Access to education and training for all continues to improve in Europe as a whole. However, ensuring quality mainstream education and training for all remains a challenge for many countries, and a significant educational gap persists. Inequality is increasing and has a negative impact on learning outcomes. There is strong evidence that educational inequalities and students’ socio-economic background are linked. Students from poorer households are three times more likely to perform worse than their wealthier counterparts, and students of migrant background are more than twice as likely to be low achievers as other students.
Although the EU average of early school leavers from education and training decreased since 2008, in some EU countries the number of early dropouts increased.
This call addresses the contribution of education to social inclusion and common values against the background outlined above.