RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL AND OF THE MINISTERS OF EDUCATION, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL

of 9 February 1976

comprising an action programme in the field of education

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THE MINISTERS OF EDUCATION , MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL ,

Having regard to the Treaties establishing the European Communities ,

Referring to the resolution of the Ministers of Education , meeting within the Council , of 6 June 1974 , on cooperation in the field of education ( 1 ) ,

Referring to points 5 and 9 of the Communiqué of the Conference of Heads of Governments of Member States meeting in Paris on 9 and 10 December 1974 ,

Recalling the Council resolution of 21 January 1974 concerning a social action programme ( 2 ) and the proposals in favour of migrant workers and their families submitted by the Commission to the Council on 19 December 1974 and on the education of the children of migrant workers of 28 July 1975 ( 3 ) ,

Considering that at its sitting on 22 September 1975 ( 4 ) the European Parliament stressed the importance of the Community's activity in the field of education ,

Considering that as its session on 23 and 24 April 1975 , the Economic and Social Committee recalled that ' education is central to the full and healthy development of the Community ' ( 5 ) ,

Reaffirming their desire to achieve European cooperation in education ,

Aware of the contribution such cooperation can make to the development of the Community ,

Taking note of the report of the Education Committee ,

HEREBY ADOPT THIS RESOLUTION :

I . The action programme set out under point IV shall be implemented .

II . 1 . An Education Committee shall be set up consisting of representatives of the Member States and of the Commission . Its chairman shall come from the country holding the office of President of the Council .

The Committee shall coordinate and have oversight of the implementation of the programme ; it shall report on its execution , in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4 of the Treaty establishing a single Council and a single Commission of the European Communities , to the Council and the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council .

The Committee shall , in accordance with the same procedure prepare the proceedings of the Council and of the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council , including those concerning future developments in the field of education .

2 . The Commission is invited to undertake , in close liaison with the Education Committee , the appropriate measures to be implemented at Community level .

In order to implement at Community level measures for cooperation between Member States decided upon by the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council , the Commission shall act in agreement with the Education Committee which shall proceed as specified in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 .

III . The Council and the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council shall meet periodically to follow the implementation of the action programme , to establish future guidelines , and to compare their policies .

IV . The action programme is as follows :

Better facilities for the education and training of nationals and the children of nationals of other Member States of the Communities and of non-member countries

1 . The Council and the Ministers of Education , meeting within the Council , having noted the guidelines submitted to the Council by the Commission on 19 December 1974 within the framework of the social action programme , stress the educational dimension of such a programme .

The Ministers hereby express the willingness of Member States to pursue and develop , on behalf of nationals and the children of nationals of other Member States of the Communities and of non-member countries , suitable measures to improve reception facilities for these children and to enable them to adapt to the host country's school system and way of life . To this end , they agree to support the following measures :

- organizing and developing a reception system which would include intensive study of the language or languages of the host country ,

- providing more opportunities as appropriate for teaching these children their mother tongue and culture , if possible in school and in collaboration with the country of origin ,

- providing more information for families on the training and educational opportunities available to them .

2 . The following measures will be implemented at Community level :

- exchange of information and experience concerning the organization of suitable types of teaching , taking the form of a limited number of pilot schemes to enable these types of teaching to be compared and assessed , and cooperation in the training of teachers required to assume responsibility in this field ,

- educational studies and research on the following topics :

- adapted language-teaching methods ,

- the place and importance of the mother tongue and culture in school curricula ,

- existing conditions and provisions for access to education at all levels , and special needs with regard to educational guidance ,

- present and proposed provisions for educational and language-teaching programmes on radio and television ,

- assessing the need for the setting up of schools in which teaching would be in more than one language .

Promotion of closer relations between educational systems in Europe

3 . It is necessary to improve mutual understanding of the various educational systems in the Community and to ensure continuous comparison of policies , experience and ideas in the Member States .

4 . The following will be organized to this end :

- at Community level , regular meetings between the persons responsible for education policies ,

- by the Member States , study visits to the other Member States for local , regional and national administrators of schools and institutions of higher education .

5 . In order to give a European dimension to the experience of teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools in the Community , Member States will promote and organize :

- short study visits and exchanges for teachers , with special emphasis on student language teachers ,

- development of the national information and advisory services necessary to promote the mobility and interchange of pupils and teachers within the Community ,

- contacts between the authorities of establishments concerned with teacher training ,

- educational activities with a European content .

Cooperation in these areas at Community level will be developed in the light of the activities and experience of Member States .

6 . The following will be studied at Community level :

- extension of the practice of recognizing periods of study abroad ,

- the possibility of enabling teachers to practice their profession for a time in a Community country other than their own ,

- the setting up of European or international-type establishments following specific curricula and using several teaching languages .

7 . In order to assist pupils from the Member States moving from one country to another within the Community to make the transition from one educational system to another , the idea and means of introducing a standard school record card will be studied at Community level with a view to reaching a decision at the earliest possible date .

Compilation of the up-to-date documentation and statistics on education

8 . It is necessary to increase and improve the circulation of information between those responsible for education and those receiving it at alls levels .

9 . To this end , an information network will be set up by appointing in each Member State a national information service on education in the Community . The organization of work at Community level will be studied once the appropriate national measures have been taken .

10 . In collecting information , Member States will apply experimentally the norms agreed in the framework of EUDISED .

11 . In order to enable the Community to make its specific contribution towards promoting better mutual understanding of educational systems , a study will be made at Community level of the best way of bringing existing information to the attention of the citizens of the Community . Information handbooks for pupils and students will be drawn up .

12 . The Council and the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council express their will to support the efforts undertaken by the Statistical Office of the European Communities to expand , as part of a continuing programme , data concerning cooperation in the field of education .

Cooperation in the field of higher education

It is necessary to promote cooperation in the field of higher education .

13 . While respecting the independence of higher education institutions , the following action will be undertaken at Community level in order to increase contracts between them :

- the encouragement of the development of links with and between organizations representing higher education institutions ,

- the encouragement of short study visits for specific purposes for teaching and administrative staff and for researchers ,

- the promotion of joint programmes of study or research between institutions in several Member States .

14 . In order to promote the free movement and mobility of teaching staff , students and researchers , the following action will be undertaken at Community level :

- the arrangement of a discussion involving representatives of higher education institutions on the question of developing a common policy on the admission of students from other Member States to higher education institutions ,

- the drawing up of a report in order to establish whether and to what extent the national schemes for scholarships , studentships and research and teaching fellowships should be extended to increase mobility in the Community and , where appropriate , the submission of suitable proposals ,

- the drawing up of proposals designed to eliminate obstacles to the mobility of students and of university teaching and research staff .

15 . To this same end , Member States will invite the competent authorities , when calculating seniority , to take into account periods of service in teaching or research spent in other Member States , and to examine ways and means of enabling periods of teaching or research spent in other Member States to be aggregated for the purposes of calculating pension entitlements .

16 . To increase the possibilities for the academic recognition of diplomas and study periods and studies carried out , the following action will be undertaken at Community level :

- the drawing up of a report analysing the current situation with regard to the academic recognition of diplomas and containing proposals for the improvement of the situation and , if necessary , for the development of a network of agreements ,

- the organization of consultations between those responsible for education policy and cooperation between higher education institutions to facilitate the recognition of periods of study and studies carried out .

Teaching of foreign languages

17 . In order to enable the greatest possible number of students to learn the languages of the Community , the attainment of the following objectives shall be encouraged :

- offering all pupils the opportunity of learning at least one other Community language ,

- the principle that before qualifying as a foreign-language teacher a student should have spent a period in a country or region where the language he is to teach is spoken ,

- the promotion ( e. g. , on radio and television ) of language teaching outside the traditional school system , in particular to meet the vocational training requirements of adults .

18 . As initial measures , the following action shall be undertaken at Community level :

- organization of consultation between those responsible for organizing language teaching and specialized researchers in that field ,

- examination at Community level of the results of research into the methodology of language teaching , particularly that undertaken in the CCC of the Council of Europe .

19 . At the same time , Member States will :

- organize regular extended periods abroad for teachers and encourage the exchange system for foreign language assistants ,

- encourage exchanges of pupils or groups of pupils .

Achievement of equal opportunity for free access to all forms of education

20 . The achievement of equal opportunity for free access to all forms of education is an essential aim of the education policies of all the Member States and its importance must be stressed in conjunction with other economic and social policies , in order to achieve equality of opportunity in society .

21 . In addition to the action taken in each Member State , an exchange of views and experience on concepts and trends will be organized at Community level in order to identify specific areas in which joint action might be undertaken . This exchange of views will focus initially on the following questions :

( a ) the organization of nursery education and of its link with primary education as well as the organization of primary education itself in such a way as to give all children the opportunity of benefiting from access to secondary education , with special reference to the interests of underprivileged groups ;

( b ) the organization of compulsory secondary education in such a way as to give all children the opportunity to develop their full potential ; adoption of appropriate measures to help them succeed in this , due consideration being given to their personal aspirations and abilities and their vocational opportunities .

22. Without prejudice to the action taken in the Member States , the following shall be deemed priority matters at Community level :

( a ) the measures to be taken in the field of education to prepare young people for work , to facilitate their transition from study to working life and to increase their chances of finding employment , thereby reducing the risks of unemployment ;

( b ) the provision , in the context of continuous education and training , of further education to enable young workers and young unemployed persons to improve their chances of finding employment .

To this end , the Education Committee will draw up for the Council and the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council , before 1 July 1976 , an initial report . The report will place particular emphasis on the problems raised under ( a ) and ( b ) above and the measures which could help to resolve them within the educational systems .

( 1 ) OJ No C 98 , 20 . 8 . 1974 , p. 2 .

( 2 ) OJ No C 13 , 12 . 2 . 1974 , p. 1 .

( 3 ) OJ No C 213 , 17 . 9 . 1975 , p. 2 .

( 4 ) OJ No C 239 , 20 . 10 . 1975 , p. 14 .

( 5 ) OJ No C 255 , 7 . 11 . 1975 , p. 10 .