As the summer holidays draw to a close, millions of European students prepare to return to their classrooms, a yearly ritual marking a new cycle of one of societies’ critical tasks: to educate the next generation. In the European Union, member states hold the primary responsibility over education policies. The EU and its institutions play a pivotal role in supporting national education systems through initiatives like exchange programs and cross-border collaborations, aiming to foster student mobility, enhance learning opportunities, and thus promote a cohesive educational framework across its 27-country bloc.
The education sector faces a range of structural problems, such as staff shortages and poor working conditions in schools, which pose a challenge to teachers coping with large numbers of students in classes.
A study conducted in 2022 by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – showed a decline in student performance globally, with Europe experiencing an unprecedented drop in educational performance in several key learning areas and subjects such as mathematics and reading. The OECD has 38 member countries, of which 22 are EU member states.
EU promotes higher education and student mobility
European Union citizens are able to study, travel, look for work, settle down and even retire wherever they like across the bloc.This is a core value of the EU commonly known as “freedom of movement”.
EU universities are required to open their doors by offering equal opportunities to all potential students from member states. While entrance qualifications vary widely from university to university, being a citizen of another member state should not be a reason for exclusion. In 1999, ministers of 29 European countries launched the Bologna Process, an intergovernmental higher education reform process named after the Bologna Declaration.
In short, it aims to simplify the comparison and recognition of degrees abroad and makes it easier to study abroad, both within Europe and internationally. The Bologna Process currently counts 49 member countries, as well as the European Commission, the European University Association (EUA) and other international organisations and partners.
June 19 marked the 25th anniversary since the launch of the Bologna Process. Exchange programmes, such as the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, allow school pupils, students and apprentices to study and gain experience in member states other than their own.
The bloc also promotes education and student mobility as part of its EU Youth Strategy. In addition to that the Erasmus+ programme offers opportunities for teaching staff to teach in higher education institutions abroad, for example by providing financial support to fund their mobility.
PISA results show decline in educational performance in Europe
In December 2023, the OECD released its latest major PISA survey which assessed the academic performance of 15- to 16-year-old students in 81 countries. The survey, conducted in 2022, showed a decline in competences and basic skills such as mathematics, reading and science in the OECD member states. This was also the case for most EU countries. “Compared to 2018, mean performance fell by ten score points in reading and by almost 15 score points in mathematics, which is equivalent to three-quarters of a year’s worth of learning,” the study said. “The decline in mathematics performance is three times greater than any previous consecutive change,” the report added. The PISA survey has been carried out every three years since the year 2000. This was the first report since the Covid-19 pandemic, during which many schools were closed and the acquisition of skills was negatively affected.
The 2022 study noted that only very few OECD countries were able to improve parts of their results between 2018 – when the previous survey was conducted – and 2022. For example Japan in reading and science and Italy, Ireland and Latvia in science.
According to the OECD, the decline was particularly visible in a handful of countries. Poland, Norway, Iceland and Germany recorded a decline of 25 or more points in maths between 2018 and 2022. In Spain, the scores in mathematics (473), reading (474) and science (485), were below the average of the OECD countries, which registered a result of 480, 482 and 491 respectively. Following these results, the Spanish government announced an educational reinforcement plan that aims to improve the training of all primary and secondary mathematics teachers – some 80,000 – within three years and ensure that the percentage of 15-year-old students with low performance in reading comprehension, mathematics and science is less than 15 percent in 2030. In Bulgaria, students’ results in the 2022 study also remained poor. A total of 54 percent of Bulgarian students failed to meet the baseline standard for maths. Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov said that targeted efforts will be made in the coming years to ensure that Bulgarian students can utilise the skills related to the knowledge they have acquired.
Staff shortages persist
Amid ongoing efforts to enhance the quality and performance of education, schools are facing another significant challenge: an escalating shortage of teachers and staff, raising concerns about the growing pressure on teachers and the potential impact on millions of students.
In Slovenia for example, more than 3,200 job openings for education professionals were recorded at the country’s Employment Service in July, with primary school teachers and preschool educators being professions most in demand. According to the Slovenian Education Ministry, the most severe shortages of teachers are in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, and technology.
The head of the Trade Union of Education, Science and Culture of Slovenia (SVIZ), Branimir Štrukelj, has called for immediate and comprehensive measures to be taken.
In Bulgaria, the Chairperson of the Union of Managers in the Public Education System, Diyan Stamatov, also warned of a huge shortage of teachers of mathematics and physics. Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, noted that in recent years the Bulgarian government has made efforts to make the teaching profession more attractive through higher salaries and better opportunities for young people to get a teacher education.
According to a survey by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy for the Deutsche Telekom Foundation in Germany, Germans are losing faith in their education system. 80 percent of German residents believe politicians do not sufficiently prioritise education. The most urgent problems in schools include teacher shortages, the high number of cancelled lessons and the curriculum’s relevance for work.
In France, three teachers’ unions called for a strike in primary schools on September 10 to denounce the introduction of standardised assessments for younger pupils in key learning areas. According to Guislaine David, general secretary of primary school teachers’ union FSU-SNUipp, these assessments “have no effect on student success and they do not concern all areas of education”. She added that “teachers are being stripped of their educational freedom”.
With this strike, French teachers also wish to raise concerns about the poor working conditions in schools – in particular the number of students in classes, which is higher than the European average – and the lack of attractiveness of the teaching profession. This year, there are more than 3,000 vacancies in the public and private teaching sectors.
(This content is based on news by agencies participating in the enr: AFP, BTA, dpa, EFE, STA).
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