Last CoR Plenary Session welcomed Mr Tibor Navracsics Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport to debate many challenges which have to be tackled in the field of education, in order to achieve the ambitious objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy.
Mr Kieran McCarthy, EA coordinator for SEDEC Commission and Councillor of Cork said that education process is the most important way of introducing into civic life values. "Successful education is not possible without encouraging an appropriate level of commitment, enthusiasm and skills amongst politicians, teachers and training staff. Successful education must also include a wider introduction of CULTURE and citizenship education to school curricula, with a view to raising society's awareness and level of concern"-he said.
He called for learners to be put at the heart of lifelong learning policies. He underlined that the principle of lifelong learning currently forms the cornerstone of Europe's policy for education and employment and is therefore key to inclusion. The recognition and validation of competences and knowledge acquired through non-formal and informal education is one of the key tenets of this approach, which should lead to more flexible education processes, in turn leading to greater mobility among the labour force and enhanced employability, not least of young people, the inclusion of migrants and a re-think of the idea of education in general.
