Education and Training Monitor 2021

The European Commission has published today the 2021 edition of its annual Education and Training Monitor, a report on the evolution of education and training in the EU and the Member States.
Presented during the fourth European Education Summit by European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, the Monitor analyses teaching and learning in the digital age, tackling the past year’s events, and discusses the importance of digital solutions for teaching and learning, with a focus on the weaknesses that have emerged during 2020.

The Monitor assesses how in the Member States wide disparities still exist, even with the investments in infrastructure for education, when it comes to using technology in teaching. 15% of the generation that we would define as Digital Natives lack basic digital skills, but there are also strong difficulties expressed by lower secondary teachers in EU countries. The evidence from the OECD shows that they only rarely receive training on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for teaching, and that teachers express a strong need for professional development in the use of ICT skills for teaching.

The 2021 edition in particular focuses on well-being in education and provides an overview of how the Recovery and Resilience Facility will support the modernisation of education and training systems in the EU. Recognising that proper investment in education contributes to economic growth and social inclusion, EU Member States have during the past year maintained public spending on education at around 10% of total public spending, according to the Monitor's most recent data, however the effort has to be continued to reach a satisfactory result.
In this direction, the EU's political agenda stays focused on education, and digital skills in particular: among the initiatives approved in this direction, the Commission also adopted a new Digital Education Action Plan, reflecting lessons learned from the coronavirus crisis, and devising a plan for a high-performing digital education ecosystem with enhanced digital competences for the digital transformation.

More on the Monitor

The Education and Training Monitor analyses every year the main challenges for European education systems and presents policies that can make them more responsive to societal and labour market needs. The report comprises a cross-country comparison, with 27 in-depth country reports.

The Monitor includes a number of resources and publications:

•   EU and country reports
•   an executive summary
•   an EU factsheet
•   EU infographics
•   a leaflet on EU-level targets
•   Eurostat customisable datasets
•   maps and charts

These resources are available in English and their respective national languages in an accessible html format on the website of the Publications Office of the European Union.