Back and Forth? 30 Years of Europeanization of the Education and Training Policy within the Public Policy Complex (1995-2025): A Critical Overview and the State-of-Play Policy Analysis

The paper aims to analyze the long process of the Europeanization of the Education and Training Policy, since 1995, following the publication of the European Commissions’ White Paper entitled “Teaching and Learning: Towards the Learning Society.†After briefly sketching the historical background, considering that prior to 1992 the EC had no legislative power in education, the paper focuses on the development of the European education policy within the EU Lisbon Strategy (20002010). It emphasizes the political agenda underpinning “Ε Τ2010†Work Programme of the Lisbon Strategy, while also shedding light on the gradual over-determination of the European education policy by the Macro-economic Agenda, during that decade. The paper further proceeds in analyzing the EU policy on education and training within the framework of the EU2020 Strategy (2010-2020), as well as in the context of the interconnection between policy tools (within the OMC) and the political content (as mainly embedded in the benchmarks and the key indicators) of the EU education policy with the transformations in the labour market and the financial crisis repercussions. Last but not least, the ongoing developments and the new benchmarks and policy priorities of the strategic framework for the European cooperation in Education and Training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030) are also examined, considering the impact of the Permacrisis and the Mega-Trends. The paper concludes with a critical review of the whole process of the Europeanization of the Education and Training Policy, as well as of its evolving relation to the public policy complex.