European Union policies in education and training: the Lisbon agenda as a turning point?

Scientific Legitimation of the European Union’s Competence Development Policy

“…In practice, this problem was dealt with within the EU by concentrating on vocational training initiatives. With Ertl's words, "the discourse on the concept of economic competitiveness has changed the formulation of new EU policies in education and training, exemplified by a strong emphasis on educational indicators, benchmarks and quality controls" (Ertl, 2006), that he labels as "intergovernmental extension of the foundations" (p. 14). According to him, "the postLisbon policy model builds on intergovernmental legal foundations that follow the rationale dictated by the concept of global economic competitiveness" (p. 20).…”

“…Hubert Ertl (2006) highlights that "both articles are similarly structured and extremely cautiously formulated" by reason of the principles of cultural autonomy (Art. 128) that emphasize the full respect of the "national and regional diversity", therefore leaving full responsibility to the MS in relation to the organization of own educational systems and design of learning curricula (Spada, 2008).…”

“…It is understandable, in this light, that the EC's 'support measures', in the education field concentrate mainly on VET and mobility programmes, as free mobility of the European citizens and consequently of the European workers as means of production too, is one of the requisites for the European economic integration process, from the Single Market to the Economic Community, to a European Economic and Monetary Union. Moreover, "the pressures of the ongoing process of economic integration were used by the Commission to justify increasing financial incentives for the coordination of national policies in education and training" while, nonetheless, "the extended and more integrated EU activities still had limited impact on national systems" (Ertl, 2006).…”

“…Not to mention the rapidly raising economies of India and especially China. Another scientific paper published the very same year (Ertl, 2006), documented:…”

“…Several proposals of adjustments to be made in the EU policy for E andT and Lifelong Learning followed the reflection on the excessive ambitions of the Lisbon goals see EC (2008a): "Progress towards meeting the five benchmarks set for 2010 has been insufficient" (p. 13) and "most of the benchmarks that the Council set for 2010 will not be reached" (p. 3). One of these was "a new wave of EU initiatives in the field, sometimes updating or recycling activities that had not been successful in the past" (Ertl, 2006), such as working groups (often supported by "focus groups" composed by non-governmental experts), Peer Learning Activities (PLAs), regional meetings organized with a direct involvement of the country representatives, intergovernmental agreements and strengthen of thematic networking.…”