Pre-school education: services in the 27 EU member states”Early Childhood Education and Care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow”: that’s the title of the Communication (set of proposals) that the European Commission has published in recent days with the aim of promoting “universal access to pre-school education” in member states. The Executive has for the first time indicated an “action plan aimed at ensuring that each child has better prospects and at laying the foundations for effective ongoing learning, social integration, personal development and employability later on in life”. The data proposed in support of the project – which will be submitted to the scrutiny of the 27 ministers of education in May – suggest that there is one child aged less than six in one European family out of eight, and that “19 million children, i.e. one in five, are exposed to the risk of poverty”. Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, has stressed: “Investing in early education and care is one of the best investments we can make for our children – and for Europe’s future. Investing in quality pre-school education is much more effective than intervening later. It gives our youngsters a better chance in life and actually saves money in the long run” (lower costs for the taxpayer for health and hospital services, remedial schooling, welfare and policing). The Commission’s proposals for boosting pre-school education have spelt out a series of objectives: “universal access to quality pre-school education, based on stable funding and good governance”; “an integrated approach to education and care; taking account of children’s needs in a holistic way”; “age-appropriate curricula with the right balance of hard and soft skills”; “more focus on the professionalization of staff with appropriate qualifications, salaries and working conditions”; and “quality assurance systems and standards to monitor progress”. “Compulsory education starts at the age of 5 or 6 in most Member States – explains a press release of the Commission – though even earlier in some countries such as Cyprus or Luxembourg. Yet, “the level of services provided for young children up to the age of compulsory education varies considerably across Europe in terms of funding, governance and staffing policies”, the press release continues. Culture: EU funds for contemporary artTwo days to discuss current and future funding policies in the field of art: on 15-16 February some 600 delegates – including politicians, scholars, artists, cultural promoters and academics – from all over Europe met in Brussels, at the invitation of the Commission, for a conference on “Culture in movement”. The conference provided an opportunity to review the situation of EU investments aimed at supporting hundreds of events, exhibitions, and artistic productions in the 27 member states. In the period 2007-2013, in fact, the EU will allocate to this end some 400 million euro, thus “contributing – says a press release – to disseminate numerous works of art, and present European citizens with a wide range of artistic expressions from all over the continent”. “Imagine 2020 – Art and climate change” is one of these projects, aimed at “funding artists who tackle the theme of climate change in their works”. The project is being run by associations present in Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Portugal, Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia. The “Festival of Lyric Art in Aix-en-Provence” on the other hand is an annual event that has received EU funding for the new compositions and productions it presents. “European media art network”, run by institutions based in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Bulgaria, “has helped 16 young artists in the media sector to produce experimental films, as well as audio works and creations on the computer”. An event for the presentation of these works attracted 11,000 visitors. “Diversidad urban forum – Music without frontiers” is another EU-funded project: it is dedicated to urban art and brings together organizations in Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Spain and France. “A four-day festival of hip hop music organized in 2009 as part of this project saw the participation of 60,000 spectators. An album produced by various artists of hip hop music was born from the project”. Other works are now underway “for the creation of a digital platform for music, a tour dedicated to urban art and an exhibition of graffiti”. Each year the Union also funds the translation into other languages of hundreds of books written by European authors, cultural festivals, initiatives in “European capitals of culture”, and prizes for contemporary architecture. Other EU funds also help to promote the “European cultural heritage” and literature.
