Page 44 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 44
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
practices in attaining particular goals. For example, in 2015 they exposed
that Europe was not on track to achieve the headline target, there is an ur-
gent need to strengthen the (coherent) policy approach. It points out that
there should be a stronger focus on preventive and early intervention meas-
ures in the contexts of teacher education, continuing professional develop-
ment and quality early childhood education and care, and that only a few
countries (including France and Luxembourg) take a systematic approach
to collecting, monitoring and analysing data on ESL.
When EU member states realise in their progress reports how success-
ful/unsuccessful they have been in a certain working cycle/period towards
attaining a particular indicator and benchmark and the long-term strategic
goal, the OMC process is not finished. On the contrary, it is iterative pro-
cess (see Figure 1) that, by once again using all the OMC elements, enables
member states to face the same or new educational/ESL challenges in a new
working cycle/period.
Conclusions – towards the OMC as good governance
The OMC framework (its elements and process) at least normatively con-
tribute to the achievement of the common EU strategic goals and in ensur-
ing good governance in the EU. Realising the OMC as good governance re-
quires that various actors are actively involved in policy learning processes
at different levels of the EU. Research results (Lajh & Štremfel, 2011; Ecorys,
2014) show that the OMC process and its potential are currently not well
known among (national) actors, what may be seen as an important obsta-
cle to their more proactive role in the OMC process.
From that perspective, it is crucial that all actors important for tack-
ling ESL in the EU (not only policy-makers and experts, but also non-gov-
ernmental organisations, social partners and practitioners) know and un-
derstand the OMC process through which EU strategic goals are framed
(e.g. smart, sustainable and inclusive growth), measured by specific indi-
cators and benchmarks (by 2020 the share of ESLers from education and
training should be less than 10%), translated into national policies (e.g. by
setting specific national targets and adopting national ESL strategies) and
periodically monitored (by regular qualitative and quantitative reporting
and mutual learning processes) (see Figure 1).
In the article, this normative OMC framework is presented and illus-
trated with examples of specific results which can be used by many ac-
tors dealing with ESL at the EU, national, regional, local and school levels.
44
practices in attaining particular goals. For example, in 2015 they exposed
that Europe was not on track to achieve the headline target, there is an ur-
gent need to strengthen the (coherent) policy approach. It points out that
there should be a stronger focus on preventive and early intervention meas-
ures in the contexts of teacher education, continuing professional develop-
ment and quality early childhood education and care, and that only a few
countries (including France and Luxembourg) take a systematic approach
to collecting, monitoring and analysing data on ESL.
When EU member states realise in their progress reports how success-
ful/unsuccessful they have been in a certain working cycle/period towards
attaining a particular indicator and benchmark and the long-term strategic
goal, the OMC process is not finished. On the contrary, it is iterative pro-
cess (see Figure 1) that, by once again using all the OMC elements, enables
member states to face the same or new educational/ESL challenges in a new
working cycle/period.
Conclusions – towards the OMC as good governance
The OMC framework (its elements and process) at least normatively con-
tribute to the achievement of the common EU strategic goals and in ensur-
ing good governance in the EU. Realising the OMC as good governance re-
quires that various actors are actively involved in policy learning processes
at different levels of the EU. Research results (Lajh & Štremfel, 2011; Ecorys,
2014) show that the OMC process and its potential are currently not well
known among (national) actors, what may be seen as an important obsta-
cle to their more proactive role in the OMC process.
From that perspective, it is crucial that all actors important for tack-
ling ESL in the EU (not only policy-makers and experts, but also non-gov-
ernmental organisations, social partners and practitioners) know and un-
derstand the OMC process through which EU strategic goals are framed
(e.g. smart, sustainable and inclusive growth), measured by specific indi-
cators and benchmarks (by 2020 the share of ESLers from education and
training should be less than 10%), translated into national policies (e.g. by
setting specific national targets and adopting national ESL strategies) and
periodically monitored (by regular qualitative and quantitative reporting
and mutual learning processes) (see Figure 1).
In the article, this normative OMC framework is presented and illus-
trated with examples of specific results which can be used by many ac-
tors dealing with ESL at the EU, national, regional, local and school levels.
44
