By EPRSauthor. EU faces a paradox: the youth employment rate stands at 23% while there are around 2 million unfilled vacancies across Europe, and a high number of employers cannot find the right mix of skills in the job market, especially with regard to e-skills.
Many employers hold the inability of the educational system to provide work-related skills responsible for this increasing ‘mismatch’. Higher Education Authorities around Europe have put employability at the centre of their national HE strategies. However students contend that higher education should be steered by the needs of society rather than that of the job market and ask whether employability should be part of the university mission. HE institutions and academics, asked to prove the relevance or utility of their teaching and research for societal and economic needs, have concerns about preserving academic freedom and autonomy. More...

By EPRSauthor. This keysource aims at giving an overview of how Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications has been implemented but also highlighting the important issue of extending the scope of the system to more professions.
There are three avenues for the mutual recognition of qualifications in the EU: automatic recognition , the general system and recognition of professional experience. More...

By EP Library. Difficulties in recognition of professional qualifications (RPQ) continue to be one obstacle to mobility of workers. In order to facilitate and accelerate the RPQ process the European Commission proposed to modernise the 2005 Directive and introduce the voluntary European Professional Card using the system for electronic exchange of administrative information.
6 language versions available in PDF format
Anerkennung beruflicher Qualifikationen
Reconocimiento de las cualificaciones profesionales
Reconnaissance des qualifications professionnelles
Riconoscimento delle qualifiche professionali
Uznawanie kwalifikacji zawodowych
Recognition of professional qualifications
Recognition of qualifications in the EU
In total, across the EU Member States (MS) there are about 800 categories of regulated professions. Access to these is often based on differing national laws, which can make exercising a profession in another country difficult. A 2011 Eurobarometer survey identified non-recognition of qualifications as one of the key obstacles to working abroad. Citizens expect RPQ to be easy and automatic, yet only 70% of requests meet with a quick and successful outcome. The EU problem-solving network (SOLVIT) reports RPQ problems as the third most common complaint. The Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, one of the Europe 2020 strategy’s flagship initiatives, concluded that facilitating RPQ would contribute to a better match of skills and jobs on the EU labour market. The 2010 Citizenship Report identified inability to apply electronically for RPQ, delays in processes and resistance at national level as the main problems. Furthermore, the last three Annual Growth Surveys and the Single Market Act found obstacles to RPQ to be persistent. More...

By Verena Kern. With almost 6 million jobless young people in the EU, policymakers are under pressure to find solutions to combat high youth unemployment. Whilst Youth Guarantees have been widely discussed and are currently being developed in many Member States, mobility – another strand of the European Commission’s (EC) Youth Employment Package – has received much less attention. More...

By Verena Kern. In the aftermath of the crisis, youth unemployment rates have reached new heights across Europe. In January 2014, 23.4% of young Europeans were without a job. Following an EU wide initiative, ‘youth guarantees’ are being implemented in many EU countries. At the same time youth entrepreneurship is moving into focus, as entrepreneurship is known to be a driver for economic growth and job creation. While only 4% of 15-24 year-olds were self-employed in 2011, the interest in self-employment and entrepreneurship seems to be much higher according to a Flash Eurobarometer Survey from 2012. The survey found that around 44% of 15-24 year-old Europeans think that self-employment is feasible and would like to set up their own business. Lack of skills and financial resources are the most common barriers to youth entrepreneurship. In order to address these issues and encourage entrepreneurship a number of initiatives at both EU and National level have been introduced in recent years. More...

By EP Library. What is U-Multirank?
U-Multirank stands for “multi-dimensional ranking of higher education institutions”. U-Multirank is based on a proposal in the Commission Communication on modernisation of Europe’s higher education systems (COM (2011) 567 final)  [1] (accompanied by Staff Working Document (SEC (2011) 1063 final), p. 5-6) and is implemented by a consortium of research organisations – CHERPA Network (Consortium for Higher Education and Research Performance Assessment) under a two-year project funded by the European Commission. More...

By EP Library. The potential of ICT for modernisation of education and training has become a key priority for the European Union. In its  Communication on Opening Up Education (procedure 2013/2182(INI), press release 25.9.13), the European Commission proposes actions at EU and national levels to “support the development and availability of Open Educational Resources (OER)” in education and skills development. The EP CULT committee published a draft report on New technologies and open educational resources on 11.12.2013 (procedure file 2013/2182(INI)).
OERs are “digital learning resources offered online freely and openly to teachers, educators, students, and independent learners in order to be used, shared, combined, adapted, and expanded in teaching, learning and research.”, OECD, 2012. The term was first introduced at the 1st Global OER conference hosted by UNESCO in 2002. By providing open access to course content, the development of OER initiatives have paved the way for free online courses, such as OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). More...

By EP Library. As stated in the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 3 January 1976, Article 13c, higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education. According to the World Bank, universities are a key part of all tertiary systems. This Keysource addresses higher education in Asia – with a focus on China and Japan. It lists reports and analyses on key aspects like curricula development and admission requirements for teachers and for students. More...

By Peter. Globalisation and technological development have an important influence on higher education. A 2008 OECD study (Higher Education to 2030, Volume 1, Demography) shows that over the next twenty years the demand for Higher Education (HE) is expected to grow from the current 99 million students worldwide to 414 million by 2030, with China showing by far the highest increase in recent years followed by Brazil and India.
On the other hand HE, is a focal point of the Europe 2020 Strategy as the demand for knowledge and skills acquired internationally is rising. With HE’s impact on innovation and research, it provides the highly skilled human capital that knowledge-based economies need to generate growth and prosperity. A 2010 study requested by the European Commission (“Mapping Member States’ external Education & Training policies and tools” / see also the summary published as a policy brief in 2011) examined the external education policies, instruments and tools in the countries concerned. The study identified 625 instruments: 487 in EU/EEA countries and 138 in Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA. More...

Teachers are vital for young people to develop their talents and acquire the knowledge and skills they need in a rapidly changing world. Continued teacher education which allows teachers to cope with these challenges is thus of high importance. Despite the fact that there more than 28 different teacher training systems in place across the EU, the European Parliament in its resolution of September 2008 on the improvement of teacher education quality (P6_TA(2008)0422) stressed that in essence these challenges are common to all Member States. The resolution, taking into account the Commission’s communication COM (2007) 392 final and its attached impact assessment SEC (2007) 931 addressed 36 proposals to Council, Commission, the Member States, OECD, Unesco and the Council of Europe. Key proposals were: more and better quality teacher education, and recruiting best candidates as priorities for all education ministries; promoting continuous and coherent professional development for teachers throughout their careers; regular opportunities for all teachers to update their skills and qualifications (qualifications should be recognised in all Member States); need for transnational exchange of experience; particular attention be paid to new teachers’ initial induction; mentoring programmes; composition of teaching workforce at all levels should represent social and cultural diversity within society; teachers’ participation in critical reflection; ensuring teaching is an attractive and fulfilling profession with good career prospects. The European Commission’s 2013 Education and Training Monitor report (p. 33) found out that continuing professional development is now considered a professional duty in 28 education systems. However only in 8 of them it is clearly linked to promotion. During the 2014 Greek Presidency of the Council the subject will be re-assessed.

The European Parliament has closely followed the developments in the field, which is also reflected by a considerable number of questions to Commission and Council. This is a selection of the most recent ones. In the framework of its communication on “Rethinking Education” (see Library Keysource) the Commission introduced an evaluation of the present situation (SWD (2012) 374 final) and the Greek Presidency anounced in its programme (p.55) that it “… will build on the European Commission’s presentation of April 2013, following the Conference held by the Irish Presidency on “The Professional Identity of Teacher Educators” with the aim of adopting relevant Council Conclusions at the June 2014 Education and Youth Council“.

Overviews

Improving the quality of teacher education – Summary of EU legislation on the European Commission’s website

Key Data on Teachers and School Leaders in Europe / Eurydice, 2013 – Factsheet presenting the study and providing a link to the fulltext.

Teachers’ professional development: Europe in international comparison: an analysis of teachers’ professional development based on the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) / Jaap Scheerens for the European Commission, Luxembourg 2010

Teacher Education and Training in the Western Balkans / Eurydice, 2013

The European Parliament’s DG IPol (PolDep B) is preparing a study on the “Outlook of Primary Teacher Training in Europe” which is foreseen to be published in April 2014 (anounced in the PolDep B’s February newsletter)

Analysis

OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) collects information from teachers and schools about their working conditions and the learning environments. It covers in particular initial teacher education and professional development; appraisal and feedback for teachers; the school climate; school leadership; and teachers’ instructional beliefs and pedagogical practices. The final survey is due in April 2014. The project has been running since 2008 and is covering 33 countries – a number of intermediate results have already been published. You may find them on the respective OECD pages.

Teachers in Europe – Main Trends, Issues and Challenges / Vlasta Vizek Vidović and Vlatka Domović. in: Croatian Journal of Education, (2013) vol. 15, Sp.Ed. 3, p. 219-250

Developing High‐Quality Teachers: teacher evaluation for improvement / Looney, Janet. in: European Journal of Education – Research Development and Policies (2011) vol. 46, is. 4, p. 440-455

Key Competences in Europe: Opening Doors For Lifelong Learners Across the School Curriculum and Teacher Education / Jean Gordon et al. 2009: The study was commissioned by DG EAC of the European Commission and undertaken by a consortium led by CASE (Center for Social and Economic Research, Poland). It provides a comparative overview of policy and practice concerning the development and implementation of key competences in the education systems of the EU’s 27 Member States. In particular, the study assesses the implementation of the 8 key competences contained in the European Reference Framework of Key Competences in primary and secondary schools across the EU as well as the extent to which initial and in-service education and training of teachers equips them with the necessary skills and competences.

Learning to Teach and its Implications for the Continuum of Teacher Education: a Nine-Country Cross-National Study / Conway, Paul; Murphy, Rosaleen; Rath, Anne and Hall, Kathy. School of Education, University College, Cork, IE, 2009 [comparing Ireland, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States and Poland].

Teacher education policy in Europe : a voice of higher education institutions / Brian Hudson and Pavel Zgaga (eds.) Brian Hudson and Pavel Zgaga. Faculty of Teacher Education, Umeå and Center for Educational Policy Studies, University of Ljubljana, 2008.

How the best performing education systems in the world come out on top / Michael Barber, Mona Mourshed. McKinsey, 2007

Stakeholder views

The European Commission runs a webpage on “The Teaching Professions” where it presents studies, policy papers and official EU documents (e.g. Council conclusions of 2007, 2008 and 2009). Among others you may find “Literature review: Quality in Teachers’ continuing professional development.” / Francesca Caena, European Commission, June 2011 and a Study of the feasibility of a long-term school education staff mobility action / Eurydice, 2013. The Commission also launched the “Opening up Education” initiative (see the roadmap as well as the Library’s keysource on intranet / internet), which includes issues of teacher education.  The issue is also monitored in the “Education and Training Monitor“, particularly in chapter 3.3 of the 2013 report, p. 33-34

The Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) is a non-profit European organisation, composed by individuals and institutions. They publish the European Journal of Teacher Education and provide policy views on relevant issues.

The European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) is the teachers’ social partner at European level and a defender of teachers’ interests to the European Commission. ETUCE was established in 1977. Their views are published in the publications section of the website, the most recent document on teacher education dates to 2008: “Teacher Education in Europe. An ETUCE Policy Paper“

Teacher Education Policy in Europe (TEPE) is an academic network with the goals to advance research in and on Teacher Education, increase mobility and extend the European dimension in Teacher Education and enhance quality through the renewal of evaluation cultures in Teacher Education. Their latest position paper dates from 2007.

Unesco’s 2014 Mobile Learning Week was focussed on teacher education as “teachers are the pillars of education systems and their involvement is crucial to the viability of ICT in education efforts.” Unesco also maintains a section on teacher education.

Statistics

Key data on education in Europe 2012. Eurostat, 2012. In particular chapter E on teachers and management staff (p. 109 ff)

Eurostat statistics tables: Pupil/teacher ratio in primary education / Teaching staff / Pupil/Student – teacher ratio and average class size (ISCED 1-3) / Teachers (ISCED 0-4) and academic staff (ISCED 5-6) by age and sex / Teachers (ISCED 0-4) and academic staff (ISCED 5-6) by employment status (full-time, part-time, full-time equivalence) and sex / Teachers stays abroad (ISCED 0-4, Erasmus Programme) as % of academic staff (ISCED 5-6)

The Unesco Institute for Statistics (UIS) provides a core set of teacher indicators based on its administrative data collection. This includes traditional indicators, such as: trends in teacher numbers; pupil-teacher ratios; and data on trained teachers.

OECD TALIS (see above) survey raw data and technical guides

EU Programmes and Projects

Teacher education is part of the Education and Training 2020 – Strategic framework (ET2020).

Mobility of teachers is supported via the Erasmus+ programme.