OBESSU’s thoughts on the European Parliament report on “Rethinking Education”
OBESSU, the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions, welcomes today’s adoption by the European Parliament of the “Rethinking Education” report. Gauging the results of the vote, OBESSU is very pleased to see that the report puts great emphasis on the development on the learner, education as a human right and involvement of learners in decision-making processes, among other things. This is in sharp contrast to the European Commission position and OBESSU requests the Commission to take the EP report into account.
In particular, the Parliament “Considers the role of education to be much broader than just fulfilling the economic targets of European and national strategies” and the “primary mission of education as being the preparation of individuals for life as well as for being active citizens in increasingly complex societies”.
Furthermore, the report clearly recognises education as a human right to which everyone must have access, aimed at personal and societal development and at acquiring skills for life. OBESSU considers this one of our very core principles and considers this acknowledgement from the Parliament to be a great result of the report. One of the focal points for OBESSU is the Parliament calling “for learners and the organisations to which they are attached to be involved in decision-making processes concerning education, and highlights the fact that learning should be based on a structured dialogue with learners”.
However, OBESSU is still concerned about the strong focus on the aspect of adapting education to labour market needs. This is seen for example in the report’s call for “the creation of specific measures to establish a better link between education and training and the working environment, in order to enhance competitiveness and anticipate the future needs of the labour market”. Moreover, it also stresses the benefits of learning about EU citizenship rights, and transversal, language and entrepreneurial skills “in order to achieve a greater level of EU-wide employability”. OBESSU believes that education should in no circumstances be seen as merely a tool to produce employable workers. Without neglecting the problem of youth unemployment, education should, as indicated above, focus on the learner’s personal development and active citizenship. It must also be taken into consideration that, with our fast-changing world and innovations, it is extremely difficult to assess skills which will be needed in 10 years, thus we need to concentrate on an education which aims at developing citizens able to learn, to adapt and to think critically.
Concluding, OBESSU firmly believes in the involvement of the learners in shaping the education systems. An education system can never be perfect without taking into account the views of the learners, and this has also been taken into account in the report.
See also OBESSU’s reaction from February 2013.
You can download OBESSU’s full statement here.
For more information, please contact the OBESSU Board at board@obessu.org.
