Europe
Belgium: Launch of the European Commission’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition
On 1 December, the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) participated, together a wide range of stakeholders, in the launch in Brussels of the Digital Skills and Job Coalition. This initiative looks at meeting the high demand for digital skills in Europe and is one of 10 key initiatives proposed by the European Commission under the New Skills Agenda for Europe. In view of social partners’ stronger involvement in education, ETUCE had introduced a pledge to the coalition in connection with the development of its Policy Paper on the Teaching Profession in the 21st Century and the use of ICT in Education. Due to the lack of involvement of social partners in the development of this initiative, which mainly addresses large international ICT companies, European social partners continue to demand a separate European Forum on Digitalisation.
Susan Flocken represented EI at this event.
Serbia: ETUCE workshops on equality, continuous professional development, migration, early childhood education, higher education and social dialogue
On 5 December, six workshops were held in Belgrade ahead of the ETUCE Conference to inform and provide room for fruitful exchanges among EI/ETUCE member organisations on capacity building in equality, continuous professional development, early childhood education, higher education and research, migration and refugees and on the European social dialogue. The outcomes of these discussions will support the ETUCE secretariat in its work in the coming months.
Serbia: CEENET meeting
The ETUCE Central and Eastern European Network (CEENET) meeting was the first pre-conference event held ahead of the ETUCE Conference, which took place from 6-8 December in Belgrade. Participants from ETUCE member organisations in the Central and Eastern European area discussed the future of the network and evaluated work conducted during the CEENET’s first two years.
Martin Rømer chaired the meeting and Valeryia Desphaine also represented EI.
Belgium: Social dialogue liaison forum meeting
On 12 December, at the Social Dialogue Liaison Forum in Brussels, the European education social partners, i.e. ETUCE and European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE), presented to social partners from different sectors and the European Commission the valuable outcomes of a two-year project on the promotion of European social dialogue in education. They presented the feedback from round table meetings conducted in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Serbia and Spain, the social dialogue conference held in June 2016 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as well as the joint ETUCE/EFEE statement on promoting the potentials of the European sectoral social dialogue in education, adopted by the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education’s plenary in November 2016. Social partners also received updates on the consultation process on the European Pillar of Social Rights.
EI was represented by Paola Cammilli.
France: IIEP experts’ meeting for the research project, “Exploring the organisation and management of teacher careers”
From 12-14 December, at the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)-UNESCO headquarters in Paris, experts in the field investigated the development of research around teacher career management. They unanimously rejected performance-related pay approaches and agreed on the importance of involving teacher unions in providing expertise and judgement around teacher career development. This work will continue in 2017, leading to a global mapping of the status of teacher career development around the world.
EI was represented by Martin Henry.
Slovenia: 4th ETUCE training seminar on the European Semester and investment in education
From 16-17 January, the fourth training seminar of the project,“Investing in Education: Strengthening the involvement of teacher trade unions in the European Semester on education and training” was carried out in Ljubljana. Trade union representatives from Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia met to discuss privatisation trends in and of education due to strict budgetary constraints in the Euro Area, the impact of the European Semester on national education and training policies for EU-countries, and the influence of the Europe 2020 Strategy and policy coordination in South Eastern European countries. The Danish Union of Teachers, an ETUCE member organisation and co-applicant of the project, presented a case study of its experience of active involvement in the European Semester.
ETUCE President Christine Blower chaired the meeting and EI was represented by Paola Cammilli.
