PierreAntoine Ullmo

Tag: European Commission

  • Investing in education

    Investing in education
    Investing in education. ©Sergey Nivens

    Why invest in education? Why invest now? Where should we invest?

    Asking these questions is already a sign that much has changed on the education scene. Education is no longer a matter reserved for public authorities or free from real life constraints. The world is spending more on education than ever before. Education is the answer to parents’ desire to guarantee a future job for their children and to companies’ needs for more innovation and better skilled employees. Education is the key to building better lives for hundreds of millions worldwide and responding to challenges such as climate change, sustainable development and gender equality.

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  • Ask provocative questions to change education

    It is time for change education.
    It is time for change in education.

    Boosting innovation in education was one of the main objectives of the first Erasmus+ call for proposals that has just been published.

    But what do we mean by innovation in education? And what are the keys to making innovation in education possible?

    Innovation in education is often considered as the development of curricula that will provide students with “the knowledge and skills necessary for a knowledge and entrepreneurial society.”  This is the core of the Knowledge Triangle designed by the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology).

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  • The first European incubator for innovation in education

    open education challenge

     

    The PISA results released last week (see my last entry) tell us about the urgent need to transform our education systems in most European countries.

    We must now decide whether this much needed innovation can be brought about from inside the system, or if it must be the result of a “disruptive” process led by committed individuals and “education entrepreneurs” from all over Europe.

    My conviction is that education practitioners, technology geeks  and web entrepreneurs will be determinant to change. They have the ability and willingness to invent tools, content and devices that will benefit learners and trainers, alongside students and teachers. For the first time, technology seems robust and user-friendly enough to enable real innovation in the classroom.

    But what kind of innovations are desirable, and for what kind of learning?

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  • “L’école de la vie”

    'Mind the Gap - education inequality across EU regions' report pg. 82.
    ‘Mind the Gap – education inequality across EU regions’ report pg. 82.

    The results of the first OECD Survey of Adult Skills just confirmed a trivial fact: the more and the longer you invest in education, the better trained your population is.

    Italy, Spain, France and Ireland occupy the lowest ranking positions of the survey in reading and basic numeracy. Is that surprising?

    A year ago, the European Commission published a report entitled Mind the Gap — education inequality across EU regions. One map – page 82 – showed that the countries that have most suffered from the financial crisis – Italy, Spain, France and Ireland — are also the ones with the lowest percentage of adults with upper secondary education.

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  • Arrest change?

    Creativity
    Creativity

    In a period of continuous transformation and change for schools, it is worth listening to disruptive voices questioning the need and the proposed direction of change.

    Last week, the European Commission launched its “Opening Up Education” initiative. (See my previous blog entry.) The final objective is to enable “all individuals to learn anywhere, anytime, through any device with the support of anyone”.

    All education ministers in Europe and beyond seem to agree on the need to advance in the “digitalisation of learning” and design strategies to favour the future students’ employability. Jobs and skills are the ultimate objective, and testing is one of the key instruments to measure youth attainment and the system’s overall effectiveness.  All education ministers? No! Like in Asterix, “one small village of indomitable education experts still holds out against the invaders”.

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