EFEE (European Federation of Education Employers)
As a founding member of the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE), ETBI (then IVEA) has been a partner since 2010 in the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education (ESSDE) with ETUCE which represented European education trade unions. The ESSDE is a key contributor to and influencer of European education policy.
European Alliance for Apprenticeships Pledge
During a meeting of Ministers in charge of Vocational Education and Training, European Social Partners and the European Commission in Riga in June 2015, Michael Moriarty, President of the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE), signed a joint pledge with the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) on apprenticeships.
With the pledge, EFEE and ETUCE wish to:
- improve the esteem, image and quality of VET and apprenticeships
- improve social dialogue on this issue at European and national level, and
- improve cooperation between schools and companies on organisation and quality assurance of apprenticeships and work-based learning.
The pledge underlines EFEE’s and ETUCE’s commitment to enhance the work of their organisations and the joint activities in the framework of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education to further contribute to the implementation of the goals of the European Alliance for Apprenticeships.
Furthermore at the meeting, organised by the Latvian Presidency, Ministers from the European Union, Candidate Countries and the European Economic Area Countries endorsed the “Riga Conclusions” on a new set of priorities to improve Vocational Education and Training for the period of 2015-2020.
The pledge is available here.
EFEE’S NEWS FLASH – 31 October 2014
2010-2011 Joint Work Programme
The ESSDE had agreed a joint work programme for the years 2010 and 2011, which focussed on the themes of quality in education; demographic challenges; and the education and training process beyond 2010. The ESSDE also contributed to European discussion on:
- The contribution of Education to solving the current economic crisis
- Stress, violence and harassment
- Public/private education developments
- The promotion of social dialogue
- Mapping selected issues of the different countries’ education systems.
The European social partners in education agreed two documents:
- A Joint Declaration on Investment in Education
- Joint Guidelines on Trans-regional cooperation in Lifelong Learning among education stakeholders
The first was sent to all members of the EU Council for Education and Culture and to the relevant people in the EU institutions. The second was made available to all social partners in education, and its implementation will be the subject of an evaluation in 2013.
The European social partners in education also set up three working groups (WGs) on specific topics who met three times in 2010/2011 and presented reports of their activities to the plenary meeting of the ESSDE in October 2011:
- WG1: Quality in Education
- WG2: The Demographic Challenges
- WG3: Higher Education and Research
During 2011, the European social partners in education worked on three other specific projects
- Trans-regional cooperation in lifelong learning among education stakeholders (ETUCE-led)
- Leadership and governance in schools as instruments for improving student results and preparing them for lifelong learning (EFEE-led)
- IVEA was very much involved in the preparation of a preparatory EFEE report which collated data from 18 countries across 28 member organisations. The EFEE School Leadership and Governance Report may be accessed here. As part of this project IVEA organised an international seminar in Dublin in October 2011. In addition IVEA General Secretary, Michael Moriarty, addressed ETUCE in May 2012 on the same issue. EFEE and ETUCE are continuing to advance the project during 2013/14.
- Teachers’ work-related stress: European-wide survey: Assessment, Comparison and Evaluation of the Impact of Psychosocial Factors on Teachers at their Workplace in the EU (ETUCE-led)
During 2012/13, the European social partners have been working on the following projects:
- Recruitment and retention in the education sector, a matter of Social Dialogue (ETUCE-led)
- Self-evaluation of schools and teachers as instruments for identifying future professional needs – peer learning experiences (EFEE-led)
- Teacher unions preventing early school leaving through the use of ICT in education (ETUCE-led)
- Social Partners in Education concerned about violence in schools: How to Prevent and Mitigate Violence and Harassment in Schools (ETUCE-led)
- Exploratory phase to assess the feasibility of developing a European level education sector council on employability and skills (jointly applied)
- European Policy Network in School Leadership (project is run by research institute FORTH and EFEE and ETUCE are partners in this project)
- IVEA also worked closely with EFEE and employer colleague organisations on other matters such as a review of the European Part-Time Work Directive 1998/23/EC.
The 2012/13 Joint Work Programme
The European social partners in education are in agreement that the current economic and social situation in Europe remains critical and that Education, Training and Research must be at the heart of solutions to Europe’s difficulties. The European social partners in Education therefore have a joint interest in safeguarding and promoting our shared values and will consequently continue to keep in close and frequent contact to ensure that where it is appropriate to do so, they will jointly lobby the European Commission and others.
The ESSDE joint work programme for 2012/13 continues work already started and initiates new work. A schedule has been already set for the work to be continued, while a schedule for the new work will be determined during 2013. The joint work programme focusses on the following themes:
- The Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) (joint lobbying)
- Quality in Education (continuation of project)
- Demographic Challenges (continuation of project)
- Higher education and research (continuation of project)
- Sector Skills Council for the Education Sector (joint feasibility study)
- Work-related stress, violence and harassment (continuation of project)
- Promotion of Social Dialogue (joint project)
- Lifelong Learning (joint evaluation of implementation of Joint Guidelines)
- Public/Private developments in education (policy-building for each side of the social partnership)
- School leadership (continuation of project)
The work of the EFEE in Europe was validated by the European Commission, who agreed in June 2013 to provide Jean Monnet Funding for the year, which will allow ETBI to coordinate all envisaged activities for 2013.
EFEE-CEEP Matching Skills Project
ETBI, through its membership of EFEE, is involved in a significant European research project jointly led by European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public services (CEEP) and EFEE.
The project explores the competences that employees need to have to ensure that that those working in the delivery of public services are able to adapt to the needs of public service providers in the future. It does this by mapping the current and future competences needed in public services, documenting the competences that education and training providers claim they provide to prospective public servants and, where it exists identifying the competence gap and the good practice that public service employers and others implement to bridge that gap. The overall aim of the project is to generate European policy recommendations regarding how the competences provided by education and training institutions might better meet the competence requirement of public service employers in Europe.
The core work of the project involves the researchers interviewing those who line-manage public servants and those involved in the management and delivery of education and training programmes to prepare prospective public servants. For example, the researchers interviewed two second level school principals and two university lectures involved in the provision of initial teacher education in Ireland.
The project also involves two seminars, one of which was hosted by IVEA in Piper’s Hill on 7 June 2013. These seminars facilitate the researchers sharing their preliminary findings with those managing the project and with a select number of public service employers/managers and education/training providers. The discussion at these seminars informs the progress of the research and the generation of the project’s recommendations.
This particular project focusses on the following public services: education and training, health care, public transport, energy and public administration.
EFEE website