Tackling the issue of early school leaving

The percentage of early school leavers in the EU currently stands at 14.4%. Research commissioned by the Commission has shown that school drop-outs are more likely to come from families where the parents are low-qualified or have low-skilled jobs.

There is also a discrepancy between rural and urban areas and between different ethnic groups, and boys are more likely to drop out of school than girls are.

The EU failed to lower the rate of school drop-outs to less than 10% in 2009, but is now intent on achieving this by 2020.

The Greens believe that the school drop-out rate can be reduced by more effectively interconnecting different systems of education, since some forms of partnership between schools and enterprises can prove useful.

In particular, the Greens welcomed the report's social observation that school drop-outs are a shared responsibility of all the actors involved.

Personalised support seems the most effective way of preventing youngsters from dropping out of education.

We believe that the EU should go as far as its legal competences will allow it to incentivise Member States to take effective measures.

By and large the Greens were satisfied with the report presented by the S&D rapporteur, but tabled an amendment emphasising the importance of providing youngsters with a guarantee facilitating their integration into professional life.

This amendment was approved by a majority in Parliament.

Overall, the Greens were satisfied with the result of the negotiations.

Since education and culture are largely national competences and the EU only serves as a facilitator between the Member States, conflict over issues in these domains is rare.