Education and Training Monitor 2016

The Education and Training Monitor is a European Commission Staff Working Document that presents a yearly evaluation of education and training systems across Europe. The report brings together the latest quantitative and qualitative data, technical reports and studies, as well as policy documents, and examples of policy measures from different EU Member States. By doing this, the Monitor presents evidence-based policy messages, thereby contributing to the implementation of the ET 2020 cooperation framework. The Monitor is also a tool for educational authorities in Europe to compare their country to other EU Member States, and an occasion for peer learning. The Monitor reports on EU and Member States’ performance on the ET2020 benchmarks, and elaborates on policy priorities for education systems (e.g. quality provision of ECEC, teacher education and continuing professional development, modernisation of vocational education and training and higher education, investment in education). Volume 1 of the Monitor provides an analysis from cross-national and thematic points of view. Volume 2 consists of 28 country reports on individual EU Member States. This year’s Education and Training Monitor explores societal challenges in more depth and addresses migration, demography and the key competences that education should help develop. The Monitor then analyses progress in raising educational outcomes — by reducing early school leaving and underachievement and increasing tertiary educational attainment — at EU level and in individual Member States. Finally, via the cross-national comparison of education systems and in the country analysis, the report presents and examines plenty of policy initiatives that can help make education more responsive to societal and labour market needs.