A4-0166/98

Resolution on the Commission communication to the Council, European Parliament, Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 'Towards a Europe of Knowledge' (COM(97)0563 - C4-0649/97)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication, COM(97)0563 - C4-0649/97,

- having regard to its resolution of 12 March 1997 on the Commission's White Paper on Education and Training - Teaching and Learning - Towards the learning society ((OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 85.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 13 March 1997 on the information society, culture and education ((OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 151.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 14 May 1997 on the Commission's Green Paper 'Education - Training - Research: The Obstacles to Transnational Mobility' ((OJ C 167, 2.6.1997, p. 94.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 26 June 1997 on the Commission's Communication, 'Learning in the Information Society: action plan for a European education initiative' ((OJ C 222, 21.7.1997, p. 48.)),

- having regard to the Resolution of the Council of Education Ministers on the European dimension in education,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media and the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A4-0166/98),

A. whereas the existing Community programmes in the areas of education, training and youth are due to expire at the end of 1999,

B. whereas these programmes have in general terms been well received, despite their budgetary inadequacies, and have significantly enhanced the quality of educational cooperation in the EU,

C. whereas the coordination of measures at European level in the areas of education, training and youth must be further improved in order to maximize their impact and to ensure, in conjunction with improved internal coordination in the Commission itself, complementarity with measures under the Structural Funds, research, and other programmes and initiatives,

D. whereas demographic developments, rapid technological change, economic restructuring and the move to a knowledge-based society imply the need to design education and training measures to a greater extent to enable citizens to enter and remain in the working world, and help them to participate in social life on an equal basis,

E. whereas the purpose of the Commission's efforts in the education sector should be to create a favourable environment for innovation and employment in the sectors of the future which will increase the European Union's competitiveness by breaking down the barriers between public teaching and research bodies, universities and businesses,

F. whereas the risk of social division is particularly exacerbated by the new technologies, and education systems are therefore called upon to make access to and use of educational opportunities available to all,

G. whereas there are still far too many obstacles restricting the mobility of students and teachers,

H. whereas the Amsterdam Treaty expresses the determination of the Member States to promote the development of the highest possible level of knowledge for their peoples, and whereas future education programmes must take this as their guide,

I. whereas education, training and youth policies must further personal fulfilment and at the same time contribute to broad social goals such as equality of opportunity, social cohesion, promoting citizenship, encouraging mutual understanding, acceptance of other cultures and active solidarity, in addition to enhancing employability, thus giving each individual the means to live by his or her own efforts and in dignified conditions,

J. whereas specific action should be taken in order to give the young people of the European Union a sense of responsibility by offering them the chance to express their values and convey their views and by involving them fully in the drawing up of Community measures which directly affect them,

K. whereas cultural and linguistic diversity is a feature of the EU,

L. whereas the cross-border mobility of citizens, students, young people undergoing training and wage-earners within the European Union would be facilitated by additional efforts to encourage language learning, particularly at an early age, and whereas access to language knowledge is also the key to an increase in cultural exchanges,

M. whereas, in the context of the enlargement of the European Union, a growing number of central and eastern European countries will be involved in education and youth programmes,

N. whereas cultural understanding can be fostered by inclusion of a European dimension within the national curricula,

O. whereas there is a large discrepancy in the rate of introduction and use of new information and communication technologies in educational and training establishments, both within and between the Member States,

P. whereas there is great potential for using the new information and communication technologies for educational purposes, including the networking of schools and training establishments, developing innovative teaching methods and language teaching, and for projects to tackle illiteracy and underachievement,

Q. whereas the EU Netdays initiative is an effective means of ensuring that the private and public sector are able to help schools get connected to the new information and communication technologies,

1. Welcomes the Commission's Communication and its efforts to enable an initial debate to take place on the future guidelines for Community programmes in the areas of education, training and youth;

2. Is in favour of establishing a common framework of activities, coordination and monitoring inasmuch as this will allow EU action to respond in a more flexible and integrated way to the varied needs of national education and training systems;

3. Notes with satisfaction the Commission's intention to establish a framework of responsibilities shared by the Community, the Member States and the other parties involved (educational, social, economic and local partners and community organizations);

4. Considers, however, that the Commission has left insufficient time to carry out a meaningful consultation with all the interested parties referred to in paragraph 3 (which should also include families and young people themselves) prior to coming forward with legislative proposals; and regrets, in particular, that this lack of forward planning has meant that the European Parliament has been obliged to work to an unacceptably tight deadline;

5. Considers that the Commission's Communication fails to provide adequate details of future strategy in the areas of education, training and youth; deplores the lack of clarity in the document and the confusion of education programmes with structural measures, particularly concerning the nature of the proposed legal instruments; regrets the lack of definition of the basic conditions which are essential if the 'Europe of knowledge' objective is to be achieved: a substantial increase in the budget, rapid generalization of access to new technologies and a bold language-teaching policy;

6. Supports the Commission's stated aims of limiting the number of objectives in the present programmes and of defining the areas for action more clearly;

7. Believes that incentives should be provided to consider the six types of activities identified by the Commission as an integrated package of measures which together contribute to the achievement of a defined goal; underlines in this context the importance of language activities as an essential prerequisite for all types of transnational measures, particularly in the vocational training sector, where language barriers are still strong;

8. Stresses the important role that must be played by the social partners in the new vocational training programme, particularly in view of their contribution, via social contracts, to enabling workers to have access to training and therefore achieve increased levels of employment security;

9. Calls on all EU education, training and youth policies and programmes to support measures to promote the integration of all disabled people into mainstream education and training systems;

10. Considers there is an urgent need for the Commission to encourage wider participation by improving the administration and application procedures, particularly by simplifying them, standardizing deadlines for applications, speeding up procedures and continuing to make the present programmes' national coordinating bodies responsible for safeguarding the continuity of Community measures;

11. Agrees that this can also be achieved by decentralizing decisions 'to the levels closest to the parties involved', and yet warns that any delegation of decision-making may not and must not result in decreased visibility of Community action in this field or weaken the Commission's responsibility for implementing the policy framework decided at EU level, coordinating and supporting activities, monitoring progress, gathering, evaluating and disseminating results, and encouraging access to knowledge for disadvantaged groups to ensure the development of an inclusive learning society;

12. Emphasizes that it is necessary that the Commission should carry out a constant and thorough assessment of the programmes concerned, drawing on the achievements and accumulated experience of past actions and current programmes in formulating its legislative proposals (including, for example, theme years such as the European Year against Racism), in order to make necessary changes to improve effectiveness and impact; considers that the assessment procedure should also ensure that their feasibility is proportionate to their expense, identifying and targeting priority groups of participants, with the aim of making the programmes as user-friendly as possible;

13. Regrets the fact that this debate takes place without the necessary qualitative information on the achievements of the current programmes, for example with regard to:

- the profile of the beneficiaries of the different types of activities financed by these programmes,

- the sustainability and impact of the transnational structures and activities established under these programmes,

- the degree of integration and synergy between the different types of activities relating to the same policy field and between these activities and initiatives financed under other EU programmes;

14. Believes that, in the context of limited financial resources, European added value can be achieved only by developing the future programmes as real transnational 'European laboratories for innovation' and by focusing on those sectors and categories which necessitate EU support and that this can be done only if the above qualitative data are available; calls for these data to be provided in connection with the forthcoming legislative proposals;

15. Calls on the Commission to draw up a report addressing specifically the relationship, in the light of the new employment guidelines, between EU vocational training programmes and the reformed ESF; calls for this report to be submitted to the European Parliament at the same time as the forthcoming legislative proposals, and will refer to it when evaluating whether those legislative proposals ensure better coordination and synergy with Structural Fund operations;

16. Supports, therefore, the continuation of distinct Community programmes, with their existing names (Socrates, Leonardo, Youth for Europe and Voluntary Service), since this is in the interests of public recognition, particularly by target groups, and continuity and should facilitate a smooth transition in the year 2000; considers it essential, however, for 'bridges' to be built between these programmes and also between them and the research and technological development programmes, so as to allow for initiatives incorporating components from all of these areas; calls for more coherence and clarity in the definition of the individual lines of action, to prevent overlapping and duplication;

17. Considers that, in order to increase the effectiveness of these programmes, in particular the Leonardo and Socrates programmes, certain initiatives should be merged, such as the Leonardo programme's 'cooperation between businesses and universities' initiative (formerly part of the Comett programme) and the Socrates programme's 'Erasmus' initiative;

18. Calls for a substantial increase, and, if possible, a doubling of the budget of the programmes, given the important contribution they can make to the development of a people's Europe, to promoting employability and to achieving the goals of the Amsterdam Summit, and to the forthcoming enlargement process; also considering the de-facto social exclusion of applicants from low-income families due to the low financial level of grants, and bearing generally in mind that the current level of funding will not be adequate to meet the increase in demand during 2000 - 2006 due to the accession of the Central and Eastern European countries; points out, furthermore, that this is in line with the Commission's aim of making knowledge policies one of the fundamental pillars of the Union, an aim which should be reflected more clearly in the Commission's overall priorities;

19. Considers that there is a need for a separate Community programme for youth, and that this should not be subsumed within education and training policy, since the goals of youth policy are broader than preparation for working life; considers that other objectives should include offering a varied learning environment outside school, the fostering of independence and creativity, preparation for democratic and social life and the combating of social exclusion and racism;

20. Believes that the concept of lifelong learning, the reality of an ageing population in Europe, and technological and demographic change mean that actions in the area of education and training should not be restricted to young people but should rather seek to encourage individual learning at every age in life and at every level of professional development;

21. Stresses that future programmes should take into account that lifelong learning can be applied to a wide diversity of sectors and disciplines;

22. Underlines the importance of broad international cooperation in the areas of education, training and youth with the partner countries, countries outside Europe, and with relevant international organizations, such as the Council of Europe, Unesco and OECD;

23. Highlights the importance of actions to promote physical mobility for the various target groups and considers that access to exchange programmes should not be restricted to educationally or economically advantaged groups; considers, therefore, that there should be increased opportunities for vocational trainees, apprentices and students to participate in exchange programmes; considers that there should be increased opportunities for cooperation between vocational, general and other educational establishments on EU programmes;

24. Considers that greater attention should be paid to the mobility of teachers, academics and trainers since this can have a significant multiplier effect on the 'non-mobile' population; enabling non-governmental organizations to participate and have an influence as social partners also has a significant and cost-effective multiplier effect;

25. Believes there is an urgent need for improvement concerning academic recognition for periods of study spent abroad, and is therefore supportive of the further development of ECTS;

26. Points out, however, that initiatives and actions to recognize certificates and qualifications are not the task of education programmes but require joint regulation by the individual Member States, involving the social partners;

27. Considers that it is essential to facilitate communication among all Europeans, in order to maximize the benefits of the Single Market, and that there is therefore a need to encourage the acquisition of a good level of knowledge of the Community languages (especially those in widest use and the languages of neighbouring Member States), whilst recognizing the need to preserve the rich diversity of languages in Europe;

28. Hopes, therefore, that the new generation of initiatives to be submitted by the Commission will include a major campaign to promote the language skills of teachers, educators and trainers, and also the dissemination of appropriate educational software;

29. Stresses the need for a European statute to be promoted for the benefit of students and teachers which would in particular enable them to avoid social security problems and to move freely within all the EU Member States;

30. Strongly supports actions designed to promote understanding and peace between differing countries and cultures, both within the European Union and beyond; believes that exchanges involving countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Islamic world - especially when they belong to the Mediterranean Basin - could be particularly fruitful;

31. Supports the inclusion of a European dimension within the school curriculum and believes that this can be done through many different subjects and not only through language teaching; in this connection wishes to see the Comenius aspect of the Socrates programme strengthened; also believes that ancillary sources such as vocational guidance in schools and universities should include references to opportunities across the Union; points out that teaching programmes must be particularly based on equality, sustainable development and environmental protection as elements of the European social model;

32. Believes that there is an urgent need to include civic education in the curriculum, in particular the role and relevance of the different tiers of government within the European Union;

33. Considers that education and training programmes should take into account the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, help them to develop their educational system, particularly at University level, and enable them to incorporate the acquis communautaire;

34. Welcomes the high profile to be given to using, and encouraging familiarity with, new information and communication technologies within the new programmes, and believes there are great opportunities to be gained from linking up schools and pupils across Europe, which must be encouraged as a supplement to physical mobility; emphasizes, however, that virtual mobility must on no account be encouraged at the expense of promoting personal contacts and exchange schemes, and that the aim of educational and youth programmes is not to acquire technical equipment but to make effective use of virtual mobility and increase its efficiency;

35. Calls on the Commission to play a key role in stimulating the development and dissemination of educational software and multimedia material with European content; takes the view that the involvement of teachers, pupils, parents and others involved in education can help to ensure that such material is good quality, accurate, relevant and user-friendly;

36. Is pleased to note the reference to the necessity of media education at all levels, to help people to make sense of the information they receive through the various media; believes that this is an essential component for an inclusive Information Society;

37. Takes the view that a clear distinction must be made between the education programmes¨ target groups and those of the Structural Funds, and that no funds from the education sector should therefore be made available for structural measures;

38. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.