Vice President Roxana Minzatu joined for a lively dialogue with the labour movement.
I addressed our European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE-CSEE) concerns on EU education policies. We are extremely worried about the dominance of the business and competitiveness perspective on general education and the Union of Skills. We see this in the discourse, governance and content of the EEA, ERA, Union of Skills and wider European policies. And we saw this reflected and affirmed in the two major education summits by the Commission this year:
Digital Education Stakeholder Forum 2025– dominated by Big Tech and had no teacher and worker representation at all.
Education Summit 2025 last week – dominated by business perspectives.
Yes, there is an urgent need for European economies to become more competitive and of course education also prepares for the world of work. But we have experienced many misguided, economically focused, narrow education and curricular reforms in many countries. These are also responsible for declining educational outcomes and the declining attractiveness of the teaching profession.
Education serves the whole of society, and should help develop knowledgeable individuals capable of understanding the world and active citizenship.
All politicians stress the importance of the teaching profession, but in many European countries and at the EU-level we are not treated as a profession.
A profession by definition has:
A fair amount of professional autonomy on all levels
A fundamental say in setting and implementing its own standards, (classroom) practice, (teacher) education, research and professional development
In August UNESCO adopted the Santiago consensus:
“Establish permanent, inclusive and transparent mechanisms for social dialogue between governments and democratically elected representatives of teachers, including trade unions, in order to promote a genuine participatory and constructive decision-making process at all stages of policy making and implementation.”
This should be a fundamental design principle of EU education policies, and education policies in all European countries. Truly treating teaching as a profession would be the real educational revolution which Europe needs.
VP Minzatu rightfully and passionately responded that she wants to do this together and that she wants to see education at the core of all political conversations across Europe. Prime ministers, everyone should make it a top priority. Squares across Europe and in Brussels should be filled with people advocating for quality education for all.
VP Minzatu will have our full support to build the best education system that our students and our societies deserve. But it needs to be based on a real collaboration where education as a public good, teachers and workers perspectives are fundamental starting points to shape European education policy.
