Unreformed European school system 'might collapse'

The European school model "can suit particularly well the globalised and dynamic character of our societies, whilst ensuring that roots in national identities are clearly preserved," said European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for administration. 

"To achieve this, we must ensure that the internal functioning of the current system is adequately adjusted, that the costs inherent to it are fairly shared, and that the decision-making process becomes more streamlined and efficient," Kallas explained. 

Calling for a new model of more flexible European schools adapted to local needs, Luxembourg centre-right MEP Erna Hennicot-Schoepges (EPP-ED), who chaired the hearing, called for "better governance" structures, expressing hope that the reform process currently underway would "fundamentally change the system". 

Expressing confidence that "we’ll be able to move forward in the next legislature," Hennicot-Schoepges said she understands parents' frustrations. But "we can't deal with infrastructure and overcrowding problems [at European level]," she explained, because such issues "are for member states". 

Czech Deputy Education Minister Jakub Dürr said the multilingual nature of the European school model would be "very hard to emulate at national level," but conceded that national education systems could take inspiration from it, for example by teaching some subjects in foreign languages. 

"Today it's taken for granted that European schools should open up more, but four years ago this was not the case," said Alain Scriban of the Commission's administration department. 

Addressing concerns about the lack of teachers, Scriban said "we're exploring the possibility of using non-native speakers to teach certain subjects, but only with appropriate quality safeguards". 

Appealing to governments to fill all their teaching posts, Renée Christmann, secretary-general of the European schools, echoed Scriban in saying "language difficulties" mean secondment of teachers who are non-native speakers of their primary teaching language will now be allowed. 

Educating students in their mother tongues is a "fundamental principle" of the system, Christmann explained, but "the need for burden-sharing between member states must be taken into account". 

The secretary-general described externalising the European baccalaureate to make it accessible to more people as a "very good idea," in keeping with the dreams of the schools' founders. 

Inter-parents President Christopher Wilkinson, representing parents of European school pupils, said "the reform process so far has already been time-consuming, expensive, laborious and fraught with difficulty". 

Wilkinson believes the system should be reformed to "look to a more global context". "European schools are an asset which should be deployed throughout the EU. Europe needs these people for its Lisbon agenda and to emerge from the recession competitive." 

One parent, an official at the European Commission, described the Brussels schools as "saturated" from the classrooms to the buses. "We've been talking about [overcrowding] for ten years now and the problem is not going away." 

"All children of EU staff, including those of Parliament assistants, are entitled to a place in the European school system given the fact that most have no other alternative in the Belgian school system," argued TAO-AFI, an independent association of officials working for the EU institutions. 

"No discrimination can be exercised between children enrolled and included in the system," while "the schools at Uccle, Woluwé and Ixelles have reached their limits in terms of capacity," TAO-AFI further stated. 

The European school system is creating a socially-homogenous "apartheid regime" that could foster a feeling of superiority among the pupils, Professor Philippe van Parijs of the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) told EurActiv in an interview last month (EurActiv 17/02/09). 

"It is not good for the offspring of the EU's bureaucracy to grow up in such a socially-homogeneous environment," the professor says, continuing: "Nor is it good for a city like Brussels to have part of its school population creamed off by what amounts to an invidious apartheid regime". 

"When you are admitted to an elite school by virtue of the status of your parents, it is hard not to develop a sense of superiority towards those who are not," van Parijs declared, blaming European schools for fostering "social separation".