Page 37 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 37
esl in the eu: policy overview and development
Based on two European Commission communications (2011a; 2011b),
the Council of the EU (2011) adopted Recommendations on policies to re-
duce ESL. The Council proposed six recommendations to EU member
states, emphasising the importance of developing comprehensive, evi-
dence-based prevention, intervention and compensation policies at all levels
of education and as coordinated among different policy sectors. Following
the progress made in 4 years by employing the OMC working methods,
new Council conclusions (2015) on reducing ESL and promoting success in
school have been accepted. The conclusions acknowledge the need for rein-
forced activities in pursuing the common EU goal, among them we expose
the emphasis on prevention activities, committed participation and coor-
dination between different policy areas, and the promotion of collaborative
(whole-school) approaches to reducing ESL at the local level, as being the
most relevant to the TITA project.
In order to make the achievement of agreed EU strategic goals meas-
urable, indicators and benchmarks are established within the OMC frame-
work. They are presented as the next OMC element in the section below.
Establishing, where appropriate, quantitative and qualitative
indicators and benchmarks against the best in the world and
tailored to the needs of different member states and sectors
as a means of comparing best practice
The role of indicators (and benchmarks) in European education and train-
ing policy is twofold: to measure progress towards achieving commonly
agreed goals and to highlight cases of good practice. By operationalising
goals, indicators and benchmarks should lead to a greater transparency
and a more comparable environment. They should not only be used to pro-
vide direction in those fields where more progress is required, but also be
used as a tool for sanctioning and for increasing the consensus on common
EU policies (Lange & Alexiadou, 2007).
As a means of monitoring progress and identifying challenges, as well
as contributing to evidence-based policy-making, a series of ‘European
benchmarks’ was established to support the EU 2020 and ET 2020 strate-
gic objectives. As mentioned, in both documents the benchmark for ESL
is defined “by 2020 the share of early leavers from education and training
should be less than 10%”.
37
Based on two European Commission communications (2011a; 2011b),
the Council of the EU (2011) adopted Recommendations on policies to re-
duce ESL. The Council proposed six recommendations to EU member
states, emphasising the importance of developing comprehensive, evi-
dence-based prevention, intervention and compensation policies at all levels
of education and as coordinated among different policy sectors. Following
the progress made in 4 years by employing the OMC working methods,
new Council conclusions (2015) on reducing ESL and promoting success in
school have been accepted. The conclusions acknowledge the need for rein-
forced activities in pursuing the common EU goal, among them we expose
the emphasis on prevention activities, committed participation and coor-
dination between different policy areas, and the promotion of collaborative
(whole-school) approaches to reducing ESL at the local level, as being the
most relevant to the TITA project.
In order to make the achievement of agreed EU strategic goals meas-
urable, indicators and benchmarks are established within the OMC frame-
work. They are presented as the next OMC element in the section below.
Establishing, where appropriate, quantitative and qualitative
indicators and benchmarks against the best in the world and
tailored to the needs of different member states and sectors
as a means of comparing best practice
The role of indicators (and benchmarks) in European education and train-
ing policy is twofold: to measure progress towards achieving commonly
agreed goals and to highlight cases of good practice. By operationalising
goals, indicators and benchmarks should lead to a greater transparency
and a more comparable environment. They should not only be used to pro-
vide direction in those fields where more progress is required, but also be
used as a tool for sanctioning and for increasing the consensus on common
EU policies (Lange & Alexiadou, 2007).
As a means of monitoring progress and identifying challenges, as well
as contributing to evidence-based policy-making, a series of ‘European
benchmarks’ was established to support the EU 2020 and ET 2020 strate-
gic objectives. As mentioned, in both documents the benchmark for ESL
is defined “by 2020 the share of early leavers from education and training
should be less than 10%”.
37
