Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-05-Speech-4-027"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020905.2.4-027"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, we are busy drawing up long wish lists. We talk about the forthcoming knowledge society and about lifelong learning, and there are no limits to what we all want. However, this is only a kind of policy of piracy, since the reality of education policy in the Member States is completely different. Priorities have to be set and expenditure on education has to be weighed up against other forms of expenditure. Education budgets are being cut at the moment. It is not, therefore, very helpful if we sit here discussing our long lists.
Instead of drawing up long lists, we should prioritise. We should prioritise the most important items of expenditure. I agree with those who say that, if this is the case, we should prioritise the needs of the undereducated, for education exaggerates differences unless some sort of compensation is built in. I would point out, in particular, two aspects that I believe are important and that are perhaps not adequately stressed in the long lists.
First of all, there is a great need for proper vocational retraining. It is not enough to have a little training here, a bit of additional training there and an extra course there. Training is needed if people are to be able to shift from jobs that are no longer required – agricultural workers, lumberjacks or fishermen, for example – to jobs in an expanding service sector. A transition such as this cannot be achieved after a six-week course. Instead, long training programmes are required. Such programmes are quite expensive, however, and it is consequently difficult to obtain political support for them, yet this is vital since we in Europe are facing major problems of structural change that will require radical job changes.
Secondly, I should like to emphasise training organisations or training on the job. This is, of course, mentioned in the Commission’s justification, but it should be accorded greater attention. Since we know that it will be difficult to get funding for in-school training, it is extremely important that we try to create the kinds of organisations and jobs that provide scope for continuous training, education and learning as part of the labour process. It is difficult to send people on courses, but it is perhaps easier, cheaper and better to make sure that people can learn on the job. We can take the new IT sector as an example. All the small IT firms that sprang up in the 1990s could afford to let people experiment and learn in the workplace, and the IT sector was very successful. That is something we can learn from ."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples