The European Pillar of Social Rights (1) states as its first principle that everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that allow full participation in society and successful transitions in the labour market. It also states the right of everyone ‘to timely and tailor-made assistance to improve employment or self-employment prospects, to training and re-qualification, to continued education and to support for job search’. Fostering the development of competences is one of the aims of the vision towards a European Education Area that would be able ‘to harness the full potential of education and culture as drivers for jobs, social fairness, active citizenship as well as means to experience European identity in all its diversity’ (2).
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People need the right set of skills and competences to sustain current standards of living, support high rates of employment and foster social cohesion in the light of tomorrow’s society and world of work. Supporting people across Europe in gaining the skills and competences needed for personal fulfilment, health, employability and social inclusion helps to strengthen Europe’s resilience in a time of rapid and profound change.
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In 2006, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning. In that Recommendation the Member States were asked ‘to develop the provision of key competences for all as part of their lifelong learning strategies, including their strategies for achieving universal literacy, and use the ‘Key Competences for Lifelong Learning — A European Reference Framework’ (3). Since its adoption, the Recommendation was a key reference document for the development of competence-oriented education, training and learning.
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Nowadays, competence requirements have changed with more jobs being subject to automation, technologies playing a bigger role in all areas of work and life, and entrepreneurial, social and civic competences becoming more relevant in order to ensure resilience and ability to adapt to change.
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At the same time, international surveys such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) or the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) indicate a constant high share of teenagers and adults with insufficient basic skills. In 2015 one in five pupils had serious difficulties in developing sufficient reading, mathematic or science skills. (4) In some countries up to one third of adults are proficient at only the lowest levels in literacy and numeracy (5). 44 % of the Union population have low or no (19 %) digital skills (6).
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Consequently, investing in basic skills has become more relevant than ever. High quality education, including extra-curricular activities and a broad approach to competence development, improves achievement levels in basic skills. In addition, new ways of learning need to be explored for a society that is becoming increasingly mobile and digital. (7) Digital technologies have an impact on education, training and learning by developing more flexible learning environments adapted to the needs of a highly mobile society (8).
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In the knowledge economy, memorisation of facts and procedures is key, but not enough for progress and success. Skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, ability to cooperate, creativity, computational thinking, self-regulation are more essential than ever before in our quickly changing society. They are the tools to make what has been learned work in real time, in order to generate new ideas, new theories, new products, and new knowledge.
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The New Skills Agenda for Europe (9) announced the review of the 2006 Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning acknowledging that investing in skills and competences and in a shared and updated understanding of key competences is a first step for fostering education, training and non-formal learning in Europe.
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Responding to the changes in society and economy, reflecting discussions on the future of work, and following the public consultation on the review of the 2006 Recommendation on key competences, both the Recommendation and the European Reference Framework of key competences for lifelong learning need to be revised and updated.
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The development of key competences, their validation and the provision of competence-oriented education, training and learning should be supported by establishing good practices for better support of educational staff in their tasks and improving their education, for updating assessment and validation methods and tools, and for introducing new and innovative forms of teaching and learning (10). Therefore, basing itself on the experiences of the last decade, this Recommendation should address the challenges in implementing competence-oriented education, training and learning.
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Supporting the validation of competences acquired in different contexts will enable individuals to have their competences recognised and obtain full or, where applicable, partial qualifications (11). It can build on the existing arrangements for the validation of non-formal and informal learning as well as the European Qualification Framework (12), which provides a common reference framework to compare levels of qualifications, indicating the competences required to achieve them. In addition, assessment may help in structuring learning processes and in guidance, helping people to improve their competences also with regard to changing requirements on the labour market (13).
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The definition of the set of key competences needed for personal fulfilment, health, employability and social inclusion has been shaped not only by societal and economic developments, but also by various initiatives in Europe during the last decade. Special attention has been given to improving basic skills, investing in language learning, improving digital and entrepreneurial competences, the relevance of common values in the functioning of our societies, and motivating more young people to engage in science related careers. These developments should be reflected in the Reference Framework.
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Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals highlights the need to ‘ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development’ (14). Unesco’s Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development affirms that education for sustainable development is an integral element of quality education and key enabler of all other Sustainable Development Goals. This aim is reflected in the revision of the Reference Framework.
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The provision of language learning, which is increasingly important for modern societies, intercultural understanding and cooperation, profits from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This Framework helps to identify the main elements of the competence and supports the learning process. It also lays the foundation of defining language competences, in particular those referring to foreign languages and is reflected in the update of the Reference Framework.
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The development of the Digital Competence Framework and the Entrepreneurship Competence Framework support competence development. Likewise, the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture presents a comprehensive set of values, skills and attitudes for an appropriate participation in democratic societies. All of these have been taken into due consideration when updating the Reference Framework.
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In order to motivate more young people to engage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related careers, initiatives across Europe started to link science education more closely with the arts and other subjects, using inquiry-based pedagogy, and engaging with a wide range of societal actors and industries. While the definition of those competences has not changed much over the years, the support of competence development in STEM becomes increasingly relevant and should be reflected in this Recommendation.
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The importance and relevance of non-formal and informal learning is evident from the experiences acquired through culture, youth work, voluntary work as well as grassroots sport. Non-formal and informal learning play an important role in supporting the development of essential interpersonal, communicative and cognitive skills such as: critical thinking, analytical skills, creativity, problem solving and resilience that facilitate young people’s transition to adulthood, active citizenship and working life (15). Establishing better cooperation between different learning settings helps promoting a variety of learning approaches and contexts (16).
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In addressing the development of key competences in a lifelong learning perspective, support should be ensured at all levels of education, training and learning pathways: to develop quality early childhood education and care (17), to further enhance school education and ensure excellent teaching (18), to provide up-skilling pathways to low-skilled adults (19) as well as to further develop initial and continuing vocational education and training and modernise higher education (20).
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This Recommendation should cover a wide range of education, training and learning settings, both formal, non-formal and informal in a lifelong learning perspective. It should seek to establish a shared understanding of competences which can support transitions and cooperation between these different learning settings. It sets out good practices that could address the needs of educational staff which includes teachers, trainers, teacher educators, leaders of education and training institutes, employees in charge of training colleagues, researchers and university lecturers, youth workers and adult educators as well as employers and labour market stakeholders. This Recommendation also addresses institutions and organisations, including social partners and civil society organisations, guiding and supporting people in improving their competences from early age on throughout their lives.
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This Recommendation fully respects the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality,
