School education: European cooperation in quality evaluation. Recommendation

The European Parliament, in its first reading, adopted a resolution drafted by Marieke SANDERSTEN HOLTE (ELDR, Netherlands) amending the proposal for quality evaluation in school education. The major amendments are as follows: -emphasis is laid on ensuring that the initiative includes women and girls and groups that have been excluded in the past. -emphasis is also placed on the use of modern information and communication technologies in exchanging information and good practice. -further details of "quality evaluation" are added, such as the requirement for an inventory of the instruments and strategies for quality evaluation in primary and secondary education already in use in Member states. -associated countries should be allowed to participate in the development of quality evaluation methods; -Parliament emphasised encouraging the involvement of school stakeholders, namely teachers, pupils, management, parents and experts, in the process of external and self-evaluation in schools to promote shared responsibility for the improvement of schools.�