No 20 May - August 2000/II
Abstracts
Political and legal
framework for the development
of training
policy in the European
Union
Part I - From the Treaty
of Rome to the Treaty
of Maastricht
Steve
Bainbridge
Julie Murray
Cedefop,
Thessaloniki
This is the first of two articles
looking at the development
and implementation
of the vocational training
policy framework in the
European Union, from the
founding of the European
Economic Community under
the Treaty of Rome in
1957 to the Treaty on European
Union signed at Amsterdam
which came into
force in May 1999.
This article looks at the period
covering the common
vocational training policy
established under the
Treaty of Rome up until its
replacement by the Treaty
on European Union agreed
at Maastricht in 1992, which
introduced a Community
vocational training policy.
The period from 1992 to the
present will be considered
on the second article which
will be published in the
next issue of the European
Journal.
Full text (pdf)
Berlin memorandum
on the modernisation
of vocational education
and training
Guidelines for the creation of
a dual, plural and modular
(DPM) system of lifelong
learning
The ‘Berlin memorandum
on the modernisation of vocational
education and
training’ is a strategic paper
prepared by the advisory
committee of the Berlin
Senate’s Department of Labour,
Vocational Education
and Training and Women’s
Affairs, in September 1999.
The document pinpoints
existing problems and presents
approaches for addressing
these shortcomings
as a starting point for
discussion. The Berlin Memorandum
was handed
over to the Federal Ministry
of Education and Research,
which plans to take the
memorandum into account
in its current work.
Full text (pdf)
In search of quality
in schools
Informal working
group of
employers
federations1
The employers’
perspective
This article reproduces the
initial views of employers
organizations from seven
EU countries on improving
the quality of primary and
secondary education. The
group recognizes education
is a matter for national governments,
but aims to contribute
to the debate on
quality in schools.
Working to learn:
a holistic approach
to young people’s
education and training
Peter Senker, Helen Rainbird, Karen Evans, Phil Hodkinson, Ewart Keep, Malcolm Maguire, David Raffe and Lorna Unwin
The authors of this article
believe that there were serious
deficiencies in education
and training policy for
young people between the
ages of 16 and 19 in Britain.
The ‘Working to Learn’ report,
summarized in this
article, analyses the deficiencies
of current policies
and makes out a strong case
for fundamental reform.
Low-skilled people
on the European
labour market:
towards a minimum
learning platform?
Eugenia
Kazamaki
Ottersten
Associate prof,
Senior education
economist at the
European Investment
Bank, Luxembourg
Hilary
Steedman
Senior Research Fellow,
Centre for Economic
Performance,
London School of
Economics and Political
Science
This collection of 3 articles
debates the initial findings
of the New job skills and the
low-skilled (Newskills)
project, which suggests that
the best policy to help lowskilled
workers might be to
reduce the number of them
entering the labour market.
The project also explores
the idea of a ‘minimum
learning platform’ - a range
of skills including qualities
required to be effective in
the workplace and to learn
there and elsewhere to develop
in employment and
society - whose core might
be adopted in Europe as a
goal for all its citizens.
Edited from contributions
to Agora IV: the low-skilled
on the European labour
market: prospects and
policy options. Towards a
minimum learning platform,
Thessaloniki, 29/30
October 1998. Cedefop
(1999).
The concept of a minimum
learning platform
educational contents
and methods for improving
the low-skilled
Arthur
Schneeberger
Institut für Berufsbildungsforschung
der Wirtschaft, Vienna
What can be done to ensure
that as many young people
as possible leave the educational
system with the minimum
of knowledge and
competences for their further
learning and employability?
Achieving a minimum
learning platform for
all - Critical queries
influencing strategies
and policy options
Roberto
Carneiro
Centro de Estudos
dos Povos e Culturas
de Expressão Portuguesa,
Universidade
Católica Portuguesa,
Lisbon
Defining a minimum learning
platform for all is a necessary
step, but far from
sufficient. Our institutional
fabric will be tested by our
ability to launch effective
strategies and policies addressing
the issue, as will
our common allegiance to a
legacy of values and social
commitments.
Full text (pdf)