forty countries has pinpointed teacher development as the most crucial area to be tackled if entrepreneurship education is to be more strategically developed. Singled out as the most prominent concern by policy experts from the EU member countries and fellow EU aspirants, Iceland, Norway, Egypt, Israel and Tunisia, the conclusions of the reflection process reinforce concerns that the teaching profession is pivotal to any moves to bring forward entrepreneurship promotion within national education systems. ... The outcomes of the high-level reflection process called by the European Commission are detailed in a series of reports which followed regional meetings held in London, Stockholm, Prague, Rome and Zagreb between March 2009 and March 2010. ... The European Commission intends to follow up the high level consultation exercise with a specific initiative in 2011 particularly addressing teacher training for entrepreneurship. ... A selection of ETF partner countries will be engaged into the 2011 developments in teacher training. 

  Commission encourages vocational education and training

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/707&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

06/06/2010 - The European Commission today presented its new vision for the future of vocational education and training. Vocational education and training is chosen by an average of around 50% of all students in upper secondary education. However, the sector needs to be modernised to make it a more attractive and high-quality option, so that it provides young people with the right skills to find a suitable job and adults with an opportunity to update skills throughout their working life. Therefore, the Commission wants to encourage more people to take up vocational education, to improve the quality of the training on offer and to make it easier to move between jobs and countries. EU ministers are expected to discuss and adopt the plan in the second half of this year. ... The Commission`s plans builds on the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart and inclusive growth, and will also link in with the upcoming `Youth on the Move` initiative which will support wider learning and mobility opportunities for all young people.  

  Are Europe`s teachers getting enough training?

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1808&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

24/11/2009 - The OECD and the European Commission today present their new report on the “ Teachers’ Professional Development: Europe in international comparison“. It concludes that teachers need effective feedback on their work in order to take full advantage of training opportunities, but variety in training experiences, and a better working climate in schools, are also key to successful professional development. Almost nine in ten teachers take part in some form of in-work professional training, according to the report, and more than half say they want more. Based on this year`s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), which was conducted in 23 participating countries, the report provides internationally comparable data for the first time on teachers` professional development. 

  Europe must continue higher education reforms to modernise and increase quality

http://ec.europa.eu/education/news/news2169_en.htm

08/03/2010 - A report presented today by the European Commission shows that countries still face challenges in modernising higher education, a decade after the launch of a blueprint for reform known as the `Bologna Process`. The report, based on data provided by the 46 countries participating in the Process, shows that the economic crisis has affected higher education in different ways, with some countries investing more and others making radical cutbacks in spending. The report `Focus on Higher Education in Europe 2010: The impact of the Bologna Process` will be discussed at the Conference of European Higher Education Ministers, which takes place in Budapest on 11 March and in Vienna on 12 March. 

  Commission presents EU strategy for 2020

http://ec.europa.eu/education/news/news2166_en.htm

04/03/2010 - The European Commission has just presented the Europe 2020 Strategy to help Europe emerge from the crisis and prepare its economy for the next decade. Education and training are to play a key role for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Europe 2020 Strategy, follow-up to the former Lisbon-Strategy, will focus on a trio of priorities which are linked and will reinforce each other: Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation. - Sustainable growth: promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy. - Inclusive growth: fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion. Education, training and lifelong learning play a key role to achieve these strategic priorities, in particular when it comes to smart and inclusive growth. One of the five targets the EU is setting itself for 2020 addresses important education issues: reducing the number of school drop-outs to less than 10 % and increasing the share of young people with a tertiary degree or diploma to 40%. In order to meet the set priorities and targets, the Commission proposes a Europe 2020 agenda consisting of a series of flagship initiatives. Implementing these initiatives is a shared priority, and action will be required at all levels: EU-level organisations, Member States, local and regional authorities, and civil society.  

  Director-General joins UN agency heads to promote the rights of adolescent girls

http://www.unesco.org/en/education/dynamic-content-single-view/news/director_general_joins_un_agency_heads_to_promote_the_rights_of_adolescent_girls/back/9195/cHash/f23ac84a87/

04/03/2010 - The Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, has signed the UN Joint Statement on Accelerating Efforts to Advance the Rights of Adolescent Girls. The other signatories are the Executive Heads of UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, ILO and WHO. The statement was launched on 3 March 2010 in New York, during the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. This Commission is currently conducting a fifteen-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Statement expresses a common vision among the signatories to intensify their agencies’ support to advancing policies and programmes that empower the hardest-to-reach adolescent girls, particularly those aged 10 to 14 years old. It is as part of a joint commitment to promote gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women.  

  Invest in education to beat recession, boost earnings

http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,3343,en_2649_39263238_43586328_1_1_1_1,00.html

08/09/2009 - Growing advantages for the better educated and likely continuing high levels of unemployment as economies move out of recession will provide more and more young people with strong incentives to stay on in education. Governments need to take account of this in planning education policies, according to the latest edition of the OECD’s annual Education at a Glance. ... Going to university pays dividends in later life through higher salaries, better health and less vulnerability to unemployment, OECD analysis shows. In most countries, the difference in pay levels between people who have degrees and people who don’t is continuing to grow. The 2009 edition of Education at a Glance calculates the returns on investment in education by balancing the costs of education and of foregone earnings against prospects for increased future earnings as a result of higher educational attainment.  

  A guiding framework for Literacy

http://www.unesco.org/en/education/dynamic-content-single-view/news/a_guiding_framework_for_literacy/back/9195/

11/09/2009 - The United Nations Literacy Decade International Strategic Framework for Action is now available to support and guide literacy efforts at local, national, regional and global levels in the second half of the Decade and beyond. The Framework presents the three main strategic objectives that emerged from the UNLD mid-Decade review undertaken in 2007/2008. It is an expression of what the international community aims at achieving: mobilizing stronger commitment to literacy; reinforcing effective literacy programme delivery on the ground, and harnessing new resources for literacy.  

  Teacher study provides new data on conditions affecting teaching in schools

http://www.oecd.org/TALIS

10/06/09 - A new OECD report out 16 June 2009 will provide the first internationally comparable data on conditions affecting teachers in schools – from the impact of classroom disturbances to the availability of professional training opportunities. Based on the findings of the OECD’s first Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) in 23 participating countries, “Creating effective teaching and learning environments” looks at issues affecting teachers in secondary schools through the eyes of the teachers themselves. The countries covered by the survey are Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flemish Community), Brazil, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey. In each country, around 200 schools were randomly selected, and in each school one questionnaire was filled in by the school principal and another by 20 randomly selected teachers. Questions covered such issues as teacher preparedness, the teaching practices they adopt and recognition and rewards for teachers. The findings of the survey will be made public at press conferences in Mexico, with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, and Brussels, with OECD Deputy Secretary-General Aart De Geus, on Tuesday 16 June.  

  European universities awarded for excellence in supporting mobile students

http://ec.europa.eu/education/news/news1449_en.htm

11/06/2009 - 65 higher education institutions from 16 countries are today awarded with special European quality labels in recognition of their efforts to make it easier for students to study abroad. These labels are given to universities which have shown excellence in applying the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and the Diploma Supplement (DS), two European instruments that make teaching and learning more transparent and facilitate the recognition of studies and qualifications. The ECTS and DS Labels for 2009 will be handed out tonight by the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel`, in the presence of Vice-Minister for European Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Jakub Dürr. 

  A forecast of Europeans` skills until 2020

http://ec.europa.eu/education/news/news1430_en.htm

09/06/2009 - The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) presented today the results of the first pan-European forecast of its kind, “Future skill supply in Europe: medium-term forecast up to 2020“. The main results of the study are that the level of qualifications and skills is rising across Europe, particularly among younger people - and even more so among women. But inequalities in the level of education persist among Member States. The forecast shows a declining number of people with low qualifications in almost all EU countries and a steady rise in medium (mostly vocational) and high qualifications, both among the labour force and among the general population. Cedefop is an agency of the European Union based in Thessaloniki, Greece, and it supports European policy-making in the field of vocational education and training. This skills supply forecast complements Cedefop`s forecast of the demand for skills in the medium term, published in 2008. Providing cumulative data for all Member States except Romania, Bulgaria and Malta (and with the addition of Norway), the forecast also gives results for each country separately. As a next step it is planned to bring together the separate forecasts for demand and supply and to identify mismatches between those skills people have and those that are in demand on the labour market. The merged macroeconomic forecasts will be updated every two years, allowing policy-makers in the EU and in the Member States to take these projections into account when formulating education and employment policies. The results of the skills supply forecast will be debated at a Cedefop conference, Matching skills and jobs: anticipating skill needs in challenging times, held at its premises in Thessaloniki, Greece on 11-12 June.  

  Learning and moving - Cedefop’s 35th anniversary

http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/news/15345.aspx

03/03/2010 - On 10 February 2010 Cedefop became 35 years old. At 35 you are no longer young and certainly not old, but, perhaps, prompted to take a quick look back. Some things seem the same. Back in 1975, when Cedefop was created, Europe faced economic problems. Unemployment was rising and prospects were bleak. It is also striking how the issues that Cedefop studied in its early days remain so familiar today – youth unemployment, mobility, the impact of new technologies, gender equality and social inclusion. So, a quick look at Europe today gives the impression that nothing much has changed during Cedefop’s time. But a closer look shows that things are different.  

  NEW:The portal `Reading Worldwide`

http://www.reading-worldwide.de/zeigen_e.html

15-10-2008
The German Education Server and the Stiftung Lesen e.V. (Reading Foundation) have launched their new portal, Reading worldwide, right on time for the Frankfurt Book Fair 2008. The portal is fully available in both German and English. The Stiftung Lesen e.V. presents the portal at the Book Fair in Hall 3.1, stall no. L 129.  

  Umsetzung der Barcelona-Ziele auf dem Gebiet der Betreuungseinrichtungen für Kinder im Vorschulalter

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Result.do?direct=yes&lang=de&xsl=celex-som,celex-txt&PgSize=128&where=CC:0520*

08.10.08
Bericht (2008) der EU Kommission an das Europäsche Parlament, den Rat, den Europäischen Wirtschafts- und Sozialausschuss und den Ausschuss der Regionen. Im März 2002 stellte der in Barcelona zusammengetretene Europäische Rat an die Mitgliedsstaaten die Forderung, im Einklang mit den einzelstaatlichen Vorgaben bis 2010 für mindestens 90 Prozent der Kinder zwischen drei Jahren und dem Schulpflichtalter und für mindestens 33 Prozent der Kinder unter drei Jahren Betreuungsplätze zur Verfügung zu stellen. Der Bericht enthält erstmals harmonisierte und vergleichbare Daten zur Nutzung von “formellen“ Kinderbetreuungssystemen in den EU Mitgliedstaaten. Die Zahlen zeigen, dass das Angebot in den meisten EU-Ländern den Bedarf nicht deckt und Eltern (vor allem Müttern) eine Erwerbstätigkeit dadurch erschwert wird. 

 

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