Themes

Explore the working groups:

• Early childhood education and care
• Schools, including sub-groups on
  • Pathways to School Success
  • Learning for Sustainability
• Higher education
• Vocational education and training and the green transition
• Adult learning: opening up opportunities for all
• Digital education: learning, training and assessment
• Equality and values in education and training

Activities

Working groups promote voluntary European cooperation in education and training. They offer a forum to exchange experiences and practices on addressing common challenges while respecting the principle of subsidiarity and the diversity of EU Member States.

Experts work together to share information about reforms of national education and training systems policies to inspire positive change throughout the EU.

Working groups contribute to the implementation of EEA actions and reinforce synergies with other EU policies initiatives, including the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), the European Skills Agenda, and the Green Deal.

Their outputs inspire inclusive, holistic and lifelong learning perspectives, and forge closer links between policy and funding.

Their current mandate runs until December 2025.

Members

• government officials appointed by EU countries and other participating countries
• representatives from EU-level stakeholder organisations, social partners and international organisations
• EU bodies, offices, and agencies

Political context

Working groups were first established under the Education and Training (ET) 2010 work programme to implement the Open Method of Coordination in education and training. Under the ET 2020 strategic framework, working groups were the principal forum for mutual learning.

The current working groups build on previous results, as part of the new cycle of European cooperation in education and training (2021-2030).

Their activities are in line with the

• Commission communication on achieving the European Education Area by 2025
• Council resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training

The working groups

This Working Group supports Member States as they implement the 2019 Council Recommendation for high-quality ECEC systems and its main component, the EU Quality framework for ECEC. It mainly supports peer learning based on the measure, monitoring and evaluation of quality, and follows up on the ET 2020 Working Group, which focused on inclusion, staff professionalisation and the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in the ECEC sector.

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for ECEC Working Group

This Working Group aims to promote better achievements in basic skills and the successful conclusion of education and training pathways by all learners; education for the green transition; enhancing competence and motivation in the education profession.

The Working Group consists of 2 sub-groups:

It supports the implementation and follow-up of the Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success by promoting mutual learning and the exchange of best practices, including on issues related to well-being at school.

It supports the follow-up to the Council Recommendation on education for environmental sustainability and promotes mutual learning and exchange on how education can support the move to a greener and more sustainable Europe, including the development of sustainability competences.

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for Schools Working Groups

This working group supports the reforms of EU Member States and other participating countries seeking to maximise the potential of their higher education systems. Supporting reforms includes promoting the transformation of the higher education sector and preparing graduates for changing societies and labour markets. 

This also involves contributing to building a stronger Europe by enhancing Europe's innovation capacity as part of the efforts to achieve the European Education Area by 2025, in line with the European Strategy for Universities. 

The working group does so by promoting mutual learning on policy reform within national education systems and by discussing European higher education policy initiatives at a technical level. 

The working group facilitates synergies between the education and the research and innovation missions of higher education institutions, in the context of the European Education Area and the European Research Area, while ensuring consistency with the European Higher Education Area.

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for Higher Education Working Group

The main objective of the Working Group is to enable technical exchanges, which help Member States implement the principles and objectives of

• the Council Recommendation on vocational education and training (VET) for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience
• the Osnabrück Declaration on vocational education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to digital and green economies, with particular reference to the green transition

The work is in line with the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights, as well as Action 6 of the European Skills Agenda, and priorities 2 and 5 of the Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030).

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for VET Working Group

The main objective of this working group is to enable exchanges and contributions, which support Member States in implementing the actions of the 2020 European Skills Agenda: reskilling and upskilling adults, and empowering them to continue learning throughout their lives. 

The working group also supports capacity building to achieve the implementation of the Council Recommendations on:

• Upskilling Pathways: New Opportunities for Adults
• individual learning accounts
• micro-credentials

Its work is also in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. 

The working group focuses on national skills strategies, skills for life and the financing of adult learning. It takes a holistic approach to adult learning, covering the entire adult population and all types of skills, with a view to supporting adults to thrive in their personal and professional lives.

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for Adult Learning Working Group

The aim of this working group is to support Member States in the implementation of policy reforms in line with the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027. 

It focuses in particular on fostering high-quality and inclusive digital education in the EU, at the same time taking the digital transformation, the implications and lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration. In line with the two strategic priorities of the Digital Education Action Plan, the mutual learning activities of the group addresses two guiding questions:

• How can a high-performing digital education eco-system be fostered?
• How can digital skills and competences for the digital transformation be enhanced?

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for the DELTA Working Group

This working group focuses on structural reforms to promote equality in education and training. It builds on the EU’s values including anti-radicalisation, citizenship education and training, the European dimension of education, disinformation and the inclusion of refugees and migrants in education and training. 

It examines cross-cutting issues with societal benefits and of high importance to all discriminated and disadvantaged groups.

The working group covers topics such as anti-racism and gender equality and focused on groups including people with migrant with ethnic minority background, LGBTQI persons, people living with disabilities.

Documents, deliverables, meetings and minutes for the Equality and Values Working Group