Eurydice

The Government of Slovenia adopted in December 2019 the National Strategy for the Development of Reading Literacy for the period of 2019-2030. The strategy includes a framework for literacy development, quantitative targets for the next decade of literacy development, and foresees the foundation of a national Literacy Council.

On 19 December 2019, the “OECD Skills Strategy for Latvia - Assessment and Recommendations” report was launched in Riga. The report benefited from the financial and expert contribution by the European Commission. Based on the analysis of Latvia’s comparative skills performance, as well as the findings from widespread engagement with stakeholders in Latvia, experts have proposed a number of concrete recommendations to help Latvia develop and effectively use people’s skills.

On July 26, 2019, the French Ministry of National education passed the law no. 2019-791 for a School of Trust. The law targets a wide range of school education aspects. One of the aims of the reform is to lower the age of compulsory instruction from 6 to 3 years old (starting September 2019), as well as to introduce a training obligation up to 18 years olds (starting September 2020). Furthermore, the law reinforces home education by clarifying the objectives for the monitoring of this form of education.

Norway has recently presented a new curriculum for primary and secondary schools to the Parliament. The revision will be applied starting from fall 2020 and involves both general and vocational strands in upper secondary education. This is the first major reform in Norway since the Knowledge Promotion in 2006.

Some of the key features concerning the content of the new curricula are:

From 2020, all pupils in the 8th grade in Folkeskolen (primary and lower secondary education) must pass an exam in one of the practical or musical elective subjects. The elective subjects are as follows: home economics, craftsmanship, design, visual arts or music. The exam results will appear on the pupils’ leaving examination certificates from Folkeskolen. 

Poland will continue the successful pilot project of establishing Local Knowledge and Education Centres (Lokalne Ośrodki Wiedzy i Edukacji (LOWE)) launched by the Ministry of National Education in 2017 and co-funded by the EU. In the framework of the pilot project, 50 centres were initiated in 13 provinces across the country. After a very good reception of the first 50 centres, the Ministry decided to continue the project and establish 100 more centres from 2020 on.

As a daily part of human life, technology requires the young generation to acquire a set of knowledge, work skills and habits that they can apply in everyday life. In the Czech Republic, topics focused on technology, skills development and practical activities are part of the basic schools’ curriculum (ISCED 1, 2) mostly as an option, which seems insufficient in view of the current educational needs and technological development. In addition, in recent years, technical education has not received sufficient attention in schools in terms of personnel and material equipment.

The 1^st Strategic Plan for Vocational Training in the Educational System 2019-2022 has been recently approved by the Council of Ministers of Spain.

The Ministry of Education, University and Research has delivered to all schools a Circular Letter on the final State Exam  at the end of the upper secondary level of education. The document gives schools some preliminary instructions on the organisation of the exam in 2019/2020.

A new teacher evaluation system will be implemented in Cyprus during the academic year 2020-2021. The main purpose of the system is the development of a teacher and school evaluation plan that will contribute to enhancing the quality of provided education. The process of teacher evaluation is based on transparency and dialogue between all stakeholders.