The Council of the European Union has set the goal of reducing low achievement in reading, mathematics and science among 15-year-olds' to less than 15 % by 2020. But how are European countries going to achieve this? Effective learning depends on many factors, but undoubtedly the instruction time available to students plays a role in their learning process. How can they best organise limited time between different subjects, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to develop their learning potential in a range of different areas. More...

On the same day of the award of the 'Global Teacher Prize', the Ministry of Education has announced the launch of a national teacher prize. The Ministry has underlined the importance of teachers' mission in building up a better society and the opportunity offered by international and national prizes to spotlight teachers' role. More...

Delivering on its European Agenda on Security, the European Commission is today presenting further steps to support Member States in preventing and countering violent radicalisation leading to terrorism.
Responsibility for addressing violent radicalisation leading to terrorism lies primarily with Member States and actors at local, regional and national level. However radicalisation, like terrorism, knows no borders. This was evident in the events leading up to the attacks in Paris and Brussels. That is why the European Commission is setting out a number of initiatives to support Member States in their efforts across several policy areas, from promoting inclusive education and common values, to tackling extremist propaganda online and radicalisation in prisons. More...

The main messages from the consultation can be found in this report , which has been used to underpin the new Skills Agenda for Europe, adopted by the Commission on Friday, 10 June. The Skills Agenda announces a first key action responding to consultation findings: an initiative on graduate tracking to be launched in 2017 to improve the feedback we get from graduates about how well higher education has prepared them for the future. More...

The agenda calls on EU countries and stakeholders to improve the quality of skills and their relevance for the labour market. It looks to reduce the number of Europeans lacking adequate reading, writing, numeracy and digital skills. At the same time, it seeks to help highly-qualified young people find work that suits their potential and aspirations, make it easier for employers to recruit employees with the right profiles and to equip people with the skills and mindset to start their own businesses. More...

The recommendations cover instruction time across core subjects in full-time general compulsory education in 37 European countries participating in the Eurydice network.

Read the report on Recommended Annual Instruction Time in Full-time Compulsory Education in Europe – 2015/16

Reading, writing and literature, mathematics, natural sciences and foreign languages are recognised as core subjects in all European countries. But how much time do students spend on those subjects at school, and how much does this instruction time vary across countries. More...

The European Semester is the EU's cycle of economic policy coordination. Every year, the Commission undertakes a detailed analysis of EU countries' budgetary, macroeconomic and structural policies and provides them with recommendations for the next 12-18 months. The recommendations focus on the key policy priorities for each country. More...

On 26 May 2016, Commissioner Tibor Navracsics hosted a High-Level Colloquium on Promoting Inclusion and Fundamental Values through Education – a Way to Prevent Violent Radicalisation. Videos of all the sessions are available below. More...