Conferentie competenties van de jeugd in Europa (en)

Competencies of youth - future of modern Europe

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  The potential of young people is first of all the potential of their competencies and qualifications. In the interest of Europe's future, the future of all of us, the policy of competencies development must be effective - said Lilla Jaron, undersecretary of state in the Ministry of National Education, during the opening of the international conference "The effective policies for the development of competencies of youth in Europe". The three-day conference (16 - 18 November) , organized by the Ministry of National Education, the European Commission and the Educational Research Institute, is held in the frameworks of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Lilla Jaron, deputy minister, expressed the hope that many important issues will be discussed at the conference, such as: the use of the experience of countries in which we can observe the significant progress in the competencies of youth as well as the competencies teaching methods which better prepare young people for the challenges of adult life, including the labour market.

In his intervention - Director Pierre Mairesse from the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission - underlined that one of the key challenges currently facing the European Union is investing in development of youth key competencies, including teaching foreign languages. - On behalf of Commisioner Androulla Vassiliou i, I would like to thank the Polish Presidency for actions undertaken to disseminate the knowledge of foreign languages in Europe - said Director Pierre Mairesse.

On the first day of the conference two new reports of Eurydice (Information Network on Education in Europe, existing since 1980) were presentation for the first time, which includes information from 31 countries (all EU Member States and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey).

The first report concerns the organization of science education in Europe and provides an overview of existing policies and strategies that are designed to support science teaching. It shows that although in general, students learn science in the division of biology, chemistry and physics, but in many countries the link between these subjects is stressed. The report's authors note how important is to engage students in environmental issues and demonstrate the various uses of the achievements of science in everyday life for awakening their interest, which will influence their choice of study and work in their future.

The second report deals with the issue of mathematics education in Europe. It is underlined that in recent years most European countries have modernized mathematics curricula, with emphasis on the development of competencies and skills rather than theoretical content. This new approach includes such way of teaching, so that a student understands the use and usefulness of mathematics in the real world. The report also notes that the challenge is to ensure the necessary support and training opportunities to mathematics teachers. Particularly positive is the increase of teacher cooperation and exchange of best practices through online platforms, social networking and other online tools.

During the second day of the conference the participants worked in four panel groups. The first one was dedicated to issues of increasing the share of the best performing students in the students’ population and narrowing the gap in the achievements. Examples of selected countries’ experiences of reforms, which aimed at increasing the performance of all students or well-targeted at the groups of students, such as top performers and low achievers, as well as specific aspects of the education system were presented. The speeches included also the interpretation of the trends in relation to the policies implemented in the countries.

Participants of the second panel group discussed facilitating educational paths and school-to-work transition. The presentations included characteristics of education systems from the perspective of educational mobility. The group debated how to work out recommendations on competencies measurement and its relevance for educational and labour market policies.

The effective use of new technologies for the measurement and development of the competencies of youth was the topic of the third panel group. The participants emphasized that new technologies assume the key role in educational research, which increase the opportunities for test administering and the scope of assessment. Thanks to this we can observe the growth of the use of assessment of the key competencies in schools. The speeches presented evaluation of national and international initiatives on the relationships between new technologies and competencies of youth.

During the fourth panel session participants debated on assessing and teaching new skills in knowledge-based economy. The main conclusion of the group is that the studies conducted in Europe do not present a complete picture of the level of transversal competencies. During the discussion the need for better monitoring was pointed out, stressing at the same time that the new initiatives in this area, could help to stimulate discussions about policy directions and educational research.

Concluding the conference, Lilla Jaron, undersecretary of state in the Ministry of National Education stressed that we cannot waste the potential of young people inter alia by high unemployment of young people. - Investing in improving the competencies of youth brings us significant social benefits, including long-term economic growth - said Lilla Jaron, deputy minister.

Over 200 people attended the three-day conference, including experts from research institutes and international organizations as well as representatives of education ministries of the EU Member States, who present the experience of their countries and national and international studies.