Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 22 May 2008 on promoting creativity and innovation through education and training
Date: 2008-05-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union, Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Subjects: anti-discriminatory measure, continuing vocational training, cultural pluralism, economic growth, education policy

7.6.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 141/17

Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States,
meeting within the Council of 22 May 2008 on promoting creativity and innovation through
education and training

(2008/C 141/10)

THE COUNCIL AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS
OF THE MEMBER STATES, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL,

RECALLING the political background to this issue as set out in
the Annex to these conclusions, and in the light of the Confer-
ence on Promoting Innovation and Creativity: Schools' Response to
the Challenges of Future Societies held in Brdo on 9-10 April
2008,

NOTE THAT:

1. while Member States are fully responsible for the organisa-
tion and content of their education and training systems,
promoting creativity and innovation is an area in which
level could
quality and efficiency at national and regional
benefit from cooperation at European level;

2. the common European objectives of quality, access and
openness to the wider world have been supported under the
present ‘Education and Training 2010’ work programme by
the search for efficiency and equity. Since creativity and the
capacity to innovate are also crucial to sustainable economic
these issues deserve
and social development
greater emphasis in the context of future European coopera-
tion in the field of education;

in Europe,

3. all levels of education and training can contribute to crea-
tivity and innovation in a lifelong learning perspective: the
early stages of education concentrating on motivation,
learning to learn skills and other key competences, and
subsequent stages focusing on more specific skills and the
creation, development and application of new knowledge
and ideas.

CONSIDER that:

1. creativity is the prime source of innovation, which in turn
is acknowledged as the main driver of growth and wealth
creation, as key to improvements in the social field and as
an essential tool
in addressing global challenges such as
climate change, health care and sustainable development;

2. there is a growing need for action at national level as well
as cooperation at EU level to bring about the more ambi-
tious change necessary if schools are to prepare pupils
adequately to face the significant challenges and problems
of a fast-changing world;

3. beyond their essential tasks of ensuring the acquisition of
key competences and providing the knowledge triangle
with a solid skills base, education and training systems can
play a fundamental role in the development of creative and
innovative capacities as key factors in enhancing future
economic competitiveness and promoting social cohesion
and individual well-being;

4. starting at school level, education systems need to combine
the development of specific knowledge and skills together
with that of generic capacities linked to creativity, such as
curiosity,
intuition, critical and lateral thinking, problem
solving, experimentation, risk taking and the ability to learn
from failure, use of
the imagination and hypothetical
reasoning, and a sense of entrepreneurship;

5. the eight key competences for lifelong learning defined in
2006 EU Recommendation (1) relate to skills which are of
particular relevance to creativity and the capacity to inno-
vate. In particular, there is a need for skills and competences
that enable people to embrace change as an opportunity, to
remain receptive to new ideas and to respect and appreciate
the values of others;

6.

in the face of evidence that diversity and multicultural
environments can stimulate creativity,
inclusive education
policies aimed at tolerance and mutual understanding have
to turn the increasing multiculturalism of
the potential
European societies into an asset for creativity,
innovation
and growth;

7. the participation of schools in new and different networks,
particularly those based in the local community, can help
them to achieve their educational objectives, as well as
contribute to the promotion of creativity and innovation.
the working world and
Partnerships between education,
civil society in general are crucial
for anticipating and
adapting to the changing needs of professional and social
life: traineeships,
joint projects, peer learning and course
instructors from outside education can introduce teachers
and pupils to new ideas;

8. teachers have a crucial role to play in nurturing and
supporting each child's creative potential, and can contri-
bute to this by exemplifying creativity in their own
teaching.

(1) Recommendation 2006/962/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong
learning (OJ L 394, 30.12.2006, p. 10).

C 141/18

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

7.6.2008

this

personalised,

regard, more

In
learner-centred
approaches to education tailored to the needs and abilities
of different learners — including those with special talents
— seem particularly conducive to creativity and, notwith-
standing their
resources and
implications in terms of
internal organisation,
to increasing the motivation and
confidence of more practically or artistically oriented lear-
ners;

learner-centred

9. teacher education institutions also have a key contribution
to make in providing teaching staff with the knowledge and
competences required for change, such as the skills needed
to promote
collaborative
working methods and the use of modern learning tools,
particularly those based on ICT. Fostering creative abilities
and attitudes within schools also requires the support of an
organisational culture open to creativity and the creation of
an innovation-friendly environment in general, as well as
committed and forward-looking leadership at all levels;

approaches,

10. since an increasing share of learning occurs at the work-
place, in non-formal contexts and in leisure time — often
through new ICT-based learning tools and methods — the
development of creative and innovative capacities has rele-
vance for all aspects of lifelong learning;

11. greater research, supported by data sharing, is needed on
methods for identifying, defining, measuring and recording
learning outcomes in soft transversal skills such as creativity
and innovative capacity. There is also a need to provide
education policy makers with a stronger evidence base for
the promotion of creative and innovative capacities through
lifelong learning, and to explore the possible contribution
which the EU could make to this process.

INVITE THE MEMBER STATES TO:

1. consider how to foster greater synergy between knowledge
and skills on the one hand and creativity on the other, as
well as how best to promote, monitor and assess creativity
and innovative capacity, at all
levels of education and
training;

2. encourage teachers to develop their professional role as
learning facilitators and promoters of creativity, and help
to respond to the new
teacher education institutions
demands of
instance by
teaching profession,
the
promoting collaborative, learner-centred approaches, innova-
tive learning environments and the use of open education
resources;

for

3. promote a learning culture through the development of
broader learning communities, by facilitating and supporting

networks and partnerships — involving civil society and
other stakeholders — between education and related areas
such as culture on the one hand, and the working world on
the other.

INVITE THE MEMBER STATES AND THE COMMISSION TO:

1. consider including the promotion of creativity and innova-
tive capacity among the objectives for current and future
European cooperation in the field of education and training
as complementary to promoting and supporting the imple-
mentation of the 2006 Recommendation on key compe-
tences for lifelong learning; and explore appropriate and
effective means at European level — such as peer learning —
to achieve those goals at all levels of education and training
and in a lifelong learning perspective;

2. promote cultural production,

intercultural dialogue and
cooperation at
local, regional, national and international
level with a view to developing environments especially
conducive to creativity and innovation;

3. create synergies to support the promotion of creativity and
innovation through active cooperation with relevant interna-
in particular the Council of Europe,
tional organisations,
Unesco and the OECD, on topics such as intercultural educa-
tion, democracy, tolerance and human rights (The right of
participation of all Member States in such work should be
ensured);

4. encourage and support the development, exchange and disse-
mination of good practice on evidence-based education
policy relating to the promotion of creative and innovative
skills in Europe;

5. make appropriate use of EU programmes and instruments to
promote and support creativity and innovative capacity at all
stages of
lifelong learning, as well as in the educational
process itself.

AND INVITES THE COMMISSION TO:

1. support relevant research, and analyse and exchange data, at
both EU level and among the Member States — in coopera-
tion with European and international research institutions —
on the promotion and development of creative and innova-
tive skills through education and training;

2.

in the process of designing a new strategic framework for
European cooperation in education and training beyond
2010, continue efforts to raise the level of understanding on
issues associated with the development of creative and inno-
vative capacity through education and training within the
overall context of a broad-based innovation policy for the EU.

7.6.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 141/19

ANNEX

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

1. The Education Council's report to the Spring 2001 European Council (1) and the subsequently adopted detailed work
programme (2), which set a number of concrete future objectives for education and training systems in Europe,
including Developing skills for the knowledge society, Making learning more attractive and Strengthening the links with working
life and research, and society at large.

2. The conclusions of the Spring 2006 European Council, which stressed that reforms must be stepped up to ensure
high quality education systems which are both efficient and equitable and acknowledged the crucial role of all levels
of education and training in the search for excellence and innovation (3).

3. The November 2006 Council conclusions on efficiency and equity in education and training, which stated that educa-
tional institutions should focus on the wider learning environment in order to promote and maintain efficiency,
equity and general well-being (4).

4. The December 2006 Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences for life-
long learning, which highlighted the role of critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk assessment,
decision taking, and constructive management of feelings in all eight key competences (5).

5. The December 2006 Council conclusions on the strategic priorities for innovation at EU level (6), which defined
education as a pre-condition for innovation and stated that education must promote talent and creativity from an
early age, and which were adopted in response to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the
the Regions of
European Parliament,
13 September 2006 — Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU (7).

the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of

6. The May 2007 Commission communication ‘A European agenda for culture in a globalizing world’, which stated that the
role of culture in supporting and fostering creativity and innovation must be explored and promoted and sees crea-
tivity as the basis of innovation (8).

7. The Council conclusions of May 2007, on a coherent framework of indicators and benchmarks for monitoring
progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training, which recognised that defining a coherent frame-
work of indicators and benchmarks was a continuous and consultative process (9).

8. The November 2007 Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member
States, meeting within the Council, on improving the quality of teacher education, which agreed to promote the
acquisition of competences which will enable teachers to develop new knowledge and be innovative through engage-
ment in reflective practice and research (10).

9. The 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the ‘Education &
Training 2010’ work programme ‘Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation’, which emphasised
that research and innovation need a broad skills base in the population and that excellence and the key competences
must be developed in all systems and levels of education and training (11).

10. The key messages from the Education Council to the Spring 2008 European Council, which stated that education and
training must both provide a broad knowledge and skills base in the population and develop learners' creativity and
capacity for innovation, and that to this end curricula on all levels should be developed so as to enhance the creative
and innovative competences of learners (12).

(1) The concrete future objectives of education and training systems — Report from the Education Council to the European Council (doc. 5980/01).
(2) Detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of education and training systems in Europe, generally referred to as the ‘Education and

Training 2010’ work programme (OJ C 142, 14.6.2002, p. 1).

(3) Presidency conclusions, Brussels European Council, 23-24 March 2006 (doc. 7775/06).
(4) Conclusions of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 14 November

2006, on efficiency and equity in education and training (OJ C 298, 8.12.2006, p. 3).

(5) Recommendation 2006/962/EC.
(6) Council conclusions on 4 December 2006 on a Broad-based Innovation Strategy: Strategic Priorities for Innovation at EU Level

(doc. 16253/06).
(7) Doc. 12940/06.
(8) Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the

Committee of the Regions, 10 May 2007 — A European agenda for culture in a globalizing world (COM(2007) 242 final).

(9) Council conclusions on a coherent framework of indicators and benchmarks for monitoring progress towards the Lisbon objectives in

education and training, 24 May 2007 (OJ C 311, 21.12.2007, p. 13).

(10) Conclusions of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 15 November

2007 on improving the quality of teacher education (OJ C 300, 12.12.2007, p. 6).

(11) ‘Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation’ — 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the

implementation of the ‘Education & Training 2010’ work programme (doc. 5723/08).

(12) Key messages of the Education Council to the Spring European Council in the fields of education/training and youth (doc. 6445/08).

C 141/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

7.6.2008

11. The conclusions of the Spring 2008 European Council, which considered the full development of the potential for
innovation and creativity of European citizens built on European culture and excellence in science as a key factor for
future growth (1).

12. The Commission Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the European

Year of Creativity and Innovation (2009) (2).

(1) Brussels European Council, 13-14 March 2008, Presidency Conclusions (doc. 7652/08).
(2) Doc. 7755/08.