CONSULTATION RESPONSES TRAVELLING COMMUNITIES
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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EU EDUCATION,TRAINING AND YOUTH PROGRAMMES AFTER 2006
CONSULTATION RESPONSES TRAVELLING COMMUNITIES
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NOTE:
Travelling Communities includes the various groups of travellers:
This includes however also these groups of populations which are now sedentarised –for several (political) reasons - and don’t travel anymore (or not permanently). We here refer esp. to important numbers of citizens in Middle and Eastern European Countries.
A.TYPES OF ACTIONS
A.1.With regard to a quality Education for the Travelling Communities the two Resolutions of the Council of the Ministers of Education of the EU (1989) are a milestone for the EU.
These Resolutions have given a very important impulse for all the actors with regard to the accessibility and to the quality of the educational provisions for the Travelling Communities.
In some regions/countries it was the starting point for Policy makers to develop accessible provisions. In other countries Policy makers started to examine strategies aimed at the improvement of the accessibility and the quality of the education. With these Resolutions the process of the European collaboration between all those in the field who are involved in the education of the Travelling Communities was established with no further need to feel isolated or to work in isolation. The exchange and the sharing of information and experiences started. Last but not least, the Travelling Communities got involved in these processes. They were enabled to more and more to speak up for their right to quality education, schooling and training. These processes gradually led to to the development of a European wide network.
The progress made since 1989 is of course not the same in the various countries and regions nor is it the same across the levels of educational provisions. That was already clearly detailed in the Reports published in 1996 by the Commission of the EU. These Reports (based on information submitted by the Member States) describe the State of the Arts of the implementation of the Resolution of the Council (May 1989). In addition the consultations organised in 1999-2000 (co-ordinated by EFECOT) aimed at the development of a Policy-Plan for the future (2000-2007) made it clear that European wide the accessibility and quality education for the Travelling Communities are still far from guaranteed In the EU and that there is even a high level of social exclusion.
Over the last fourteen years several changes have taken place in society. These changes had also an impact on the social and economical situation of the travelling Communities.
The new information and communication technologies are more and more part of daily life in society, at the private and professional level. The society became a “Society of Knowledge”.
In the actual Education, Training and Youth Programmes of the EU (first and second stage) there are only very small references regarding the Travelling Communities.
All partners involved in this consultation exercise confirmed that this approach is an important underestimation of the educational needs and problems of the Travelling Communities in Europe. It is a complete misconception to think that with a few references the programmes will guarantee a considerable contribution to the improvement of educational situation and the social inclusion of these communities.
The future EU programmes in the field of Education, Training and Youth -referring to the Resolutions of the Council (1989) and taking into account the Reports of the Commission (1996), the results/outcomes of actions of the previous years and the updated needs and problems –should offer a clear framework with options and strands for actions aimed at accessible /quality education and social inclusion of the Travelling Communities in the EU.
These programmes must enable and support the (further) development of European Networking and collaboration with regard to the Education/Training of the Travelling Communities.
On the eve of the enlargement of the EU the educational situation of the Travelling Communities is an important challenge for the actual and the new Member States.
Therefore there need to be programmes specifically aimed at meeting these needs of the Travelling Communities.
A.2.The future programmes should support actions related to the various levels of education and schooling (as in the current programmes):
Actions related to the following items should also be supported:
The new programmes should also support actions regarding adopted and up-dated vocational training (formal and non-formal system) for the various Travelling Communities.
The new programmes should provide core funding for organisation as e.g. EFECOT being the principal co-ordinator of significant networks across Europe concerned with the Travelling Communities. Important for current wide and developing network-even more important in providing a good practice model to be drawn on at enlargement by new Member States.
A.3./A.4.The current design and management of the programmes does not effectively complement actions at national, regional and local level.
The National Agencies necessarily engaged in the management and monitoring of the programmes, are not well placed to ensure that programme actions are integrated into and complement the wider range of actions regarding the education and schooling of the Travelling Communities.
There is not sufficiently made use of the existing networks, organisations and specialists in the field.
Therefore a Working Group should be installed with representatives from the Commission of the EU and from the Member States (the relevant persons from the Ministries for Education responsible for the Education of the Travelling Communities) and with experts from relevant European Networks. With this Working group the Member States can be more actively and directly involved In this way it will be easier for the Member States to disseminate and to implement the good results and outcomes of the actions supported by the programmes. In this way the Working group can contribute to the encouragement of innovation and to the transfer into mainstream activity.
We here refer to the very positive experiences of all the actors involved in the so-called “Ad Hoc Working group for Intercultural Education “. This group was responsible (I989-1995) for the follow-up and monitoring of actions (supported by the EU) related to e.g. the implementation of the Resolutions of the Council (1989).
B. GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE
B.2.The programmes should stimulate and facilitate the collaboration with countries in the rest of the world with a significant number of Travelling Communities/Nomadics e.g. some countries in Africa, Australia, Mexico etc.
C. PROGRAMMME DESIGN & ORGANISATION
C.1It is important to recognise and respect the specificities and needs of each target group and the organisations involved and develop flexible programmes (design and management).
Very often NGO’s and associations are sources of innovative ideas and approaches and they work in close collaboration with the end users and beneficiaries. These organisations, associations and small institutions however are vulnerable and cannot withstand financial uncertainty and delays in the payments of the grants.
The programme management and procedures must be user-friendlier and must avoid the lengthy, expensive and bureaucratic procedures presently used.
C.2.EFECOT and the network partners consider that organising the programmes by groups of potential beneficiaries (see our request a specific programme in topic A.1.) avoids risk of lobbies by more powerful and well-resourced organisations/institutions.
C.4.EFECOT members and partners complained of complex and lengthy bureaucratic procedures, delays, inconsistencies, reporting requirements very difficult to cope with. See also topic C.1.