QUEST answer to the European Education Interim Evaluation

The European Education Area today

While we welcome the holistic perspective of education the EU has adopted throughout the European Education Area, as well as the spaces created for good practices exchanges at the EU level, we believe more should be done towards the national implementation of the European Education Area. Indeed, Education remains threatened by budget cuts, depending on EU political agendas and the ongoing geopolitical context. More should be done to promote education as the backbone of all EU objectives, in the long-term and across sectors. Additionally, children’s concrete participation in the implementation of the EEA remains scarce, both at EU and national levels, with children retaining the position of beneficiaries (of EU policies, actions, projects, research and activities) rather than contributors. This represents a lost learning opportunity for children and may cause incoherences in EU policies, falling from asking children’s perceptions and needs to the concerned population.