EU countries have improved their education systems in key areas over the past decade but they have achieved only one out of five benchmarks set for 2010, the European Commission's new progress report on education and training. One of the failed benchmarks is the participation rate in lifelong learning.

The EU has succeeded in its target to increase the number of maths, science and technology graduates, with a 37% rise since 2000 - easily outstripping the target of 15%. Significant, but insufficient, progress was made in reducing the school drop-out rate, increasing the number of pupils completing upper secondary education, improving reading literacy skills and increasing the share of adults participating in education or training. A detailed breakdown of the figures for each country is available (see link below). The Europe 2020 jobs and growth strategy retains the target of reducing the school drop-out rate to under 10%, as well as increasing the share of graduates to at least 40%.

Five education benchmarks for 2020

In 2009, EU Education Ministers agreed on five education and training benchmarks to be attained by 2020:

•the share of early leavers from education and training should be less than 10% (at the current rate of 14.4% this would mean at least 1.7 million fewer school drop-outs);

•the share of 30-34 year olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 40%(at the current rate of 32.3% this would mean an additional 2.6 million graduates);

•at least 95% of children between the age of four and the age for starting compulsory primary education should participate in early childhood education (now 92.3%, achieving target would mean 250,000 more children in education);

•the share of 15-years olds with insufficient abilities in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15% (from around 20% for all three now. Achieving the target would mean 250 000 fewer low achievers);

•an average of at least 15% of adults (age group 25-64) should participate in lifelong learning (current share is 9.3%. Achieving the target would mean 15 million more adults in education and training).

Key results

•2020 benchmarks: although it is too early for precise projections, past trends suggest that most of the benchmarks for 2020 should be attainable if Member States continue to give them high priority and invest efficiently in education and training. This is true, in particular, for the two education headline targets on early school leaving and graduates.

•2010 benchmarks: EU countries have made progress but only achieved the target on the number of graduates in maths, science and technology. (Full data for 2010 will be available early next year)

•Participation and attainment: since 2000, overall participation in education has increased as well as the qualification levels of adults. The share of children in pre-primary education has risen as well

•Gender gaps remain significant both in performance and in choice of subjects. For instance, girls outperform boys in reading, and boys account for most early school leavers. Men outnumber women among graduates in maths, science and technology subjects.

Details: Participation in lifelong learning of adults

“The European benchmark on lifelong learning concerns what could more strictly be called adult education and training. Originally established in 2003, it now sets the objective that by 2020 15% of adults aged 25-64 should participate in adult learning. Participation rates for this benchmark are measured by the European Labour Force Survey, which asks about participation in formal and non-formal learning in the 4 weeks prior to the survey.

Workplaces are in most countries the main providers of adult lifelong learning. Adult lifelong learning is one of the four components of the flexicurity approach of the European Employment Strategy. Results for 2009 show that 9.3% of 25-64 year olds participated in education and training in the four weeks preceding the survey. This is still short of the benchmark of 12.5% for 2010 and far below the 15% foreseen for 2020. In 2009 only 8 Member States exceeded the 2010 benchmark and only 5 the 2020 benchmark. There has

been furthermore a trend of decline in participation since 2005.

There are large differences in participation between Member States; the Nordic countries and the UK, the best performers, achieve systematically high participation rates, reaching 20-30%. The Netherlands, Slovenia, Austria, Luxembourg Spain and Estonia are in the next group, with participation rates between 10% and 20%. Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, as well as Croatia and Turkey, have recorded little or no progress in improving their extremely low levels of participation.

Estonia and Luxembourg, on the other hand, were successful in increasing participation rates substantially. There are different patterns of adult participation in lifelong learning by age-group. Participation among adults aged 50-to-64 is considerably lower than that of younger age groups. Four member states: Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, and Netherlands along with Iceland and Norway - which are the best performers in Europe for adult participation in lifelong learning overall - are also the best performers for this group but, nevertheless, with a

substantially lower rate of participation than for the working age population as a whole. Denmark has one in four adults aged 50-to-64 taking part in lifelong learning, followed by Iceland, Finland, the United Kingdom and Norway, each with participation rates over 10%. In Greece, Hungary or Turkey less than 1% of that age-group had participated in lifelong learning in the four weeks preceding the survey.” (report “Progress towards the common European objectives in education and training (2010/2011) Indicators and benchmarks”, 2011 page 31-32)

Informal learning

Informal learning is described as being learning which is “…intentional, but less organised and less structured and may include for example learning activities that occur in the household or in the daily life". Even though some caution is needed when analysing results, it is certainly a part of the lifelong learning process that cannot be overlooked and the results point to significant disparities in participation related to socio-economic factors and it is, thus, highly relevant to discussions of equity and inclusiveness of education systems In 2007, the EU participation rate for informal learning among adults was 46.5%, notably higher than the rate for non-formal activities (32.7%) and formal education (6.3%). The most used learning resources are printed materials (used by 35% of learners) and computers (27%). The

exchange of knowledge between members of the family, friends or colleagues is indicated by almost one fifth of the adults interviewed. The least frequent way of learning is visiting learning centres or libraries. Some national peculiarities emerge. In Belgium, the computer is the most frequent tool used for learning, whereas in some countries, such as Cyprus and the UK, this method is not particularly relevant, compared to learning through television (for the former) and using printed material (for the latter).

Family and work-place network is especially used for learning purposes in Portugal, where it is the most used method. In countries such as Belgium, Greece and the UK it is less used mainly in favour of printed materials.

An unequal participation in adult lifelong learning activities overall shows a very clear pattern, in which those who take less advantage of these opportunities are older people, the less educated and the non-employed. This is also the case for informal activities. The highest participation rates are those for adults between 25 and 34 years old (51.4%). Particular ways of learning are more often utilized by low-educated adults, namely learning from family members, friends or colleagues and learning through television/radio/video. Computers and learning centres are apparently more difficult to access, and particularly the latter are mainly used by adults with tertiary education. (page 80-86)