OBESSU attends Early School Leaving Thematic Working Group
OBESSU has been invited to be part of the European Commission’s Thematic Working Group on Early-School Leaving. The group was created in line with the Europe 2020 and Education and Training 2020 target of lowering to 10% the rate of early school leavers. The working group is composed of government representatives from the EU member states but also Iceland, Turkey, Norway and Croatia, as well as representatives of European NGOs (as OBESSU, European Parents’ Association – EPA, Teachers’ trade unions – ETUCE) and researchers. OBESSU is the only representative of learners in the group and our presence and contribution is, therefore, highly important.
The first meeting of the working group was held on 15-16 December in Brussels and OBESSU Secretary General, Viviana Galli, participated in the discussions presenting the view of our platform. The aim of the group is to monitor the developments and analyse data in the Member States and at European level, to help designing and launching experimentation projects on innovative approaches, to conduct regular discussions at policy level and create useful tools. The methods used for the fulfilment of the tasks will rely on exchange of best and worst practices, peer learning and research.
The working group addressed a great variety of topics: parents’ involvement, teachers’ training, Vocational Education and Training, local community support, financing, coordination measures, prevention and intervention, early detection systems, motivation and relevance of curricula etc.
During the different plenary and group work discussions, Viviana underlined the importance of student involvement and motivation, the concept of ownership, the necessity of quality teachers and staff training (ability to identify and address individual learners’ needs, flexibility and adaptability of methods, early and continuous guidance, flexible learning paths, peer-education and mentoring), the importance of extra-curricula activities and involvement of other actors of society (school as an open community), the necessity of creating a safe, inspiring and participatory learning environment.
The working group will be involved in the organisation of a Conference on Early-School leaving on 1-2 March 2012 and has a mandate of two years.
Written by Viviana Galli, OBESSU Secretary General
