Page 35 - Štremfel, Urška, ed., 2016. Student (Under)achievement: Perspectives, Approaches, Challenges. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut. Digital Library, Documenta 11.
P. 35
roaches in fostering the academic achievement of Slovenian adolescents 35
would nevertheless be preserved. The paper thus provides an important in-
sight into the European and national institutional and conceptual framework
of approaches, perspectives and challenges of student (under)achievement
that are presented in the later part of the monograph.
A Theoretical Outline of Common European
Cooperation in Education
The dynamic of common European cooperation in the field of education is
most clearly described through the way the OMC is viewed in the Lisbon Pres-
idency conclusions, wherein education is, for the first time, acknowledged as
having an important role in the development of EU integration (European
Council, 2000): ‘Implementation of the strategic goal (‘to become the most dy-
namic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010’, au-
thor’s note) will be facilitated by applying a new open method of coordination
as the means of spreading best practice and achieving greater convergence
towards the main EU goals. This method, which is designed to help member
states to progressively develop their own policies, involves:
a) fixing guidelines for the Union, combined with specific timetables for
achieving the goals that they set in the short, medium and long terms;
b) establishing, where appropriate, quantitative and qualitative indica-
tors and benchmarks against the best in the world, tailored to the ne-
eds of different member states and sectors as a means of comparing
best practice;1
c) translating these European guidelines into national and regional po-
licies by setting specific targets and adopting measures, taking into
account national and regional differences;
d) periodic monitoring, evaluation and peer review organised as mutual
learning processes.’
In academic writing, the OMC is commonly denoted as a new mode of
governance. Some authors (Borrás and Conzelmann, 2007: 7; Warleigh-Lack
and Drachenberg, 2011: 1003) believe it is a new form of ‘integration through
coordination’as the antithesis of coordination through law.2 It enables Europe-
1 Paragraph 38 points out: ‘A fully decentralised approach will be applied in line with the principle of
subsidiarity in which the Union, the member states, the regional and local levels, as well as the so-
cial partners and civil society, will be actively involved, using variable forms of partnership. A meth-
od of benchmarking best practices on managing change will be devised by the European Com-
mission networking with different providers and users, namely the social partners, companies and
non-governmental organisations.
2 Coordination has a number of different meanings and is not only limited to the notion of coordina-
tion of public policies of individual member states, but, in addition to coordination of policy fields,
academic (under)achievement of slovenian adolescents within a european context
would nevertheless be preserved. The paper thus provides an important in-
sight into the European and national institutional and conceptual framework
of approaches, perspectives and challenges of student (under)achievement
that are presented in the later part of the monograph.
A Theoretical Outline of Common European
Cooperation in Education
The dynamic of common European cooperation in the field of education is
most clearly described through the way the OMC is viewed in the Lisbon Pres-
idency conclusions, wherein education is, for the first time, acknowledged as
having an important role in the development of EU integration (European
Council, 2000): ‘Implementation of the strategic goal (‘to become the most dy-
namic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010’, au-
thor’s note) will be facilitated by applying a new open method of coordination
as the means of spreading best practice and achieving greater convergence
towards the main EU goals. This method, which is designed to help member
states to progressively develop their own policies, involves:
a) fixing guidelines for the Union, combined with specific timetables for
achieving the goals that they set in the short, medium and long terms;
b) establishing, where appropriate, quantitative and qualitative indica-
tors and benchmarks against the best in the world, tailored to the ne-
eds of different member states and sectors as a means of comparing
best practice;1
c) translating these European guidelines into national and regional po-
licies by setting specific targets and adopting measures, taking into
account national and regional differences;
d) periodic monitoring, evaluation and peer review organised as mutual
learning processes.’
In academic writing, the OMC is commonly denoted as a new mode of
governance. Some authors (Borrás and Conzelmann, 2007: 7; Warleigh-Lack
and Drachenberg, 2011: 1003) believe it is a new form of ‘integration through
coordination’as the antithesis of coordination through law.2 It enables Europe-
1 Paragraph 38 points out: ‘A fully decentralised approach will be applied in line with the principle of
subsidiarity in which the Union, the member states, the regional and local levels, as well as the so-
cial partners and civil society, will be actively involved, using variable forms of partnership. A meth-
od of benchmarking best practices on managing change will be devised by the European Com-
mission networking with different providers and users, namely the social partners, companies and
non-governmental organisations.
2 Coordination has a number of different meanings and is not only limited to the notion of coordina-
tion of public policies of individual member states, but, in addition to coordination of policy fields,
academic (under)achievement of slovenian adolescents within a european context
