Two reports of the Culture and Education Committee (CULT) within the European Parliament of which MEP Therese Comodini Cachia is a member were yesterday evening presented at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Speaking during a plenary session discussing the first report 'Learning EU at school' Comodini Cachia stated "amidst the threat of radicalisation striking at the heart of shared values, it becomes even more pertinent that our youths are empowered to make the European project their own. Education on EU values, such as social inclusion, solidarity, democracy, good governance and rule of law are common treads in European culture which can facilitate students' understanding and contribution towards the development of European societies."

Comodini Cachia argued that while most Member States teach European studies, European values and culture go beyond the study of formal structures and processes. She urged the Commission to strengthen its contribution towards facilitating education on European values and culture by contributing towards educators' continuous training opportunities, provide common guidelines that set  high standards in education, support networking and sharing of good practices as well as provide teachers with e-learning platforms and digital materials that facilitate their teaching. She said that teaching European values and culture is not however just for the classroom and measures of informal and non-formal education that create links between youths and the institutions, and that bring students and teachers from different Member States together need to be strongly supported.

Comodini Cachia who serves as EPP rapporteur for delegating and implementing acts on Erasmus+ programme also commented on the report 'Erasmus+ and other tools to foster mobility in vocational education and training (VET)'. She reiterated her call that VET was not an educational pathway of less worth and that the negative perception on VET had to be addressed through a concerted and common approach. "We can start by establishing common high standards in European VET to provide learners with training of good standard and facilitate mobility and recognition of competences amongst diverse national systems."

The shadow Minister for Education also argued that tackling the negative perception revolving around VET also meant that member states had to cease using VET as a means to depict a decrease in the number of early school leavers by lowering the educational and training component of VET or else pushing learners towards VET from a very young age without ensuring that they gain basic skills. "VET is not the stop plug to early school leaving. It is just one of the measures that may entice early school leavers to return to training but other measures taking place earlier on in a learner´s life are needed."

She stated that VET represents an important tool for re-skilling, widening and upgrading skills within a lifelong learning programme that can facilitate employment.