Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education COM(2007) 392 final
Date: 2008-01-16
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: education policy, teacher training, teaching quality

17.6.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 151/41

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Improving the Quality of Teacher
Education

COM(2007) 392 final

(2008/C 151/13)

On 3 August 2007, the European Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social
Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on

Improving the quality of teacher education

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 19 December 2007. The rapporteur was
Mr Soares.

At its 441st plenary session of 16 and 17 January 2008 (meeting of 16 January) the Committee adopted
the following opinion unanimously.

1. Summary and recommendations

learning? Lastly, how can the teaching profession be made more
attractive to young people, particularly in terms of remuneration
and benefits, amongst other things?

1.1
Education has always been acknowledged to be not only
a key aspect of personal development and growth but also a
factor for the development of society itself. In a globalised and
highly competitive world, education is even more crucial to the
future of both society and individuals, given the wealth of
knowledge and skills that people are now expected to have.

The EESC considers that education's main purpose is still
1.2
to train people to be free, critical,
independent and able to
contribute to improving the society in which they live, with the
necessary skills to face new challenges, whilst understanding
that they are part of a cultural legacy and share the same values
and that the world in which they live does not revolve around
them alone and should,
future
generations. Education also has a duty to help set people free.

therefore, be preserved for

1.7
The EESC is thoroughly convinced, as the Commission
states in its communication, that in an increasingly complex and
demanding society, the teaching profession should be seen as a
crucial component in promoting high-quality education that is
able to adapt to today's requirements. This is why improving
university-level education and professional teacher training and
offering appropriate pay and career conditions are central to
achieving this objective.

2. Gist of the Commission communication

1.3
Against this backdrop, teachers are central to achieving
this aim, because they have the task not only of passing on
interacting with children and young
knowledge but also of
people in a society in which family structure has changed radi-
cally and now takes new shapes and forms.

The Communication identifies the quality of

2.1
teaching
and teacher training as a key factor in ensuring the quality of
education and improving the educational attainment of young
people. It lists a number of steps that could now be taken in
this field, and ways in which the Commission can support that
work.

1.4
The EESC welcomes the Commission communication to
the Council and the European Parliament on how to improve
teacher training and broadly agrees with its approach.

The Committee considers, however,

1.5
that despite the
Commission's limited powers in this area, the communication
could go a little further and address other issues which, because
of their importance today, warrant particular attention.

2.2
The Commission considers that, taken as a whole, these
proposals would help to ensure that teachers' initial training and
their professional development are coordinated, coherent and
properly funded; to ensure that all teachers possess the knowl-
edge, attitudes and resources that they require to be effective; to
support
to promote a
culture of discussion and research within the profession on
teaching practices and to promote the status and recognition of
the profession.

the professionalisation of

teaching;

1.6
Specifically, what new strategies can and should be
designed for teaching in an environment of global change? How
should the new issues arising from changes in family structures,
with their new shapes and forms, be addressed? How can
teachers' ongoing training be guaranteed to form part of lifelong

This will help improve the quality of education for all
2.3
and enable Member States to achieve — at national level — the
Lisbon goals for social cohesion and economic competitiveness
and growth.

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3. General comments

Over the years, the teaching profession has changed, not
3.1
only in its working methods but also in its very role, as a result
of developments in society and new expectations of schools.
Teachers, who were once ‘purveyors of knowledge’, whose
knowledge was expected to be absolute, have became teacher/
educators or learning facilitators, able to give structure to the
knowledge acquired by young people from other sources, which
are sometimes more up-to-date than the teachers' own.

3.1.1
In particular, the knowledge acquired from the Internet
and the new information and communication technologies that
are available to most young people today, and which they access
and use without due consideration, raise problems that need to
in their
in teacher's initial
be addressed either
ongoing training, so that they are able to assimilate this knowl-
edge in order to incorporate it into young people's education.

training or

3.2
Schools in turn have become more democratic and more
heterogeneous, the product of a society which has also become
more diverse, more demanding and more complex. As a result,
democracy, equality and diversity have become fundamental
concepts of schools today; they are vital elements of inclusive
schools that also embrace children and young people with
disabilities. Against this backdrop, teachers now have a new
task;
to provide increasingly individualised answers that are
tailored to each pupil.

3.3
The phenomena of immigration, social discrimination,
poverty, youth violence, especially in urban areas, and greater
job instability and long-term unemployment have ‘infiltrated’
schools and have made teaching more complex and difficult, as
well as more unstable and insecure. Often, teachers do not
know how to deal with these new phenomena and do not
receive the support they would need to do so.

3.4
Similarly, new family structures reflecting the increase in
the number of working women and of one-parent families and
other forms of home life require teachers to demonstrate new
skills, especially that of dealing with the parental responsibility
chosen by each family.

Initial teacher training has not always kept pace with
3.5
these changes. An initial training that was for a long time overly
academic is now often excessively teaching-centred, with much
less emphasis on teachers' knowledge of the different subjects.
What is really needed is a new balance between these two
strands of teacher training.

initial

Indeed,

3.6
teacher training should be a balanced
combination of scientific and educational knowledge because
this balance is precisely what defines the teaching profession.
This training should also, however, include a psycho-sociological
and even anthropological component that helps trainee teachers
to acquire the knowledge and techniques needed to be able to
teach in multicultural settings, making use of an inter-cultural
approach, in which they will have to manage and solve situa-
tions of conflict and similar problems. This initial
training
should also teach future teachers how to listen to young people

in order to involve them in finding the best solutions. In this
connection, it is important to bear in mind the rights to which
children and young people are entitled under the UN Conven-
tion on the Rights of the Child, whereby all children and young
people have the right to education, leisure time, proper treat-
ment and a say in their own life circumstances.

3.7 Whilst the EESC agrees with the Commission's idea that
no initial training can provide teachers with all of the knowledge
and skills necessary for a life-time of teaching, the fact is that
the longer and more in-depth the initial training is, the more
willing teachers will be to make use of ongoing training. This
fact has not been given due prominence in teacher training poli-
cies.

3.8
Furthermore, initial teacher training should include more
wide-ranging aims than simply knowing what and how to teach.
It should convey the idea that teachers are professionals who
give thought to what they are doing and are able to assess the
contexts in which their work takes place, to define the required
strategies and to evaluate the results. Training should also get
across the idea that education can and should be a tool for
social cohesion, social and economic development and for
training people to be active and committed, to respect cultural
and environmental diversity and even to build a better world.
Indeed, it is teachers who really create social cohesion.

3.9 With regard to ongoing training, this should be based
not only on the individual needs of teachers as professionals
who recognise the limitations of their own knowledge and who
are aware of current social and technological developments; it
should also address the collective needs of schools as commu-
nities that form part of a broader community involving other
players and stakeholders.

3.10
In many countries, ongoing training is a recent develop-
ment and should continue to be encouraged as a key compo-
nent of progress for the teaching profession. Ongoing training is
one of teachers' professional duties and is acknowledged to be
crucial to their work. It should, therefore, be given the time,
space and resources it requires to become a permanent aspect of
the job.

3.11
Ongoing teacher training in vocational and technolo-
gical subjects should keep pace with technological develop-
ments. It should involve partnerships with business in order to
technological
familiarise and update teachers with the latest
developments.

One of the most serious mistakes made in ongoing
3.12
training policies is to think that training can be standardised
within a given subject area. Whilst
this aspect cannot and
should not be discounted, it is worth pointing out that such
training must match the needs of the community in which the
school is located and must reflect the school's own educational
aims. Only in this way will each country or region be able to
meet the challenges relating to their social and economic devel-
opment and take account of the new concerns facing society.

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3.13
The conditions for entering the profession and for
career development, the specific support provided for working
in this field, pay that reflects the profession's social importance
and social recognition for the work that is done are some of the
factors that can help, in addition to teacher training, to attract
the most able people into teaching, which is acknowledged to
be a difficult and testing profession and thus help to improve
education, ensuring that it is rigorous and of high quality.

4. Specific comments

education and professional

The Commission communication highlights the fact that
4.1
teachers'
closely
connected to other key policies, such as the European Youth
Pact (1), policies on innovation, research, business (2) and multi-
lingualism (3) and to the recognition of professional qualifica-
tions (4).

training are

4.2
The EESC broadly agrees that these policies overlap with
the issue in question but considers that it would be useful to
emphasise other aspects, which should definitely form part of
any teacher training, whether initial or ongoing:

4.2.1
The Millennium Goals, to which all EU members of the
UN are committed and which, in order to be achieved, require
highly qualified teachers whose training must form part of a
common strategy.

4.2.2
The Lisbon goals, which emphasise the importance of
knowledge, and thus of education, based on the premise that
Europe's greatest asset is its people. Raising young people's
awareness of sustainable development and the social market
economy is a task that falls under the Lisbon strategy and
should form part of young people's education.

4.2.3
The gender aspect, not only because most teachers are
women but also because this is a key issue in European policy
on socio-economic development and social cohesion.

intellectual, creative,

The general education of young people in all

its
4.2.4
aspects: physical,
innovative, active and
socially useful. Thinking about the general education of children
and young people requires cognitive ability, teaching/educational
training and the ability to work as part of a team and these
skills can only be gained by means of a demanding initial
training and the appropriate ongoing training.

(1) See, for example, the EESC opinion of 26.10.2005 on Addressing the
concerns of young people in Europe — Implementing the European Youth Pact
and promoting active citizenship (OJ C 28, 03.02.2006), rapporteur: Ms
van Turnhout.

(2) See, for example, the EESC opinions on Investment in Knowledge and
Innovation (own-initiative opinion) of 12.07.2007 (OJ C 256,
27.10.2007), rapporteur: Mr Wolf, or Employability and entrepreneurship
(exploratory opinion), of 11.07.2007 (OJ C 256, 27.10.2007), rappor-
teur: Mr Pariza Castaños.

(3) See, for example, the EESC opinion of 26.10.2006 on A new framework
rapporteur:

strategy for multilingualism (OJ C 324, 30.12.2006),
Ms Le Nouail.

(4) See, for example, the EESC opinion of 30.05.2007 on the Proposal for a
Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the estab-
lishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (OJ C
175, 27.07.2007), rapporteur: Mr Rodríguez García-Caro.

4.3
The communication outlines the profile of teachers in
the European Union, highlighting three key aspects: gender, age
and remuneration, but does not explore in detail the link that
might exist between these three factors.

4.3.1 Whilst it is true that women are always in the majority
in all areas of education, their number is inversely proportionate
importance and/or the remuneration offered in
to the social
each sector. Consequently, from pre-school to higher education,
the proportion of women falls.

4.3.2
The image of the teaching profession is less attractive
today and cannot compete with careers that are more alluring
to graduates with the same qualifications. It is thus no longer
attracting younger
clearly
become more demanding, in terms of both initial training and
social responsibility, but this fact has not been reflected in better
working conditions, career prospects and remuneration.

candidates. The profession has

The pure sciences and information and communica-
4.3.2.1
tion technologies have been affected particularly badly by this
competition, resulting in a widespread shortage of teachers in
these subjects.

4.3.3
The EESC also wishes to point out that some of the
assertions made in the communication are not supported by
detailed analysis, thus concealing the more complex reality of a
number of situations. When teachers' salaries are compared with
income, for example, account should be
the average national
taken of the value of salaries in relation to GDP and the rela-
tionship between salaries and career length and a comparison
should be made with other professions that have equally
rigorous academic requirements.

In Europe,

4.3.4
the teaching profession is today clearly
ageing and there are justified fears concerning its ability to
replenish itself, given that so many teachers are between 50 and
64 years old. Europe should draw up a forward planning study
on the potential consequences of the age pyramid.

It is, therefore, crucial to make the teaching profession
4.3.5
more attractive to young people, which will, of course, require
not only greater investment but also and, perhaps even more
importantly, making social and cultural changes in order to
improve teachers' standing in society.

4.4
The Commission communication sets out a number of
measures in the field of education policy that could help to
improve teacher education,
in particular as regards lifelong
learning, the necessary skills, reflective practice and research,
qualifications,
education and
teaching in society.

education in higher

teacher

4.4.1
The EESC agrees with the ideas set out in the commu-
nication, but considers that they should only be considered
within a structured framework and should be grounded in the
different contexts in which they apply. All of
the ideas are
important, of course, but require society to adopt a different
view of what it means to be a teacher today, against a backdrop
of
increased knowledge and more techniques and means to
access knowledge.

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5. The EESC's recommendations

it broadly supports the
Consequently, and reaffirming that
Commission communication,
the
approach to the issue of improving the quality of teacher educa-
tion should go beyond their initial and ongoing training and
thus makes the following recommendations:

the EESC considers

that

5.1
the
Society should adopt a more favourable view of
teaching profession, given the latter's particular importance to
achieving the goals set by the Lisbon strategy and since it is
teachers who have the task of developing the EU's most valuable
asset: its human resources.

A new recognition of the teaching profession requires a
5.2
reassessment of salary levels, team-work and ongoing training,
access to the profession and career progression, and of working
conditions and specific support for the sectors and areas that
need it the most, in order to attract enthusiastic and competent
young people into the profession.

5.2.1
This reassessment should entail a detailed document
setting out the skills expected of teachers, in terms of academic
knowledge, a sociological understanding of the different popula-
tion groups in Europe and in terms of educational methods.

Although education does not specifically fall within the
5.3
European Union's remit,
improving open coordination, gath-
ering and sharing information, exchanging good practice,
launching specific programmes to upgrade the teaching profes-
sion's profile could all be means of helping Member States to
implement active policies to achieve this goal.

5.4
Teaching is an extremely responsible job and strategies
must, therefore, be developed to support young teachers at the
start of their career, through assistance provided by more experi-
enced teachers who, due to work-related strain (physical or
mental), should moreover not be obliged to perform the same
duties until they reach retirement age.

long-term unemployment,

5.5
teams,
The existence of multidisciplinary educational
whether or not coordinated by teachers, is today a key tool for
any educational project that takes on board the new social situa-
tions (family structures and organisation, working time and
arrangements,
in par-
ticular those resulting from a poor knowledge of the language
and culture of the host country) or specific permanent situations
(children and young people with special educational needs due
to a handicap, combating sexism and consideration of gender
equality). In this context, initial teacher training should include
sufficient awareness of these issues. Moreover, it is essential to
train specialist teachers for children and young people with
special educational needs, which could also be achieved by
offering Master's or PhD degrees in this area.

immigration,

Another social situation becoming increasingly common
5.6
in schools is youth violence, which should be addressed from a
multidisciplinary
this
phenomenon, which tends to occur mainly in urban settings.

understanding

approach

aimed

at

investment

Furthermore,

5.7
is
crucial to ensuring support for educational tasks that the school
is obliged to provide but which go beyond the normal duties of
a teacher.

in auxiliary teaching staff

Initial

training should take account of all of

5.8
these
assumptions and should, therefore, be of high quality, in terms
of academic content and of the educational/teaching content
and also of new skills such as the abilities to work as part of a
team, to interact with other social stakeholders,
in particular
families, and the ability to instil the desire to learn in other
people. This training should include methods for leading activ-
ities and group dynamics, which can prevent and defuse latent
social conflict.

The EESC therefore recommends

5.9
the teaching
profession be considered to warrant a lengthy initial training,
high requirements and a better understanding of the relation-
ships between schools and society, including the world of work.

that

5.10 With regard to ongoing training, this should be consid-
ered to be an integral part of a teacher's career progression, and
so Member States should design programmes to implement a
system that meets the needs of both teachers and schools.

5.11
If ongoing training is to succeed and be effective in
meeting its aims, teachers must be actively involved in it from
the development and planning stages through to implementa-
tion and it should focus primarily on schools and on the
specific aims of each school's educational project.

5.12
The socio-economic stakeholders and the union organi-
sations representing teachers in particular should be viewed as
valued partners in the process of defining the aims of teachers'
initial and ongoing training schemes and in evaluating these
schemes.

5.13
Ongoing training could have a component of parent
to involve these in the
and teacher participation in order
school's educational project, with a view to understanding the
variety of
factors affecting their children's studies and thus
playing a role in their children's education outside the home
environment.

5.14
Ongoing training should also provide a forum for
discussion within the profession and it would thus be desirable
to involve other educational stakeholders and take account of
the possibility of involving different schools in a broader frame-
work.

5.15
Lastly, European programmes should encourage experi-
ence and information exchanges between schools located in
different countries but which share similarities. Experience-
sharing between schools in host countries and schools in immi-
grants' countries of origin, for example, would be a useful way
of understanding the difficulties faced by children and young
people from this social group and of developing strategies to
overcome obvious problems.

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5.16
Furthermore, the Lisbon strategy framework should be
used to encourage, in particular with regard to study leave and
cross-EU teacher mobility, e.g. via study leave, as a vector
(or vehicle) for experiences and innovation to improve lifelong
learning.

5.17
Lastly, appropriate education indicators should be iden-
tified and recognised in all EU countries to assess gains and to
help educational systems achieve the common aim of improving
qualifications and social cohesion.

Brussels, 16 January 2008.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Communication from the
Commission to the Council,
the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of Regions Promoting young people's full participation in education,
employment and society

the European Parliament,

COM(2007) 498 final

(2008/C 151/14)

On 5 September 2007, the Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on

Promoting young people's full participation in education, employment and society

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 19 December 2007. The rapporteur was
Mr Trantina.

At its 441st plenary session, held on 16 and 17 January 2008 (meeting of 17 January 2008), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 137 votes to none, with 3 abstentions.

1. Summary of recommendations

1.1
The EESC agrees with the need to prepare a truly Euro-
pean transversal youth strategy and is ready to contribute to this
process with its means such as direct contact with grass root
organisations and sensibilisation of EU institutions of problems
and solutions on grass root level.

The EESC believes

1.2
the process of building a
that
successful and sustainable transversal child and youth strategy
should be facilitated through a permanent structure within the
Commission (coordinating the work of various DGs involved)
or an interinstitutional group and should be based on setting up
of a monitoring mechanism with clear targets and deadlines.

the first

(independence,

The EESC believes that

1.3
step to increasing
employment in the EU — before doing the utmost to mobilise
older workers — is to get young people into work on a massive
scale, since this would have a far longer impact, both sociolo-
gical
and
economic, in terms of growth, social financing, consumption,
savings and investment (building, etc.). It urges Member States
and European institutions to take the necessary steps to reduce
youth unemployment in Europe, mainly through quicker and
more efficient implementation of the European Youth Pact and
Member States' Lisbon Strategy national reform programmes.

social, birth-rates,

family,

etc.)

The EESC urges that the situation of young people in
1.4
rural areas and poor urban areas be given greater consideration.
The EESC calls on Member States to rise to the challenge of
eradicating child poverty and asks for measures to be added in
order to improve participation of young people with disabilities
in society on equal terms.

1.5
The EESC recommends that the Commission continues
to work on the recognition of voluntary youth work through
engagement with employers' organisations, workers' organisa-
tions, representatives of the formal education system and appro-
priate NGOs.

The EESC repeats its main points on the subject of

1.6
voluntary activities of young people, mainly that:

— the Commission should announce a Year of Volunteers, and
publish a White Paper on voluntary activity and active citi-
zenship in Europe;

— the Commission and Member States should raise the aware-
ness on the contribution of youth work to the development
of young people and the skills, values and attitudes gained
through active involvement
in youth organisations and
youth work activities.