/ COMMISSION EUROPEENNE
Comité Central du Personnel

The Future of European Schools – The Way Forward
Brussels, 7 December 2007
B A C K G R O U N D F A C T S H E E T
W O R K S H O P 3 : Participation of users and education professionals in the schools
in a context of new governance
CHAIRMAN
Michael STENGER / Former Activist in APEEE, UGDES
OTHER INTERVENTIONS
Michel de MEERLER/ Secretary of the Commission Staff Committee, Brussels
Daniela PEDRONI / Local Staff Coordinator, PAS
Agnes LAHAYE / APEEEm Brussels II
RAPPORTEUR
Rotraut LÜDEMANN-MORETTO, President, INTERPARENTS
INTRODUCTION
Over the last 50 years, school management and governance practice in a number of member states has developed significantly just as has the European Union. The Board of Governors of the European Schools – necessarily an intergovernmental organisation because of the fact that the European Union has no competence in education – has always dealt with all educational, financial and administrative matters of a system sui generis of which parents have been the founders. This system cannot be compared to any of the national education systems, any private schools, or any model of heavily subsidised national schools abroad. In fact, the system of the European Schools in its uniqueness continues to be new land conquered step by step. Through the common effort of the member states of the European Union, it is being rendered fertile for the benefit of the European citizen.
Since the early nineties of last century, the Board of Governors has been well aware of the challenge it faced with the growing number of schools and member states. The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers as the budgetary authorities have always taken a close interest in the way the schools are governed and have contributed to the discussion on governance reform.
The entry into force in 2002 of the Convention defining Statute of the European Schools, adopted in 1994, brought along several changes in the governance:
  • most decisions in the Board of Governors are taken with 2/3 majority,
  • parents, i.e. the users of the system, and teachers become members of the Board of Governors,
  • administrative and ancillary staff become members of the administrative boards of the schools,
  • the European Communities become a contracting party with rights exceeding by far those of the other members: the European Communities are voting member of each administrative board of the schools and voting member of the Board of Governors.
The authors of the 1994 Convention have given proof of their deeply rooted democratic values as promoted by the European Union by accepting the users and professionals of the system as members of the European Schools' governing bodies. Most astonishingly, though, the European Commission representing the European Communities on the Board of Governors continues to complain about having only one vote.
WORKING TOGETHER
In its 2002 Resolution, the European Parliament has criticised the distance of the governors from the governed and recommended the meetings of the Board of Governors to take place in locations of the European Schools in order to allow a closer acquaintance between the two. The Board of Governors, composed of constantly changing individuals, as is the case with the Boards of Inspectors and the Administrative and Financial Committee, is indeed taking decisions without any knowledge of the current affairs of the schools it governs.
According to recent proposals from ad-hoc bodies outside the Board of Governors, it is suggested that this distance should be maintained and the users and the professionals of the system be given influence only at the local level whereas, in its 2005 resolution, the European Parliament calls for adequate representation of parents and professionals on both the Board of Governors and in the Administrative Boards of the schools.
AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The proposed remedies for the perceived shortcomings in the governance of the European Schools have been the same over the past fifteen years: autonomy for the schools and improved decision-making procedures for the Board of Governors.
Until now only very rough sketches have been proposed to address the challenge. Although the instruments provided by the 1994 Convention do allow for almost all of the improvements suggested by different parties, it has been proposed to change the Convention.
Only recently it has been acknowledged that there is a need for enhancing the administrative structures of the European Schools. It is obvious that these structures have been invented alongside the development of the system and the schools themselves and are now proving inadequate in competences and human resources compared to the challenges the system faces.
The increasing number of schools to be catered for and requiring service from the central administration show that important investment has to be made to keep up with current and future needs, investment in training for existing staff and into the attraction of new staff.
The quality of this service is as vital for the quality of the education provided in the schools as is the quality control of the teaching. Different models for addressing the challenges including analysis of costs and benefits are awaited in the near future.
The constantly changing individuals in the Board of Governors and the Boards of Inspectors as well as in the Administrative and Financial Committee need administrative support to understand fully and appreciate correctly earlier decisions and the consequences of the strategic goals they are supposed to be setting so as to come to informed decisions for the system's continued viability and the maintenance of the high quality education provided by it to the European citizens to which they are accountable.
As experience in the system shows, it is crucial and beneficial for a system sui generis as the European Schools, to apply Europe wide accepted information and participation principles, as requested by the European Parliament and recommended by the Council and the European Commission.
DOCUMENTATION
P5_TA(2002)0605 – European Parliament resolution on the future financing of the European Schools [2002/2083(INI)]
COM(2004)519 – Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament – Consultation on options for developing the European Schools system
2004-D-532-en-2 –Draft report to the Board of Governors of Troika Working Group II on “Wider availability of the European Schools on European Baccalaureate and Cooperation with other schools”
1612-D-2004-en-1 – Annual report of the Secretary General to the Board of Governors of the European Schools
P6_TA(2005)0336 – European Parliament resolution on options for developing the European Schools system [2004/2237(INI)]
2005-D-342-en-4 – Report of Troika Working Group II Board of Governors of the European Schools on European Baccalaureate and Cooperation with other schools
2006-D-224-en-1 – Written Communication: Discussion Paper for the Conference on the Future of European Schools 15 – 16 May 2006 at Noordwijk, the Netherlands
2006-D-1510-en-1 – Final Report of the Working Group on The Future of the European Schools, Board of Governors of the European Schools
IP/06/1560 – Promoting the European baccalaureate in an opened up and strengthened European schooling system