Brussel, 04 May 2018
European Parliament: MEPs call for educational choice
We are happy that the adopted resolution on “Modernisation of Education in the EU” contains key demands of our advocacy.
On 25th April 2018, the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education adopted its resolution on “Modernisation of Education in the EU”. The rapporteur, MEP Krystina Lybacka, aimed to determine the new direction of education in the future. We are happy to report that the adopted text contains key demands of our advocacy such as freedom of parental school choice, public school funding and our call for an age-appropriate media education.
The draft report of January 2018 already put a strong emphasis on the holistic development of children as well as creativity and well-being but ideas like age-appropriate ICT and media pedagogy, freedom of parental school choice and public funding for non-profit schools were still missing. Together with our national members and European partners, we approached MEPs to promote changes in this regard.
One key achievement is a paragraph establishing the right to freedom of educational choice that calls for public school funding. Other interesting amendments include the notions of age- and development appropriate media education, more autonomy for schools regarding curricula and diversity in assessment.
ECSWE will closely follow the next steps and report on the European Parliament’s plenary vote in June.