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EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 11 - Page 10

Reding spells out lifelong learning

WE REPORTED IN our last issue that the European Commissioner for education, Viviane Reding (pictured right), had launched an eLearning initiative designed to accelerate Europe's embrace of the new technology in the education field. This refers to multimedia computers, digital technologies, networking, educational software and the ubiquitous Internet. In a recent speech she attempted to marry this initiative with her thoughts on lifelong learning. At a conference of the Asia-Europe foundation in Luxembourg in May she stressed that as well as being 'the engines of growth and of economic innovation', education and training were 'also the keys for creating a genuine European citizenship'. Only by building a 'Europe of Citizens' would everyone have 'the opportunity to fully develop their talents, to feel that they can contribute to the best of their ability, and .... a sense of belonging'.

In the EU, during the 1996/1997 school year there were 83 million pupils and students, 22% of the total population and 57% of all people under 30. Commissioner Reding said that this was 'the biggest gathering of European citizens'. At a conference of the Asia-Europe foundation in Luxembourg in May she stressed that as well as being 'the engines of growth and of economic innovation', education and training were 'also the keys for creating a genuine European citizenship'. Only by building a 'Europe of Citizens' would everyone have 'the opportunity to fully develop their talents, to feel that they can contribute to the best of their ability, and .... a sense of belonging'. In the EU, during the 1996/1997 school year there were 83 million pupils and students, 22% of the total population and 57% of all people under 30. Commissioner Reding said that this was 'the biggest gathering of European citizens'. To create a Europe 'with a soul, a destination and a world role', it was necessary to make 'lifelong' education and training 'an individual right and a social objective as important as the adoption of basic general education was at the end of last century'.

Despite this emphasis on the whole individual Ms. Reding thought such extended education would also benefit the more business-orientated goals announced at the recent Lisbon summit. She said that the EU had set itself a target of becoming 'the most competitive and dynamic knowledge economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth'. This inevitably led into a discussion of new technology which is so much part of the Lisbon agenda. The Commissioner referred to her eLearning initiative which the Commission gave further details of in a Communication in May (see box). It was important to have the best equipment available to all, particularly the young, and the Scandinavian countries were the most advanced in this respect. In this region of Europe there was an average of 8 pupils per computer whereas in France the figure was 30 and only 10% of the computers were connected to the Internet.

However, she continued, 'the challenge is not just about equipment'. It was significant she said that President Clinton had announced that 'federal funds intended for teacher training will be doubled from 75 to 150 million dollars' even though the United States already 'had an average of 6 pupils per computer, and 89% of the schools were connected to [the] Internet'. Accordingly the eLearning initiative sought to train teachers in digital techniques, Internet and multimedia resources.

Objectives of the eLearning initiative

• to provide all schools in the European Union with an Internet connection by the end of 2001, the equipment ratios for schools should be 5-15 users per multimedia computer by 2004;
• to encourage the creation by the end of 2001 of a trans-European high-speed network for communications between research institutes, universities, scientific libraries and schools;
• to offer vocational training organisations, learning centres and firms good quality (high speed) infrastructures for access to the Internet;
• to train teachers by the end of 2002 in use of the Internet and multimedia resources;
• to adopt a European framework of new computer, language and technical skills leading to a European diploma in IT skills;
• to set up a network of trainers who are experts in the use of new technologies in education and training

Key to jobs is training

Eurostat has released figures which show more upper secondary school pupils choosing vocational education and training (VET) and lower levels of unemployment for 25-29 year olds with VET.

Country	1) General	1) Vocational	2) Basic	2) Basic + VET
EU15	42.4	57.6	20.5	9.7
Austria	19.1	80.1	--.--	4.9
Belgium	39.3	60.7	18.8	15.1
Denmark	43.0	57.0	16.0	6.7
Finland	47.7	52.3	13.6	15.1
France	47.7	52.3	25.3	15.2
Germany	28.3	71.7	19.0	8.5
Greece	53.3	46.7	13.4	12.3
Ireland	74.6	25.4	--.--	--.--
Italy	28.3	71.7	18.2	11.0
Luxembourg	35.1	64.9	8.0	--.--
Netherlands	29.7	70.3	14.6	5.1
Portugal	71.4	28.6	9.7	--.--
Sweden	47.8	52.2	23.9	--.--
Spain	62.5	37.5	32.0	36.9
UK	42.5	57.5	14.6	8.9
The table shows: 1) % of pupils choosing general education & VET & 2) % of jobless aged 25-29 by education.

Leonardo II gets €59m

€59 million have been allocated to worker mobility under the Leonardo da Vinci programme for vocational training. The money will fund placements, which send young workers or graduates to a foreign EU country to continue their training for a period of three weeks to one year, and exchanges which allow human resources personnel to share their knowledge in another Member State for up to six weeks. The Europass document will record these visits for qualification purposes.

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