4 EDUCATION AND TRAINING: KEY COMPETENCES
(27000)
13425/05
COM(05) 548
| Draft Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning
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| Legal base | Articles 149(4) and 150(4) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 10 November 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament |
16 November 2005 |
| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration |
EM of 28 November 2005 |
| Previous Committee Report |
None |
| To be discussed in Council
| No date set |
| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Introduction
4.1 In March 2000, the Lisbon European Council set the EU the
goal of becoming, by 2010, the world's most dynamic and competitive
knowledge-based economy. Education and training are integral to
the Lisbon strategy.
4.2 The aim of this draft Recommendation is to ensure
that, by the time they leave compulsory education, all young people
have been offered the means to develop eight "key competences"
"which all individuals need for personal
fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion
and employment."[11]
Legal background
4.3 Article 149(1) of the Treaty establishing the
European Community (the EC Treaty) provides that:
"The Community shall contribute to the development
of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member
States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their
action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member
States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education
systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity."
Article 149(4) authorises the Council to adopt recommendations
in order to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of
the Article. Recommendations are not binding on Member States.
4.4 Article 150 provides that the Community is to
implement a vocational training policy to support and supplement
the action of the Member States. The Council may adopt measures
to contribute to the achievement of the Article's objectives,
excluding the harmonisation of national laws.
The document
4.5 The Commission's explanatory memorandum says
that the draft Recommendation:
"defines the key competences needed by all
citizens in knowledge-based economies and societies. It acknowledges
that implementation decisions are best taken at national, regional
and/or local level. It calls for Member States to ensure the acquisition
of key competences by all by the end of initial education and
training and … encourages them to tackle educational disadvantage."
[12]
4.6 The document recommends that Member States should
ensure that:
- all young people are offered
the means to develop the key competences;
- there is provision for young people with special
needs;
- adults can update the key competences throughout
their lives;
- there is provision for continuing education and
training for adults; and
- there are close links between education and training
provision and employment, social and other policies which affect
young people and that there is collaboration with representatives
of employers and employees and others with an interest in education
and training.
4.7 The key competences have been developed by experts
from the Member States. They are as follows:
i) Communication in the mother tongue;
ii) Communication in foreign languages;
iii) Mathematical competence and basic competences
in science and technology;
iv) Digital competence (that is, competence in
the use of computers);
v) Learning to learn;
vi) Interpersonal, intercultural and social competences,
civic competence;
vii) Entrepreneurship; and
viii) Cultural expression (including an understanding
of the cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe).
The Annex to the draft Recommendation contains a
definition of each competence and a statement of the knowledge,
skills and attitudes each of them requires.
4.8 For example, the section on the entrepreneurship
competence says:
Definition: Entrepreneurship refers
to an individual's ability to turn ideas into action. It includes
creativity, innovation and risk taking, as well as the ability
to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives. This
supports everyone in day to day life at home and in society, employees
in being aware of the context of their work and being able to
seize opportunities, and is a foundation for more specific skills
and knowledge needed by entrepreneurs establishing social or commercial
activity.
"Necessary knowledge includes
available opportunities for personal, professional and/or business
activities, including 'bigger picture' issues that provide the
context in which people live and work, such as broad understanding
of the workings of the economy, and the opportunities and challenges
facing an employer or organisation. Individuals should also be
aware of the ethical position of enterprises, and how they can
be a force for good for example through fair trade or through
social enterprise.
"Skills relate to proactive
project management (involving skills such as planning, organising,
managing, leadership and delegation, analysing, communicating,
de-briefing and evaluating and recording) and the ability to work
both as an individual and collaboratively in teams. The judgement
to identify one's strengths and weaknesses, and to assess and
take risks as and when warranted is essential.
"An entrepreneurial attitude
is characterised by initiative, pro-activity, independence and
innovation in personal and social life, as much as at work. It
also includes motivation and determination to meet objectives,
whether personal goals or aims held in common with others, and/or
at work."
4.9 The draft Recommendation also notes that the
Commission intends to:
- support Member States' efforts
by facilitating peer learning and the exchange of good practice;
- use the EC's Education and Training programmes
to promote the acquisition of the key competences;
- promote the use of the key competences in related
Community policies (and, in particular, in the employment, youth
and social policies); and
- review and report on the impact of the key competences
four years after the Recommendation is adopted.
The Government's view
4.10 The Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further
and Higher Education at the Department for Education and Skills
(Bill Rammell) tells us that his Department was represented on
the group which developed the key competences.
4.11 The Minister says that, in recent years, policy
initiatives in the UK have had a strong focus on the basic skills
of literacy; numeracy; communication and social skills; and information
and computer technologies. The eight key competences proposed
in the draft Recommendation are broadly compatible with UK policy.
He adds that:
"The most problematic of the definitions
are communication in foreign languages and cultural expression.
Entrepreneurship is another area where we would wish to look closely
at the definition to seek a closer fit with practice and policy
in the UK."
Conclusion
4.12 We question whether Articles 149 and 150
of the EC Treaty provide an appropriate legal base for this proposal.
The draft Recommendation "defines the key competences needed
by all citizens in knowledge-based societies and economies".
We have doubts about whether recommending such a definition is
within the scope of the Community action specified in Articles
149 and 150.
4.13 We also question whether it is proper to
contemplate making such a Recommendation to Member States. Articles
149 and 150 expressly require the Community to respect the responsibility
of the Member States for the content of teaching and training.
It is for each Member State, or its regional administrations,
to decide its own curriculum and the priorities within it. But,
in effect, the draft Recommendation tells Member States not only
what the curriculum should be but also that all eight of the proposed
competences should have equal priority in every part of the EU.
We doubt that this is an appropriate Community action.
4.14 We recognise the benefit of sharing ideas
and experiences about the competences young people may need. But
a Recommendation is not needed for that purpose.
4.15 We share the Minister's reservations about
the definitions of the proposed key competences. The drafting
of the proposed entrepreneurship competence appears to us to be
particularly wide and woolly. It says, for example, that necessary
knowledge includes "a broad understanding of the workings
of the economy and the challenges facing an employer or organisation".
How is "broad understanding" to be interpreted and what
are the "challenges"?
4.16 We ask the Minister to comment:
- on whether Articles 149
and 150 of the EC Treaty provide an appropriate legal base for
the draft Recommendation; and
- on whether the proposed Recommendation conflicts
with respect for the responsibility of each Member State to decide
for itself the contents of teaching and the organisation of its
education system; and
- on why a Recommendation is necessary.
We also ask the Minister to keep us informed
of the progress of the negotiations on the document and, in particular,
of the discussions about the definitions of the key competences.
Meanwhile, we shall keep the document under scrutiny.
11 Draft Recommendation, page 13. Back
12
Draft Recommendation, pages 6 and 7. Back
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