Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-15-Speech-1-079"
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"en.20010115.7.1-079"2
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"Mr President, I, too, would like to congratulate those who have been responsible for getting the report to this stage.
Quality, as we have been hearing, can be a problematic concept in education, especially when one looks at any form of assessment. There are certain areas, such as literacy and numeracy, where we can now gain some idea of what has been achieved. There are many international studies which have thrown up difficulties, however, when it comes to making straight comparisons, because of differences in curriculum, approach and the underlying assumptions about what constitutes a good education.
It is essential not to confuse education with training. The primary purpose of education is not to prepare people for the job market but to prepare them for a life which is fulfilling in every way. In an increasingly flexible or precarious working environment people will be thrown back on their inner resources at many times in their lives and social cohesion is partly dependent on such personal resilience. We only have to look at what happens to those who are thrown out of work or who are excluded from the job market.
So when we are assessing the quality of education, we want to see if we can develop people who have self-esteem and confidence, who can communicate effectively, who can look behind the information for the hidden message, who can question, who can work as part of a team and independently, and who are creative, resourceful and have an appreciation of the wider world and their responsibility to it.
I also think that when we are looking at the quality of education we need to see if it is delivering real equality of opportunity for all of those within the system or whether it is doing, as society does, so much to exclude people on grounds of a poor background or their colour or whatever.
So in our comparisons and benchmarking we have to look beyond narrow league table approaches. After all, every football team in a league depends upon the level of investment and the selection of the very best. It does not necessarily improve the performance of all.
I am glad to see that we are recognising the importance of involving pupils themselves in the development and assessment of our educational system. We cannot expect to develop fully rounded and responsible individuals if they are not encouraged to be constructive and articulate about this major component of their lives. After all, education properly done is a collaborative adventure and we know we have a lot to learn from each other. That is why I welcome this report."@en1
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