Council Resolution

of 13 July 2001

on the role of education and training in employment related policies

(2001/C 204/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

bearing in mind:

(1) The Conclusions of the European Council in Lisbon of 23 and 24 March 2000, where the European Union set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade and emphasised the fundamental role of education and training in the successful transition to a knowledge-based economy and society. In particular, the European Council invited the Council (Education) to contribute to the Luxembourg and Cardiff processes.

(2) The opinion of the Council (Education) of 9 November 2000 on the proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for Member States' employment policies for the year 2001 which recommends that from 2001 the Commission should, when drafting guidelines for employment policies for the following year, take into account the opinion the Ministers for Education will forward to it.

(3) The Conclusions of the Stockholm European Council of 23-24 March 2001 which reaffirmed the Lisbon strategic goal and stressed the importance of basic skills, particularly IT and digital skills, and the role of strong general education in order to support labour mobility and lifelong learning.

(4) The "Employment Package 2000", which was endorsed by the European Council in Nice of 7 and 8 December 2000, and Council Decision 2001/63/EC of 19 January 2001 on Guidelines for Member States' employment policies for the year 2001(1) which give priority to lifelong learning as a horizontal objective around which Member States should define coherent strategies.

(5) The European Social Agenda, also approved by the Nice European Council, which amongst other things underlines the need to improve access to lifelong learning and which implies integrated policy formulation and implementation at European and national levels.

(6) The report from the Council (Education) on the concrete future objectives of education and training systems, which was submitted to the Stockholm European Council as a contribution to the Luxembourg and Cardiff processes, and the request by the Stockholm European Council for a new report to the spring European Council in 2002.

(7) The Communication from the Commission on "New labour markets, open to all, with access for all" which underlines the importance of increasing the level of skills and their transferability from one country to another and of the strengthening of education skills and lifelong learning policies, as well as the endorsement by the Stockholm European Council of the setting-up of a high-level task force on skills and mobility, drawing on expertise from business, education and the social partners.

(8) The Commission's memorandum on lifelong learning which has launched a wide debate at European level and in the Member States on how to implement comprehensive and coherent strategies for lifelong learning, and the e-Learning action plan for the period 2001 to 2004 which aims to involve education and training players, as well as the relevant social, industrial and economic players, in order to rectify the shortage of skills associated with the new economy and to improve social inclusion,

RECOGNISES the importance placed on education and training policies in the European Employment Strategy and the significant role attached to education and training for achieving the new strategic goal set in Lisbon that Europe should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world;

ACKNOWLEDGES the importance of addressing education and training policy-related issues in a wide context, taking full account of all the general aims that society attributes to education and training: the development of society and the individual as well as the development of the economy;

UNDERLINES the relevance and the complementarity to the objectives of the Luxembourg process of the three main objectives set out in the Report on the concrete future objectives of education and training systems:

- increasing quality and effectiveness of education and training systems in the European Union,

- facilitating the access of all to the education and training systems,

- opening up education and training systems to the wider world;

EMPHASISES that several sub-objectives stated in this report are related to facilitating access to the labour market and to improving adaptability of the workface, in particular:

- developing skills for the knowledge society,

- ensuring access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) for everyone,

- open learning environment,

- strengthening links with working life, research and society at large,

- developing the spirit of enterprise,

- improving foreign language learning,

- increasing mobility and exchanges;

STRESSES therefore that the drawing up and implementation of the work programme resulting from the Report on the concrete future objectives of the education and training systems is a process in its own right;

EMPHASISES THAT THE FOLLOW-UP OF THAT REPORT will make a significant contribution to the Luxembourg process and to the development of employment policies at both European and national level;

NOTES the Commission's document "Education and training in employment policies" which highlights in this context:

- the need for more intensive efforts to ensure quality initial education to provide young people with the basic skills needed to meet the demands of the knowledge society,

- the importance of coherent education and training strategy to link the various education and training systems and to promote recognition of formal and informal training,

- the importance of comparable statistics and availability of indicators to analyse and monitor the contribution of Member States' education and training policies;

LOOKS FORWARD TO the Commission's forthcoming action plan on lifelong learning, due to be released in November 2001, which should make an important contribution to existing processes and initiatives for achieving a knowledge-based society and economy;

LOOKS FORWARD TO the report to be submitted by the high-level task force on skills and mobility by December 2001 and to the opportunity to contribute to the preparation of the action plan for developing and opening up new European labour markets, to be presented to the spring European Council in 2002;

REAFFIRMS its intention to participate actively in the implementation of the European social agenda, particularly in relation to the orientation "More and better jobs" by promoting effective lifelong learning strategies, the development of skills in information and communication technologies and the mobility of students, teachers and trainees;

STRESSES the need for those responsible for education and training to be actively involved in the different processes in place at European level to promote full employment, given the vital contribution that education and training systems are expected to make to them and the importance of a coherent approach to activities and initiatives relating to education and training;

CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION AND THE MEMBER STATES

within their respective areas of competence,

- to ensure that the follow-up to the Report on the concrete future objectives of the education and training systems contributes to the Luxembourg and Cardiff processes and places education and training in the centre of Community cooperation in employment and related policy areas,

- to ensure that the Council (Education) is actively involved in the examination of the Commission's proposal for the employment guidelines and in the definition of policy relevant and comparable indicators with a view to presenting a timely contribution to the preparation of the guidelines and relevant areas dealing with education and training as well as within a lifelong learning perspective,

- to strengthen the exchange of experience and examples of good practice in the field, based on comparative analysis of the national action plans for employment such as the Commission's document "Education and training in employment policies".

(1) OJ L 22, 24.1.2001, p. 18.