Commission staff working document - accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - "an updated strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training'' - Impact Assessment Summary {COM(2008) 865 final} {SEC(2008) 3047}
Date: 2008-12-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU employment policy, continuing education, cooperation policy, economic consequence, education policy, educational reform, impact study, professional qualifications, social impact, vocational training

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  
SEC(2008) 3048  

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

accompanying the  

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

"An updated strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training'' 

Impact Assessment Summary 

{COM(2008) 865 final} 
{SEC(2008) 3047}

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COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON AN UPDATED STRATEGIC 
FRAMEWORK FOR EUROPEAN COOPERATION IN EDUCATION AND 
TRAINING 

This  impact  assessment  will  accompany  the  Commission  Communication  on  an  updated 
strategic  framework  for  European  cooperation  in  education  and  training.  The  Education 
Council invited the Commission to come forward with such a proposal in key messages which 
were endorsed by the March 2008 European Council.  

Education  and  training  is  a  crucial  factor  in  the  Lisbon  Strategy  and  its  open  method  of 
coordination  (the  "Education  and  Training  2010"  work  programme)  has  delivered  concrete 
results,  increasing  countries  participation  in  and  benefits  from  European  cooperation  and 
reducing  barriers  to  citizens'  mobility  and  lifelong  learning.  However,  major  challenges  and 
weaknesses  in  national  systems  still  persist  as  illustrated  in  the  2008  Joint  Report  of  the 
Council  and  the  Commission  on  the  implementation  of  the  work  programme1  and  the 
insufficient  progress  towards  meeting  the  five  benchmarks  agreed  under  the  current  OMC. 
These results and the feedback received from consultations of Member States and European 
stakeholder organisations carried out in the context of this impact assessment show that there 
is  a  need  to  improve  national  implementation  and  thus  the  impact  of  the  OMC  on  national 
systems  by  ensuring  a  stronger  focus  on  immediate  priorities,  greater  political  commitment 
and visibility, better involvement of stakeholders, more effective mutual learning and stronger 
lifelong learning coordination across education and training sectors. 

Concerning  the  overall  future  challenges  to  education  and  training  systems,  the  policy 
challenges of the knowledge economy, demographic change and globalisation highlighted by 
the  Lisbon  strategy  persist.  In  addition,  issues  such  as  migration  and  sustainability  have 
become salient. There are serious risks of mismatches between skills supply and demand, with 
shortages  of  high-skilled  workers  and  insufficient  qualification  levels  of  low-skilled  people. 
There is thus an urgent need to upgrade the skills of the workforce and of those at the risk of 
exclusion.  Economic  evidence  confirms  the  considerable  benefits  for  the  economy,  society 
and  the  individual  of  investment  in  education  and  training,  in  terms  of  employability, 
knowledge and innovation, social inclusion and citizenship, including the reduction of crime 
and improvement of health. 

The  result  of  the  broad  consultation  of  countries,  social  partners  and  stakeholders  on  the 
results of the current OMC in education and training has been largely favourable. The overall 
challenges  and  objectives  which  the  OMC  addresses  remain  valid.  Countries  however  also 
recommend  adjustments  to  the  working  methods  in  order  to  increase  their  focus  and 
effectiveness.  

Based  on  the  above  challenges,  three  objectives  are  defined  for  an  updated  strategic 
framework  for  European  cooperation  in  education  and  training:  raising  overall  skills  levels 
(long-term), supporting countries in their education and training reforms (medium-term) and, 
finally,  addressing  specific  elements  to  improve  the  effectiveness  and  impact  of  the  OMC, 

1 

The  2008  Joint  Progress  Report  of  the  Council  and  the  Commission  on  the  implementation  of  the 
'Education and Training 2010' work programme "Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity 
and innovation" (February 2008) (OJ C 86, 5.4. 2008, p. 1). 

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notably  through  better  focus,  political  commitment  and  visibility,  stakeholder  involvement, 
peer learning and horizontal coordination across education and training sectors (short-term). 

Four policy options are taken into consideration: continuing work under the Lisbon strategy 
without  a  specific  OMC  for  education  and  training,  continuing  with  the  status  quo  (i.e.  the 
Education  and  Training  2010  work  programme  in  its  current  form),  an  updated  strategic 
framework  and  a  wider  and  deeper  OMC.  These  options  each  demand  a  different  type  of 
commitment from countries and workload in terms of co-operation activities, but all respect 
the principle of subsidiarity and are proportional to the major challenges facing education and 
training within the broader context of the Lisbon Strategy and renewed Social Agenda.  

The impact of the OMC on national policy making and policy convergence is challenging to 
assess  for  all  four  options.  It  is,  in  particular,  difficult  to  show  robust  evidence  of  casual 
linkage between the OMC and national policy outcomes in terms of quantifiable results (e.g. 
in relation to raising skills levels as measured by progress in relation to the benchmarks). In 
qualitative terms, the experience to date and the consultation however confirm that the current 
OMC  is  clearly  perceived  by  Member  States  and  stakeholders  as  contributing  to  national 
policy  development,  but  with  areas  requiring  improvement.  Strengthening  its  effectiveness 
through either an updated strategic framework or a wider and deeper OMC (options 3 or 4) 
would,  therefore,  most  likely,  increase  its  overall  impact  on  the  reform  of  national  systems 
contributing to the Lisbon and renewed Social Agendas. 

While  the  different  options  all  have  their  advantages,  only  the  development  of  an  updated 
strategic framework (option 3) meets the demands for the OMC to have a greater impact on 
national reforms of education and training systems and to become a more effective instrument 
of  co-operation  and  policy  development.  It  allows  to  define  policy  objectives  responding  to 
the full range of challenges identified by Member States and stakeholders and also to respond 
to the requests for changes in relation to the working methods used in the OMC. Finally, this 
option is also feasible. 

The  mechanisms  to  monitor  and  evaluate  the  impact  on  national  policy-making,  policy 
convergence and policy outcomes of the OMC in education and training already exist in the 
form of biennial joint progress reports and annual reports on indicators and benchmarks. Their 
effectiveness would be strengthened by a stronger emphasis on thematic priorities in the Joint 
Reports, the inclusion of country assessments, improved feedback from Member States on the 
working of the OMC and a stronger involvement of stakeholders.  

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