Paid educational leave

ILO convention 140, already in 1974, saw educational leave as part of an employee’s right to further education and training, recognising that "... scientific and technical development and the transformation of economic and social relations call for appropriate leave for educational and training purposes." In article 2 it states "study leave should be granted for the purposes of professional and vocational training and general/political education". http://ilolex.ilo.ch:1567/ (please click on 140)

Paid educational leave is essential for developing access to and motivating people to participate in lifelong learning. It is a necessary instrument of continuing educational and training, in an age in which constant change requires that an employee’s key qualifications and personal development are upgraded, enlarged and strengthened continuously. Kallen (1996)^*1 feels that one reason why lifelong learning policy has not developed is because legislation on paid educational leave exists in few countries and it has been made conditional on ‘professional training.’ To date Convention 140 has only been ratified by 8 of the EU Member States. A recent Socrates Project, Paid Educational Leave (PEL) in Europe- a stragegy for LLL, has produced a report, in four languages, which describes in details provisions for PEL and PEL in practice - objectives, developments, impact and participation in the 4 participating countries, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy.

Cedefop is interested in developing this initiative in the context of its work programme and medium term priority, 'promoting competences and lifelong learning’. Cedefop would like to have a complete picture of the situation in all EU Member States today, and to pursue this question further in the context of its Reporting on Lifelong Learning. The coordinators of the Socrates PEL project, Arbeit und Leben, Düsseldorf, agreed that Cedefop could use their work as the basis for a comprehensive survey of the situation in all Member States and make the information available in the ETV.

Cedefop complemented the original work by adding a section on unpaid educational leave which also helps facilitate, and acts as an incentive to, participation in learning activities.

*1 Kallen D D., (1996). Lifelong learning in retrospect. The European journal Vocational Training, No 8/9

Structure of the documents