The European Parlament
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2. Notes that action in the field of education and training should be consistently supported with complementary measures of a socio-economic nature to improve the overall standard of living of European citizens;
3. Stresses the need to integrate migrants and minorities (especially Roma people), and to work on the inclusion of groups with special needs (primarily women and disabled and elderly people) at all levels and in all areas of education; considers that additional support should be provided to migrants, while ethnic minorities and Roma people should be assisted by trained staff who belong to the same minority or at least speak their native language;
4. Underlines the importance of sport in education and training and the need to give sport particular consideration, for example by enhancing the provision of physical education and sport throughout all forms of education, from pre-primary to university, and calls for at least three teaching periods per week to be set aside for sport in the curriculum and for support to be made available for schools to go beyond this prescribed minimum where possible;
5. Emphasises the crucial role of families and the social environment in every aspect of education and training;
6. Notes that education is essential for the social and personal development of both women and men; underlines, therefore, the importance of reinforc ing education and training as a fundamental aspect of promoting equality between women and men;
7. Deplores the fact that educational systems discourage women from entering traditionally male-dominated fields of employment and vocational training, but welcomes measures promoting gender equality and urges Member States to launch programmes aimed at giving women the most diversified profes sional guidance possible and subsequent assistance in the employment market;
8. Stresses that the existing inequality of opportunity between women and men as regards high-quality lifelong learning and education are all the more marked in island regions and geographically and socially disadvantaged regions; calls therefore for greater promotion of educational initiatives within the framework of regional policy;
9. Notes the chronic under-representation of women in certain fields of study, at all levels, as well as in the research sector; encourages therefore practical, positive actions to be taken to remedy the situation;
10. Observes that students with interrupted study patterns, especially young mothers, can suffer discrimination, and calls for the adoption of more flex ible approaches in order to facilitate the resumption of studies or training after the birth of a child and the combining of studies with professional and family life;
11. Observes that the quality of curricula and teaching must be improved across the board, that teachers’ social security must be improved, and that more attention must be paid to their continuing training and mobility;
12. Emphasises the fact that media literacy and ICT knowledge should be strongly promoted and recommends both that media education should form an integral part of the curriculum at all levels of schooling and that media teaching modules should be offered for teachers and elderly people;
13. Points out that the transition between different education and training systems and between formal, non-formal and informal learning must be facilitated;
14. Urges the Council to monitor the practical implementation of European edu cation and learning policies by every Member State; considers that national governments should set national goals in this field in a transparent manner, and should introduce appropriate legislation and relevant measures to en sure the achievement of European standards and, in particular, to ensure that tools adopted at EU level, such as the above-mentioned recommenda tion on key competences for lifelong learning, the European Qualifications Framework and Europass (13), are implemented;
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30. Notes that both the quality and attractiveness of VET must be enhanced;
31. Points out that VET ought to be better linked and more coherently integrated into both European and national economies in order to tailor better the educational process to the labour market;
32. Insists that mobility (not only geographical but also mobility between VET and higher education) of students and teachers be significantly enhanced;
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41. Considers that employers should be encouraged consistently to arrange education and training for their employees, as well as being provided with incentives to enable low-skilled workers to take part in lifelong learning programmes;
42. Notes that long-term unemployed people from a disadvantaged social background, people with special needs, young people who have been in re-education institutions and former prisoners should especially be taken into consideration;
43. Stresses that women in particular should be encouraged to take part in training and further training, and special programmes to promote lifelong learning for women must also be provided and promoted in this context;
44. Stresses that low-skilled and older workers ought to be particularly encour aged and incentives should be provided for them to take part in lifelong learning programmes;
45. Calls for adult education and lifelong learning programmes to take particu lar account of those groups of people who are most disadvantaged in the labour market, in particular young persons, women, especially those in rural situations and the elderly;
46. Calls for account to be taken of the fact that training in parenting skills for women and men is crucial to people’s welfare, to fighting poverty and to social cohesion; against this background, wishes for multi-purpose lifelong learning programmes and training of parenting skills trainers to be set up within the framework of education and learning;
47. Emphasises that knowledge and qualifications acquired through lifelong learning should be much broader and easily recognised, and to that end considers that the implementation of the above-mentioned European Qualifi cations Framework and Europass as instruments for the promotion of lifelong learning must also be stepped up;
48. Considers that more funding for measures to promote mobility should be provided by both European and national authorities at all stages of lifelong learning;
49. Calls for the advantages of the above-mentioned European Quality Charter for Mobility to be recognised and exploited and for them to be put into prac tice by the Member States, and for the Commission to carry out a review of implementation in the Member States;
50. Insists that as many social services and supporting facilities (e.g. childcare) as possible ought to be guaranteed to all students and workers with families;
51. Believes that voluntary services should be integrated and acknowledged when implementing the Education and Training 2010 work programme;
52. Is convinced that exchanges of views and mutual teaching and learning among different age groups should be enhanced;
53. Stresses that lifelong learning programmes must support entrepreneurship, enabling citizens to establish SMEs and to meet the needs of both society and the economy;
54. Draws attention to the fact that lifelong learning guidance services and information to learners of all age groups ought to be put into place in order to support the above objectives.
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