Education and Training 2020: Working Group Mandates 2016-2018

Overview & Synopsis

The Education and Training (ET) 2020 strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training is the main instrument to develop exchanges of information and experience on issues common to the education and training systems of the Member States (TFEU, art. 165 and 166). As part of the ET 2020 strategic framework, cooperation inter alia takes the form of Working Groups. Working Groups - first established by the Commission under the Education and Training 2010 work programme in order to implement the Open Method of Coordination in education and training - offer a forum for the exchange of best practices in these fields. They bring together - on a voluntary basis - experts from the Member States. The Working Groups (WGs) are fora for exchange on key education and training topics. In this perspective, they will identify and analyse pertinent examples of policies within the European Union (EU) to be able to draw common principles and factors for challenges or success transferable to other Member States. The six Working Groups described in this report include: (1) Working Group on schools; (2) Working Group on the modernisation of higher education; (3) Working Group on vocational education and training; (4) Working Group on adult learning; (5) Working Group on digital skills and competences; and (6) Working Group on promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education.