30 years, 30+ stories: a young education programme in the Eastern Partnership region already celebrates a 30th

"I am joyful it is now a reality, as it represents a crucial step towards high-impact reforms. By working at the level of system reforms, rather than projects, we can achieve a much greater impact,” said Christophe Masson, Inclusive Societies Team Leader in the European Commission's Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), at the launch of the ETF-implemented programme "Supporting education reforms and skills in the Eastern Partnership region" in Turin, Italy, on 29 May. 

Less than half a year later, Masson reiterated the ambitions of the initiative as the ETF joined the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Erasmus+ National Office in Moldova, from 19 to 20 November. The events marked a milestone for the famous European programme in the country, but also pointed the way forward: ETF’s Marie Dorleans and Timo Kuusela presented the preliminary key findings and recommendations of the Rapid Education Diagnosis (RED) carried out by the ETF as one of the three pillars of the programme, along with capacity-building development and training and peer-learning at regional level.

The RED study is designed to highlight the state of play and priorities for education reform in the Republic of Moldova to an audience of education experts and representatives from across the country, including the Minister of Education and Research, Dan Perciun, with whom an ETF team received detailed feedback during a meeting at the Ministry the day before the presentation. Perciun emphasised the importance of receiving next year the final version of the in-depth report, the evidence and data of which can shape future actions in reform and donor funding in the education sector in Moldova.

A similar presentation is planned with the Ministry of the Republic of Armenia early next year, and initial activities have already been discussed with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine - the other countries in the initiative. The three-year (2024-2026) €2.5 million programme will examine key areas of reform in the five participating countries and identify areas where the EU could provide financial support to improve relevance, quality and inclusiveness of the education systems.

Delegations from all countries met for the first time in Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia, last September to compare their own reform experiences with the education systems of EU member states in a series of workshops and field visits aimed at brainstorming challenges and solutions in the rapidly evolving landscape of the teaching profession.

These workshops were a crucial stop for peer learning at all levels. Iwona Ganko, ETF expert and co-coordinator of the programme with Kuusela, had already underlined the importance of collaboration for the success of the initiative: "In creating this programme, we started to rethink and work hand in hand to make it happen. We really believe it can make a difference in countries. It's not only about sharing experiences from EU Member States like France, Poland and Finland, but also about learning from each other within the region. We need to understand what is happening on the ground if we are to design the reforms effectively and support our stakeholders in the implementation.” 

Delegates from the partner countries began to recognise the existence of shared challenges, including rural-urban disparities in education, obstacles to the teaching profession and the potential benefit of modernising vocational education to make it more appealing to students. "We have much in common with some countries participating in the programme, and it would undoubtedly be advantageous for us to further strengthen our partnership with countries like Moldova," said Roman Shyyan, Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Participants observed that initiatives such as the Eastern Partnership education programme have the potential to cultivate a shared platform for ideas and inspiration, complemented by the adoption of the most effective international practices observed in the EU. "What we found interesting in Finland and Estonia is the high level of trust and independence the system gives to teachers, a feature we should certainly improve in Georgia," says Ekaterine Dgebaudze, Director of the School of Europe in Tbilisi. "And the cooperation within the Erasmus+ network with these countries is certainly very important for this goal."

"Cooperation through projects such as the Eastern Partnership education programme is extremely important for our country. By carrying out joint activities we learn how to face different challenges, we are in line with EU policies, we better understand the instruments," said Galina Rusu, State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Research. 

This week's events showcased how much the preliminary findings of the aforementioned RED, the ETF's sector-wide analysis based on three thematic dimensions (inequalities, funding and governance), could help the Moldovan authorities on their reform path, as confirmed by Minister Perciun. Certainly, this engagement between all stakeholders - ministries, educational institutions and civil society - is of paramount importance in each country of the programme.

Overall, through this rapid diagnostic analysis, the programme aims to improve the governance of national education systems at all levels, from pre-primary to tertiary, including vocational and adult education, along with strengthening capacity in evidence-based planning, monitoring and management of the education system. A complementary and cross-cutting objective is also to inform the EU on priority needs and issues for policy dialogue and funding support to these countries in the education sector.

"Last night we had a very good exchange with the Minister, which paved the way for further actions in Moldova. It's very important considering that we came for the first time in February and already now we have something tangible with in-depth data which could be useful for the policymakers," says Kuusela. "We look forward to doing the same in the other countries in the programme soon”.