Jerzy Wiśniewski, member of ETF Governing Board, was appointed to a high-level expert group on literacy, an independent panel, set up by the European Commission to identify ways of raising literacy levels in the EU. Mr Wiśniewski is a senior official at the Polish Ministry of Education, international education expert and consultant in human resources development. The new panel will be chaired by Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, who is the UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development.

One in five 15-year-olds in Europe, as well as many adults, lack basic reading and writing skills, which makes it harder for them to find a job and puts them at risk of social exclusion. EU ministers have set a target of reducing the share of pupils with difficulties in reading, maths and science to fewer than 15% by 2020. The high-level expert group will analyse scientific evidence and evaluate what policies work best.

‘The launch of this group marks the start of a Europe-wide campaign to address the root causes of low literacy levels,’ said Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. ‘Too many Europeans find themselves locked out of the job market and find it hard to contribute fully to society because they lack basic reading and writing skills. If we want to achieve our Europe 2020 goals for smart and inclusive growth, we must act now to tackle this problem.’

The latest results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a worldwide survey on the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science, show that 20% of them have low reading skills. Even though there was a slight improvement in the past years, greater efforts will be needed if EU countries are to achieve their target of fewer than 15% of low performers in reading, maths and science by 2020.

Reading and writing are essential skills, not least as they are the key to further learning. The EU's plans to raise literacy levels are linked to the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives 'Youth on the Move' and 'Agenda for New Skills and Jobs', which both aim to improve skills levels in Europe through better quality of education and training.


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Commission launches high-level expert group on literacy chaired by Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands - press release

Photo: Jerzy Wiśniewski, member of ETF Governing Board (above); Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, chair of the newly established EU high-level expert group on literacy