Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-05-Speech-3-418"
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"en.20000705.15.3-418"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there has been, as always, great harmony between the views of Parliament and those of the Commission. The quality of education, and quality evaluation, are indispensable, as you have said, essential to being able to improve educational systems.
Of course, it is not always easy for ministers to look at comparative results because those at the top of the class are very proud and show their pride, but the others have to answer difficult questions before their national parliaments. So we have to recognise that accepting quality control can sometimes be very difficult for education ministers, but it is indispensable, as everyone has said this evening, if we want to improve school systems.
Let me first thank your rapporteur, Mrs Sanders-ten Holte, for producing such an excellent report in a very short time. She has been supported by Mrs Marie-Hélène Gillig, who championed the issue in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and she has also been supported, of course, by the members of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport, who have tabled some very interesting amendments.
I must also stress the very positive attitude of the Portuguese Presidency, which has moved this issue forward, and I join you in regretting that it has not been possible to complete matters at first reading. But it is Parliament’s decision, and Parliament’s alone, to complete at first reading or to go further. You will probably decide to go further and the Commission will follow you down that road, hoping that, with lots of goodwill on both sides, we can reach agreement as soon as possible.
The proposal for a recommendation which you have before you relates to one of the key questions at the heart of our priorities: how can we ensure, and how can we improve, the quality of education? You are aware that during the last few years the Commission has initiated several activities in this connection. First, there has been a vast pilot project on quality evaluation, launched in 1997, and the proposal for a recommendation is based largely on the conclusions we have drawn from that pilot experiment, of evaluation as instrument of improvement of the quality and role of European cooperation in this domain. Quality evaluation is essential if we want to make progress in the future, because improving basic skills will allow us to make a success of, and profit fully from, the opportunities offered our young people in the new knowledge society.
As you have said, the Lisbon European Council emphasised the importance of modern systems of education. We must breathe life into those Lisbon declarations. They are revolutionary declarations, because it was the first time a Council really concentrated on what is important, beyond economics and finance, that is, the foundation of our society, knowledge. You know I have already started work on the eLearning programme and we are now following up with the quality programme as I have already presented the first report on quality, based on sixteen quality criteria drawn up by the Member States and OECD specialists.
Mr President, some Members have asked me to return here frequently to discuss these issues. That too has already been decided, because quality control has become a priority in the Council’s new cooperation framework, the ‘rolling agenda’ ministers have agreed on. This means it will come up at almost every Council of Ministers and will not be a overnight project. It will be quite apparent to everyone that it is an extended project and progress in the Member States will be evaluated regularly at intervals of a few months
Let me now come to the amendments Parliament wants to make to our proposal. The Commission will accept all the amendments tabled, in full, in substance or in part."@en1
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