Reding outlines what the new treaty should say on education and training

Citation

(2003), "Reding outlines what the new treaty should say on education and training", Education + Training, Vol. 45 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2003.00445dab.007

Reding outlines what the new treaty should say on education and training

Reding outlines what the new treaty should say on education and training

A new treaty on the way the EU is governed should include a section on education, training, youth, culture and sport, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner responsible for education and training, has recommended to the European Convention. She proposes that, on education and youth, the treaty should say: "The EU contributes to the development of quality education by encouraging co-operation between member states and its action mainly aims: to develop the European dimension in education, especially through the learning and diffusion of member state languages; to promote student and teacher mobility, including by encouraging the academic recognition of diplomas and study periods; to promote co-operation between schools and colleges; and to develop the exchange of information and experience on issues that are common to the various member-state education systems."

On vocational training, she suggests that the treaty should say: "The EU implements a vocational-training policy that supports and completes the actions of member states and its action aims essentially to facilitate adaptation to industrial change, improve initial vocational training and continuous training, and promote the mobility of trainers and trainees and especially the young."

Meanwhile, any attempt to introduce qualified-majority voting in the EU Council for decisions that relate to education, culture and the media must be resisted, says Bruno Hosp, who chairs the culture and education committee in the Assembly of the Regions of Europe. For the regions, he said, unanimity is real protection against the commercialization of education and culture: "Exclusive competency over culture, the media and education must remain the prerogative of member states or, as is sometimes the case, the regions."