The European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) has published its position paper on strengthening basic skills and improving performance in school education, welcoming the European Commission’s renewed focus on literacy, mathematics, science, digital and citizenship competences within the forthcoming Education Package.
Drawing on the latest PISA 2025 results, EFEE highlights the continued decline in mathematics and reading performance across OECD countries, while stressing that these trends are not irreversible. Improving educational outcomes requires looking beyond assessment results and addressing the wider conditions that shape teaching and learning, including workforce capacity, school leadership, professional development, inequalities and access to appropriate resources.
A central message of the position paper is that basic skills policy must also be workforce policy. Tackling teacher shortages, strengthening the attractiveness of education professions, investing in high-quality initial teacher education and continuous professional development, and supporting school leaders are essential to sustainable improvement.
EFEE also calls for policies that:
- advance equity and excellence together, with resources targeted according to learners’ and schools’ needs;
- prioritise prevention and early intervention, starting from early childhood education and continuing throughout the learner’s educational pathway;
- restore reading as a foundation for learning and support learners in navigating both digital and analogue environments;
- ensure that digital technologies and AI deepen learning rather than bypass it, while supporting teachers in their pedagogical role;
- foster curiosity, motivation and meaningful learning alongside academic performance.
Finally, EFEE underlines the importance of European cooperation and social dialogue. Education employers and trade unions should be meaningfully involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of future European initiatives on basic skills, helping ensure that reforms are ambitious, feasible and sustainable in practice.
Basic skills position paper