Editor's note

Education policies in the member states have become a vital “instrument” in resolving numerous societal issues: i.e. inadequate and unpredictable workforce, continued digitalisation, promotion of critical thinking, etc. However, most important in the Commission’s view that education policies shall protect European values and culture as a background of the European unity.  Baltic States’ economies rely heavily on highly educated and competent people. Skills such as creativity, critical thinking, taking initiative and problem solving play an important role in coping with complexity and change in a modern society.

The EU and the member states have recognized that new ways of learning (in a society which is becoming increasingly mobile and digital) are needed with more flexible training and educational models.

More on new education and training models in: European Commission’s “Reflection Paper on Harnessing Globalisation”, (2017) in:

A new “education union”

About a year ago, in March 2017, the EU member states adopted a declaration aimed at creating a “Union where young people would receive the best education and training”, while having better opportunities to study and find jobs across European continent. The declaration’s idea was to underline that education and culture policies are important “instruments” in tackling the challenges of an ageing workforce, continued digitalisation, future needs for new skills, the need to promote critical thinking and media literacy at a time when “alternative facts” and disinformation are often proliferating online.

Thus, already a year ago, the member states agreed on creating a new EU “educational union”, where young people would receive best education and training with open possibilities to study across Europe.

The new “union” is based on the four commitments confirmed by the states’ educational authorities aimed at establishing closer connections with modern European and global challenges. These commitments include the following vital points in the member states’ education policies: a) directing educational process towards safe and secure Europe; b) including in the circulars modern trends towards sustainable growth; c) involving adequate teaching materials for protecting “social Europe”, i.e. a union based on economic and social progress with adequate cohesion and convergence; and d) providing all possible information for stronger Europe on the global scene.     

These aspects of progressive “education union” shall provide an integrative background in the Baltic States’ education policies as well.

More about perspective education and new “union” in:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-17-767_en.htm

Expected changes in education polices

Education in the member states is already on top of the political agenda. After years of crisis, the member states are making efforts to create resilient societies equipped with necessary skills to withstand future economic and societal challenges. In the “new world” with the harnessing globalisation it is important both to consolidate social cohesion and eliminate inequalities as the biggest obstacles to education quality.

First European Education Summit (January 25, 2018) was acting as a catalyst for greater political ambition. Commissioner Navracsics expressed hope that every second year, member states’ leaders and all interested parties would meet to discuss the state of education in the EU.

Jonathan Swift once said: “Vision is the art of seeing invisible things”; present EU actions would make sure that modern steps towards adequate education policies produce tangible results.

More information: Commissioner Navracsics’ speech, 25.01.2018 in:

 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-18-446_en.htm

The summit’s aim was broadly formulated in its title: “Laying the foundations of a European Education Area: for an innovative, inclusive and values-based education”. 

Thus, the Summit focused on such issues as: quality, inclusive and values-based education to contribute to a “successful Europe”; workers’ competences and skills needed for the decades to come (including basic, digital and entrepreneurial skills), as well as the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in education and the role children play in helping to transform societies.

For the Baltic States the task is enormous, including the following measures:

• Digitalisation on education: to ensure that young people are both digitally confident and also digitally competent;
• Providing for important “key competences for every European” to learn throughout life;
• Promoting European common values in the European dimension of teaching: learning the EU history (and that of Europe, in general) to encourage pupils to embrace common values, heritage and identity and better understand European shared roots;

• Providing possibilities in early childhood education and care, as a prerequisite for such issues as equality and inclusion to start in the classroom;
• Language learning so that Europeans speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue; and
• Mutual recognition of university diplomas to enable more mobility.
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These proposals will help shape the outline of a true European Education Area; the Baltic States shall embrace them with an ambitious attempt to set common objectives and seek convergence in the educational policies.

More in: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-388_en.htm; Latvian version on: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-388_lv.htm 

Conclusion

The idea of a “true European education area” (or a new education union), among other things, would be boosting language learning, ensuing that diplomas are recognised in all Union states, that European universities maximise their cooperation, and that studying in another EU country becomes easier than ever before.

Therefore, very concrete steps are needed in the Baltic States towards making an education union a reality; and the sooner, the better!  It is time to rediscover the value of national and European values and address upfront the role of education in promoting them. The supporting task of the EU and more active member states’ education policies are expected to lay foundations for a solid European Education Area to be achieved by 2025.