Continue to directly contribute to the establishment of the European Education Area and call for vigorous actions to reduce early school leaving and measures to ensure inclusiveness and equality for school success;
Highlight the key role of LRAs in the process and their potential as real partners in reforming education and training policies and as an interface between the world of learning and the world of work;
Insist on the need to ensure quality and inclusive education for all and bridge the gaps between regions in the framework of green and digital transitions and to also valorise the activities of regional and peripheral education and training institutions;
Ensure that LRAs continue to play a role in implementing and (re)designing the proposed recommendation.
The rapporteur participated in the meeting of the Council's Education Committee on 12 October 2022 and presented the work on the Opinion.
The respective Council Recommendation is planned to be adopted at the next meeting of the Council of the EU on 28 November 2022 (Education format). After that moment the impact of the Opinion can be re-evaluated.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- considers it important to reduce the educational gap between remote, rural and urban areas, and also between different educational institutions, in order to promote the well-being of pupils and staff at school;
- stresses the importance of collecting and analysing data at local, regional and national level to deduce common trends affecting early school leaving, and accordingly propose solutions able to address challenges on the basis of a place-based approach;
- calls for the wider uptake of local and regional good practices to develop a high-performance digital education ecosystem and to facilitate a sustainable digital transition, while promoting quality and inclusive education for all and enhancing digital cohesion to reduce territorial disparities;
- calls for account to be taken of the impact of COVID-19 on pupils' mental and physical health as well as overall well-being. Furthermore, attention should be paid to the fact that the impact of this crisis has also reduced the learning motivation of groups of pupils who were not previously at risk of early school leaving and has at the same time disproportionately impacted pupils of vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds;
- calls for socially inclusive and psychologically adapted education for all school-aged Ukrainian citizens residing in EU Member States due to the ongoing war;
- calls for a 'whole school approach' to respond to the current challenges, including the generational replacement of teachers, and for broader motivation programmes for teachers and school staff, as already implemented by individual local and regional authorities.