On 16 June 2021, EFEE organised a Policy Working Group on the twin transition to present to its members the current European developments on the green and digital transitions and by the same time, EFEE’s involvement in the matter. The Policy Working group opened with a comprehensive policy overview of the education sector on a European and international level with regards to the twin transitions provided by Isaline Ossieur, EFEE Policy Officer. Ms Ossieur notably referred to the EU strategy for enhancing green skills and competencies for all own initiative Opinion and the joint EFEE/SGI Europe project, “Green skills in VET”, both closely related. Ms Ossieur also informed the member that EFEE is taking action to join the Education for Climate Coalition and has recently contributed to the proposal for a council recommendation on education for environmental sustainability. Concerning the digital transformation, EFEE is also actively involved within the European Commission flagship initiative, namely, the Digital Education Hub, which will be operating by the end of 2021 and fundings will be made available under the Erasmus+ programme in the course of the summer 2022. Ms Ossieur further recalled that EFEE has recently published a Statement on the 2021 Charter report on fundamental rights in the digital age.

A discussion on the opportunities and challenges for education employers with regards to mastering a sustainable green and digital transition in education followed the policy overview. The meeting closed with a presentation from the EFEE secretariat on the state of play of the current and upcoming EFEE project for 2022. The ongoing projects include one on each of the topic of the twin transition, namely the “e-Speed: European Social Partners in Education Embracing Digitalisation” project and the above mentioned “Green Skill in VET”. For 2022, EFEE aims to apply for two social dialogue projects, one stand alone entitled “Innovation4Education: Strengthening the capacity of European education” and a second in collaboration with ETUCE entitled “European Social Partners in Education promoting environmental sustainability”.

For more details, please contact isaline.ossieur@educationemployers.eu