NEWS June 2011 LETTER

This is the OBESSU Newsletter that is coming out every month to all member organisations and partners of OBESSU. The Newsletter is an informing collecting of news and especially events you can participate in from partner and contact organisations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Call for participants for the Summer School 2011!

UdS invites to the Riot Village!

Vocational Voice – VET students claiming our education!: OBESSU contribution to the OECD Forum

Naj dijak, naj dijakinja

Support our Campaign for stronger youth and education programmes at the national level too!

News from SLL VET Working Group participated in 2nd EQAVET Annual Forum

SSUN New Board takes office Training Trainers for Human Rights Education with young people – Call for participants

Learning for Well-Being Youth Movement consultation

Global Education Newsletter

CONTACT OBESSU:

Emilia Kowalczyk Project and Policy Officier

OBESSU invited to the Digital Agenda Assembly

European Parliament adopts YOTM Report

OBESSU virtual contribution to "The Future of Education" Conference

Report: The Challange of Shadow Education

OBESSU virtual contribution to "The Future of Education" Conference

YFJ internship survey

OBESSU at the Hungarian Presidency Conference on VET

Youth Flash of the Hungarian Presidency is out!

OBESSU at the OECD 50th Anniversary Forum

3rd Asia-Europe Meeting of Ministers for Education (ASEMME3)

HIGHLIGHTS ON Call for participants for the Summer School 2011!

Dear OBESSU friends, the second edition of the OBESSU summer school, entitled "One World, One Care", will take place on 17-24 August 2011 in Montpellier, France. The focus of this year’s summer school is Human Rights and, in particular, Youth Rights as Global Challenges. Here comes the Call for Participants. The deadline for submitting your applications to the OBESSU Secretariat is 30th June 2011.

MEMBERS NEWS UdS invites to the Riot Village! Also this year UdS is glad to invite all OBESSU member organisations to the Riot Village, the Italian students' summer camp. It will be held in Ostuni (Puglia), in the south of Italy, on the beautiful Adriatic coast, from the 25th of July until the 5th of August. The price is 12 euro per night per person and you can find more information and book on www.riotvillage.it or contacting UdS. Read more...

Naj dijak, naj dijakinja DOS, the School Student organisation of Slovenia, has recently concluded a project called Naj dijak, naj dijakinja (Best pupils) supported by the Ministry of Education and Sport. All Slovenian schools were invited to take part and the main aim was to motivate school students to explore the field of self-development not only in the school environment but also in their free time. Read more...

News from SLL Since the beginning of the year, the Union of Finnish Upper Secondary School Students (SLL) has had a new national board: Valtteri Aine (president), Risto Lahti (1. vice president), Janika Kallio (2. vice president, responsible for international affairs), Veera Svahn, Wiking Vuori, Lasse Heikkilä, Joakim Pihlajaniemi, Emma-Stina Vehmanen, Matilda Taipale, Sami Gabbouj and Teemu Riipi (Board members). Janika, Lasse and Sami are the board members part of the international team which is composed also by the SLL activists: Ville Majamaa, Tiia Collin and Tuomas Tikkanen. Read more...

SSUN New Board takes office In March 2011, a new SSUN Central Board was elected at the Annual General Assembly "Elevtinget" held in Bergen, Norway. Andreas Borud (photo), at that moment Vice-President of Political Affairs, was elected President of the Board. The new board will start its mandate the 1st of July, 2011, and its first task will be to co-organise together with the previous board the annual seminar for all union representatives. This five-day seminar will give all the representatives the tools for the work of their mandate. SSUN main political goals for the coming year are to fight for better counselling at schools, equal and fair assessment, and making apprenticeships for VET-students a right by law.

OBESSU NEWS

Learning for Well-Being Youth Movement consultation OBESSU Board member Victor Grezes took part in the Learning for Well-Being (L4WB) Policy Glossary Youth Consultation which took place on 16th-17th June 2011 in Brussels. The aim of the event was to consult Youth Organisations on the draft of the L4WB Policy Glossary. From the event emerged that the document should be shorter and more accessible and that it would be good to introduce an approach including four different learning approaches: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and to live together. OBESSU invited to the Digital Agenda Assembly The European Commission invited OBESSU to take part in a panel of the Digital Agenda Assembly held in Brussels on 16th-17th June. The panel was part of a workshop on “Mainstreaming e-Learning in education & training”. Together with OBESSU, other three major education stakeholder participated as speakers in the panel: the European Teachers Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), the European Parents Association (EPA), and the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL). OBESSU was represented by Board member Lara Widmer, who is very happy about the contribution provided and the outcomes of the workshop. This event represented only a starting point of a long and intense process in which OBESSU as well as the other stakeholder will be involved. Read also the school partners' press release.

OBESSU virtual contribution to "The Future of Education" Conference From 16th to 17th June 2011 OBESSU Board member Ivica Alpeza, virtually took part in the International Conference “The Future of Education”, organised by PIXEL which was held in Florence, Italy. “The Future of Education” aimed to promote transnational cooperation and good practice sharing in the field of innovation for Education, where OBESSU actively took part by submitting a paper entitled “School Students’ View – Why is Non-Formal Education and Informal Learning Important to Us?” within the conference topic of “Innovative teaching and learning methodologies”. OBESSU virtual presentation, together with all other relevant documents related to the Conference can be found online. OBESSU at the Hungarian Presidency Conference on VET OBESSU Board member, Jessie Seal, took part in the Conference “Increasing attractiveness and excellence of VET through quality and efficiency” organised by the Hungarian Presidency in Budapest on 17th-18th May 2011. Jessie represented OBESSU and the European Youth Forum and participated as speaker to one of the round table, illustrating the positions of school students and young people on the topics addressed. She took the opportunity to talk about the importance of fair wages and conditions for apprenticeships and equal access to education. She also briefly talked about OBESSU’s new campaign, which will be publicly launched in October on VET, attractiveness and representation of VET students.

OBESSU at the OECD 50th Anniversary Forum

On 24th and 25th May, OBESSU Board member, Ivica Alpeza took part in the OECD 50th Anniversary Forum, entitled “Better policies for better lives”, held in Paris, France. The Forum gathered more than 1.200 participants from all over the world active various sectors and thematic fields. Recognising the important role that youth has nowadays, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) was highly represented at the Forum also with speakers in different panel discussions. Vocational Voice – VET students claiming our education!: OBESSU contribution to the OECD Forum On May 24, 2011, Jessie Seal, Board Member with responsibility for Vocational Education and Training (VET), published at the OECD Forum educationtoday the blog Vocational Voice – VET students claiming our education! where Jessie identifies the major issues affecting VET students: 1) lack of counselling and information; 2) lack of quality on VET; and 3) lack of representation of VET students. In order to face all those issues, Jessie states that VET education needs to benefit from up to date technology, well trained teachers and an inclusive funding system. Additionally, she stresses that VET students must have an equal say in the decision making because “an education that involves, asks and listens to students is vitally important to improving the quality and attractiveness of VET”. Access the full collection of blogs on Skills at the OECD Forum here.

Support our Campaign for stronger youth and education programmes at the national level too! OBESSU, together with other 26 major European stakeholders in education and training, adopted a common position paper on their vision for the future of education, training and youth programmes. OBESSU warmly invites all its member and observer organisations to join the effort for stronger EU programmes in education, training and youth! This can be done by sending the campaign letter to your relevant national Ministries and to your Permanent EU representations. The letter is available in 11 languages

VET Working Group participated in 2nd EQAVET Annual Forum From the 31st of March to the 1st of April, 2011, the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET) celebrated its 2nd Annual Forum in Budapest, Hungary. Johanna Griesmayr, member of the OBESSU Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET), participated in the two days forum where several delegates of the European Commission, representatives of almost all Educational Ministries in Europe and social partners at the European level were also present.

PARTNERS NEWS Training Trainers for Human Rights Education with young people – Call for participants The 2011 edition of the Training for Trainers in Human Rights Education, organized by the Council of Europe is taking place from September 2011 till April 2012. OBESSU encourages all interested people to apply by filling out the online application form and sending it off to the OBESSU Secretariat by the 14th of July. A support letter from OBESSU needs to be then uploaded on the platform. The entire course goes through 3 following stages: Phase 1: E-learning- Getting ready for the course and developing a common knowledge basis (September 2011-February

2012), Phase 2: The residential training seminar (7-14 February 2012) and Phase 3: Follow-up (February-April 2012). The online application form is to be found under: http://youthapplications.coe.int. For further questions you can address the OBESSU Secretariat. Global Education Newsletter The spring issue of the Global Education Newsletter of the North-South Centre (NSC) of the Council of Europe is now available online. Spring 2011 will be a milestone in the NSC work for the promotion and understanding of Global Education since the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has adopted last May a Recommendation on education for global interdependence and solidarity, which is the first European legal standard on global education. This Recommendation will offer a solid basis for the Centre's work in one of its major fields of activity, in Europe and beyond.

European Parliament adopts YOTM Report On 12th May 2011, the European Parliament adopted a report on Youth on the Move (YOTM) where it demands the European Commission to maintain an independent Youth in Action (YiA) Programme and involve young people as key stakeholder throughout the whole YOTM process..

Report: The Challange of Shadow Education The Network of Experts in Social Sciences of Education and Training (NESSE) published a report for the European Commission entitled “The Challenge of Shadow Education: Private tutoring and its implications for policy makers in the European Union”. The report highlights how more than 50% of school students receive private tuition in some EU countries and that parents are spending several billion euros a year to supplement their children's education. OBESSU is worried about the findings of the report which illustrate how the demand for private tutoring principally comes from high-achievers and is fuelled by pressure on youngsters to do well in exams and by 'social competition'. The report points out that private tutoring reflects – and exacerbates - social inequalities.. Read more...

YFJ internship survey The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is working to improve the situation of internships in Europe. Within this scope, a short survey was launched to collect data about internships experiences of European young people. The survey "Interns Revealed" is open until July 7th and OBESSU invites all its member organisations to spread the news about the survey within their network. OBESSU has been closely working with YFJ on this topic, contributing to the European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships, which is now open to consultation until June 30th. Youth Flash of the Hungarian Presidency is out! On May 24, 2011, the Presidency Youth Flash of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union was published. The Presidency Youth Flash is a newsletter from the joint project between the European Youth Forum (YFJ) and the AEGEE-Budapest on the Hungarian EU Presidency. The Flash is a collection of all the activities carried out so far by the Hungarian Presidency in the field of youth and, provides an overview of the upcoming events before the closing of the Hungarian Presidency on July 2, 2011.

YFJ consultation on the European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships

On May 13, 2011, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) opened a public consultation on the final draft of the European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships. The document is the result of the long work of some of YFJ members, including OBESSU. Through the consultation the YFJ aims to improve the document by getting further inputs and support from a larger number of youth organisations, stakeholders and experts Read more... 3rd Asia-Europe Meeting of Ministers for Education (ASEMME3) On May 9-10, 2011, the 3rd edition of the biennial Asia-Europe meeting of Ministers for Education (ASEMME3): shaping an ASEM Education Area was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. During the meeting the main topics discussed included lifelong learning including vocational education and training (VET), quality assurance and recognition, balanced mobility and university-business cooperation. Read more...

UPCOMING EVENTS Summer Camp “One World, One Care” on August 16-24, in Montpellier, France

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