Ei-iE

A European Union (EU) High Level Conference on Education and Development took place on 23 May in Brussels, Belgium. European commissioner, national ministers and high-profile personalities reaffirmed the importance of well-trained teachers for achieving quality education.

Debates also tackled the challenges and opportunities faced in improving equity and quality of education. The conference finally aimed at ensuring that education plays a prominent role as a critical element in the post-2015 development agenda, which will be discussed during the United Nations General Assembly in September 2013.

The event provided a forum for education ministers, donors, international national governmental organisations, teacher representatives, youth and other education advocates, to contribute to the global education dialogue.

Two main plenary panels were held: the first on “Building better and more equitable education systems together: On the path to resilient development”; the second on the “Role of education in the post 2015 framework: Reaching equitable and quality learning for all”.

EU: Education at the top of the list

“We have come together today to step up our efforts in education, turning from challenges into opportunities,” said the European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs. “Delivering education is a universal principle requiring universal involvement.”

He also added that education matters: for the 61 million children with no schooling; for the 250 million children who fail to reach grade 4 or lack basic reading and numeracy skills by that grade; and for the 775 million adults who are illiterate.

And education matters to people worldwide, Pielbags said. “When asked about their aspirations and priorities for the post-2015 development framework the world is seeking to shape, they put education top of the list. They are right to do so. Education is the best possible investment against exclusion, inequalities and poverty. It is estimated that if all children in poor countries could read, global poverty would fall by 12 per cent. Every dollar invested in education and skills generates returns at least 10 times greater for economic growth. Education is key to nation-building, conflict prevention, democratic development and active citizenship.”

Underlining that the EU is serious about tackling education and development challenges, he concluded: “As a member of the UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda I have stressed the EU’s commitment to education, especially as it relates to poverty, sustainability and equity, and the priority that education figures centre stage in the Post Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Agenda. We need to get things right, within the education community and beyond. This will mean linking our work on education to areas like broader governance, health and employment and supporting reform efforts, especially in difficult circumstances.”

EU focus on raising literacy

The European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou highlighted the importance of literacy.

“Literacy competence is the foundation of all other learning. It is the key to continuous learning and keeping up with what is going on in the world, and to being a full member of a community.”

She deplored that fact that in Europe, one in five pupils -and more than 73 million adults - cannot read and write properly.

Improving literacy is not an objective for our development policies only, she went on to say. “It is a task for our internal policies as well. The EU has set a benchmark to reduce the share of low achievers in literacy to less than 15 per cent by 2020. At the moment only three of the 27 EU Member States have reached this target. It is clear that we need to step up our efforts, for the sake of our citizens, of our economies and our societies.”

She also mentioned that she launched a literacy campaign called 'Europe loves reading”, an awareness raising campaign to exert pressure to the responsible authorities to do more on this issue. She announced that a European network of literacy organisations will be established shortly to facilitate the sharing of good practices and policy initiatives aimed at improving literacy performance across the Member States.

Vassiliou reminded the audience: “The stakes are so high: No skill is as crucial to the future of a child; or as essential to the building and strengthening of a democratic society, as the ability to read and write. This is as true in Europe, as it is true for the rest of the world.”

Teachers and their trade unions must be involved in education policies

“One of the major successes of the MDGs is that there is coherence in development policies in terms of activities,” further underlined the Irish Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello.

On gender equity, he noted that primary education is roughly 50-50 in terms of access.

That is very important to have a certain number of goals and targets worldwide, he said. “We have in Ireland in the last 13 years we have developed our policies two times over, and our policy as a country has been informed by the MDGs. They have been at the background of our decisions as to where we need to go.”

In relation to education specifically, Costello stressed that education has to be dealt with now based on the learning of the earlier MDGs and more in terms of an integrated approach, together with health and social protection. These are the key areas that must be addressed to ensure education and development, he added.

“Children are now in schools the question is: what are we doing now with them in schools? As a former teacher myself, I strongly believe that the education system is only as good as the teaching profession that delivers it. It is a complex issue: it is not just a question of recruitment: teachers need to have a status, they need to have respect. Teaching needs to be a profession that attracts bright youngsters. Teachers need to be able to organise within trade unions, and there must be an opportunity for them to develop curriculum, to own the education system, with the parent and the country authorities. That is something we should focus on for the new MDGs.”

Costello added that he hopes that the teachers’ voice will actually be heard at the September 2013 UN General Assembly when the post-2015 framework for education and development will be debated.

EI: Quality and equality in education

The EI delegation was made of EI Deputy General Secretary David Edwards; EI Senior Coordinator for Education and Employment Dennis Sinyolo; and Michal Mlcousek, Coordinator at the EI European region, the European Trade Union Committee for Education.

While the delegation welcomed the fact that the EU is going to increase its funding for education, they also underlined the EI concern, i.e. to have a bold and broad-based post-2015 education agenda, catering for all levels of education, and meeting the diverse needs of all students.

They highlighted the importance of equity in access to education as well as quality of education.

On equity, EI reemphasises the need for all young people to have access to quality education, including gender equity, children with disabilities, and children in child labour, remote rural areas or conflict-stricken areas.

As numerous participants stated, quality teachers are key. Governments must ensure that teachers are properly trained, fully qualified and supported, and have continuous professional development and professional salaries.

Documents and a video of debates at the Conference can be found here