EUROPEAN STUDIES

INTENSIVE PROGRAMME
University of Groningen, the Netherlands

2010
EUROPE BETWEEN EUROPEANIZATION
AND GLOBALISATION

Student Name: F. Osvaldino N. Monteiro

Home University: Deusto University
Sub -theme: Socializing the Global in Europe: Micro-level and Regional
developments
Title of the Paper: Reflecting about Secondary Education within the European
Union in the context of knowledge-based Economy: the challenge of developing
new competences

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 3!
1-INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 4!
2. THE SO-CALLED KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY AND ITS IMPLICATION IN THE
EDUCATIONAL FIELD. ................................................................................................................. 6!

3. COMPETENCE: THE LEARNING PROCESS BY EMPHASIZING THE CAPACITY OF SOLVING

PROBLEMS ................................................................................................................................ 10!

4. SECONDARY EDUCATION: SEARCHING FOR THE STRATEGY TO CONNECT TO THE SOCIETY

.................................................................................................................................................. 12!
5. KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY, NEW COMPETENCES AND SECONDARY EDUCATION:
APPROACHING THE DEBATE WITHIN EUROPEAN UNION CONTEXT. ....................................... 14!

5- BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 21!

6- ANNEX .................................................................................................................................. 23!

Abstract:
The Knowledge-based Economy has been considered in the last decades to be a powerful
economic imaginary. Every region in the world is trying to format its economic policies in a
way that it can allow the full integration of information, technology and knowledge. These are
the new raw materials for the 21st century. In this concern, the European Union has
established, through the Lisbon Strategy (2000-2010) the goal of becoming the most
competitive Knowledge-based Economy in the world. The materialisation of this goal depends
on several social sectors. Among them, education, mainly Secondary Education, plays
unquestionably, a great role. However, Secondary Education in the context of the European
Union faces some obstacles which can impede it from contributing to this process of
promoting a Knowledge-based Economy. The first obstacle is related to the fact that a large
percentage of young workers within the European Union are skilled after lower Secondary
Education due to the fact that a significant percentage of European Union Citizens aged 18-24
years drop out of school early. The second issue refers to the competences that students of
Secondary Education are still developing. I propose that these competences might not be the
ones that are indispensable to integrate positively in the so-called Knowledge-based
Economy.
It is in this context that the present paper will aim to address some issues. The
fundamental objective of this paper is: to reflect about the solution for the above-mentioned
problems. How to adjust the Secondary Educational curriculum in order to face new
challenges imposed by the complex Knowledge-based Economy? Whether, European Union
Member States should harmonise their educational systems or whether the strategy of open
method of coordination is enough.
Key Words:
Knowledge-based Economy, Competences, Secondary Education.

1-Introduction
The task of constructing an understandable analysis focused on the role that education can
play in a given society is directly linked to the perspective elected, that is, the position of
enunciation. The selected standpoint should be objectively presented in order to allow for
comprehension and debate. The fundamental purpose of this paper consists in promoting a
theoretical discussion about the relationship among three main issues: Knowledge-based
Economy (in the context of European Union), new Competences and Secondary Education.
The term Knowledge-based Economy constitutes a hegemonic discourse that has emerged
in the last decades in order to characterize the specificity of the current society where the
economy and social dynamics are linked to technology, information and knowledge.
According to a UNESCO Report 1, this way of understanding the current society is largely
accepted by practically every region in the world. The European Union, the object of the
current theoretical analysis, established as a goal becoming the most competitive Knowledgebased Economy in the world. 2
The so-called Knowledge-based Economy is a part of Knowledge-based Society. Living in
this sort of society implies new ways of understanding the complex social reality that we are
facing. New competences and abilities should be developed. That is, the capacity to realize
theoretical knowledge in a practical way, i.e. what we can do with what we know, is essential.
In fact, developing competences is a learning process. Its might be argued that, the traditional
educational system implies a process of knowledge transference which enables the
construction of an encyclopedic mind. Education today must redraw its proposals and
objectives. Consequently, Secondary Education as a strategical educational sector, should
reformulate its curriculum and its pedagogical way of teaching/learning. This reformulation is
the consequence of the contemporary economic, social and political dynamics.
Supported by the three main elements briefly announced above, the present paper intends
to debate how Secondary Education can be reformulated in terms of general competences in
order to respond to the main demand of the so-called Knowledge-based Economy. What are
the challenges that the European Union is facing in the context of so-called Knowledge-based
Economy? Why does this new sort of complex society imply the centralization of Secondary
Education learning process on competences? Which competences talking about? In which
manner can the current situation of the European Union justify the (re) connection between
1

Jrme Bind, Towards Knowledge Societies (Paris: UNESCO, 2005).

COUNCIL, (2000) Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon European Council (23 and 24 March 2000),
http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm (Accessed, February 2010).

the characteristics of Knowledge-based Economy and Secondary Education? The reflection

about these questions will be done through the analysis of fundamental documents related to
these issues published by the European Union and other institutions such as: the Delors
Rapport (Unesco, 1996); Lisbon Strategy (European Commission, 2000); Improving
Competences for 21st Century: An Agenda for European Cooperation on Schools
(Commission, 2008); Europe 2020, A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
(Commission, 2010); Why Skills are Key for Europes Future (Lisboncouncil, 2010) and
others considered as important.
To finish the presentation of the current papers borders, it might be underlined that even if
in the present reflection the idea of Knowledge-based Economy is primarily related to
economic issues, my position is that its meaning is much more comprehensive than that. It
includes social, political and cultural issues as well. However, the perspective that I will
emphasize is mostly related to the economic issue. I am not reducing the function of
Secondary Education only to an economic concern, however, I can emphasise at the very
beginning that the ambition of European Union to become the most competitive knowledgebased Economy in the world should be accompanied by structural reforms in education,
specifically in Secondary Education.
The paper has the following structure: in the first part some historical background about
the concept of the Knowledge-based Economy will be provided. The objective is to clarify its
principal characteristics and demands, namely in the context of education. The second part of
this paper will be devoted to a discussion about the implication of centralizing the learning
process through competences. The main idea here is to demonstrate that the Knowledge-based
Economy requires new competences and new abilities for facing daily life. For that,
Secondary Education, the third part of the present analysis, should reformulate its curriculum
and pedagogical methods in order to allow for this objective. In the last part of the paper, I
will try to propose a critical approach towards Knowledge-based Economy, Competences
and Secondary Education within the European Union. Here I intend to demonstrate how the
new challenges brought by Knowledge-based Economy are requiring new competences and
how successful the European Union is in promoting these skills in Secondary Education. In
this last part, statistical information will be presented in order to clarify some specific
situations.

2. The so-called Knowledge-based Economy and its implication in the educational field.
The knowledge-based economy provides the most adequate description of current
trends in contemporary economic development, the discourse of the KBE has become
a powerful economic imaginary in the last 20 years. 3
It is largely accepted that the XX century has experienced several technological innovations
as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution process. Alonso-Martnez emphasizes this idea
very clearly when he underlines that in the very beginning of the industrialization process,
the technological innovation was destined to modify the ways of producing, the machines and
the tools, and it has affected, consequently, the process of producing 4 This innovation has
obviously contributed to the quantity and quality of production as well, as to economic
growth. However, due to this fact, it might be argued that some other important and profound
transformations can be invoked such as the new skills that were required of the workers and
also the resources, that is, the raw materials that were needed. New ways of producing and
new sectors of economy emerged.
The spectacular improvement of the new technologies of communication and information
can be considered as an example of these new sectors. Simultaneously, with this rapid
improvement another interesting element that should be pointed out is technologies spread
throughout the entire world. Alonso-Martnez again confirms this statement when he points
out that from 1970 the technology of information and communication has spread to
international scale and it is affecting the production of all material goods and service sectors
as well 5. In fact, these innovative technologies allowed by the Industrial Revolution have
contributed to the emergence of a new economy, which is based on information and
knowledge.
According to Fernandz Sanchidran this deep change that occurred in the economic
production through new technologies has provoked the transition from the Fordist model of
economic production to the Post-Fordist or Post-Industrial model 6. In his point of view, what
is currently named as Post-Industrial Society is directly related to the emergence of new
products, services and technologies. Technology has been considered as a strategical tool for
3

Bob Jessop, introduction to Education and the Knowledge- Based Economy in Europe, by, Bob Jessop, Norman
Fairclough, and Ruth Wodak, eds. (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2008), 2.
4
Carlos Berzosa Alonso-Martnez, Los Desafos de la Economa Mundial en el Siglo XXI.(Madrid: Nivola
Libros, 2002), 34.
5
Ibid.
6
Jos Carlos Fernandz Sanchidran, Sociedad Post Industrial in: Diccionario de Sociologia, ed. Octavio
Ua Jurez and Alfredo Hernndez Snchez (Madrid: ESIC Editoral, 2004), 1348.

improving its quantitative and qualitative production, organization and distribution. In this
new model of economic production, information, knowledge and technologies play key
functions. This situation has contributed to the characterisation of the current society as a
knowledge-based Society, supported by a Knowledge-based Economy; Informational
Society; Technological Society and so on. All these nomenclatures intend to demonstrate
the specificity of this economic system supported basically by the importance that
information, knowledge and technology have acquired in the current ways of economic
production, work organization, relation with the consumers and so on.
Ruperz analyses in a very fascinating way the specificity of the Knowledge-based
Economy. In one hand he states that this specificity can be seen through the intensification of
the relationship between economy and knowledge 7. Concerning this aspect, the author
underlines that more than 50% of GDP 8 of the countries that belong to the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are based in the production and
distribution of knowledge. On the other hand, the same author points out that the
technological sector has largely increased in the last years as a consequence of strong capital
investments on it. Once again, he reinforces his idea by underlining that the expectation about
Investigation, Development and Innovation (I+D+I) is increasing continually. According to
him, these evident transformations in the field of technologies of information and
communication have contributed to the fluidity of knowledge. In sum, then, he agrees that the
singularity of the Knowledge-based Economy is supported by the flexibility of knowledge,
that is, by being aware that the current society is effectively experimenting a new stage where
technologies, information and knowledge are its motor. Therefore, if we are living in a sort of
Knowledge-based Economy, that means that economic production should operate based on
technology and knowledge. Indeed, it is clear that the modus operandi of this sort of economy
is deeply different from its predecessor.
According to Robertson, a notorious teacher at Bristol University, the discourse of
Knowledge-based Economy was firstly used during the sixties in the academic works of the
following authors: Fritz Machlup (1962), Peter Druken (1962) and Daniel Bell (1973) 9. All
these scholars generally agree that the industrial society has been transformed into a

Francisco Lpes Ruperz, Preparar el futuro: la educacin ante los desafos de la globalizacin (Madrid:
Murralla, 2001).
8
Total market value of the goods and services produced by a nations economy during a specific period of time.
9
Bristol University, Producing Knowledge Economies: The Word Bank, The KAM, Education and
Development by Susan Robertson, 2008, http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education
/people/academicStaff/edslr/publications/19SLR/ (Accessed April 2009).

knowledge-based Economy, Post-Capitalist and Post-Industrial. Robertson also underlines

that researche done by Castells 10 has illuminated the idea presented by those referred authors.
Castells states that we are living in a Network Society where information and knowledge are
the main forces of the economy. Due to this fact, the current economy is a sort of
Information-based Economy. Robertson continues her explanation about the genealogy that
she proposes for the expression Knowledge-based Economy emphasizing that the OECD 11,
the organization that includes a significant number of European Union Member States, was
influenced by the debates happening during the sixties and seventies and due to this reason
has adopted the idea of Knowledge-based Economy. 12
Another organization that has adopted the concept of the Knowledge Based Economy is
the World Bank, the most important financial organism in the world. According to Robertson,
this organization has accepted the notion of Knowledge-based Economy in the year 2004
when it launched its first newsletter called Knowledge for Development (K4D). In this
newsletter the institution has clearly established that knowledge and its use constitutes the key
factor to promote economic development.
In the context of the European Union, the European Council of State or Government
established, in March 2000, the goal to become the most competitive and dynamic
Knowledge-based Economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more
and better jobs and greater social cohesion.13 According to Hurbert, this fact could be
understood as the new strategic aim for the European Union. 14 In fact, the Lisbon Strategys
flagship event was based on innovation and creativity. These two elements are the key issues
to promote and develop an economy that is proposing itself to be based on knowledge. Since
this event, the European Union has made the expression Knowledge-based Economy its
motto. Several initiatives were taken in order to materialize this objective. Every strategic

10

His main idea about this issue was developed in his trilogy "The Information Age: Economy, Society, and
Culture" that was published by Blackwell in 1996-98. His works were translated in more than 20 languages.
11
OECD- International organization founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Current
members include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom,
and the United States. Member countries produce two-thirds of the worlds goods and services. Today it is
considered one of the most important Think Tanker in the world. This organization has promoted many
economic and educational reforms.
12
Bristol University, Producing Knowledge Economies: The Word Bank, The KAM, Education and
Development by Susan Robertson.
13
COUNCIL (2000) Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon European Council (23 and 24 March 2000).
http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm (Accessed, February 2010).
14
Hurbert Ertl, European Union Policies in Education and Training: the Lisbon Agenda as a turning point?
Comparative Education 42 (1) (2006): 06.

document and discourse produced adopted this umbrella concept. However, according to
some opinions 15 it might be underlined evident contradictions between the discourses and
practical measures taken in order to execute this ambitious project.
This brief historical approach presented above about the concept of knowledge-based
Economy can demonstrate how this homogenous economic discourse has been produced,
appropriated and transformed into a strategic idea in order to understand the current society
and economic production. Nowadays, some authors and institutions (Berzosa, Castells,
OECD, WB, respectively) accept that we are living in the so-called Knowledge-based
Economy. I have to strongly underline that the triumph of information, knowledge and
technology have contributed to the deep transformations of the ways of economic production.
In sum, the transformation occurred in these three fields allowed the transition of standardised
way of economic production characterized by programmation, control and uniformization, the
so-called Fordist model, into another model characterized mainly by the creative and
adaptable capacities through the use of information, knowledge and technology, normally
called Post Industrial. These transformations have provoked deep changes on the productivity,
market dynamics, worker abilities and other sectors. UNESCO emphasises strongly this
position that:
Today the concept of Knowledge based Society has become an essential framework of
reflection not only for most member countries of the Organization for Economic and
Cooperative Development (OECD) but also for many emerging economies and
developing countries, specifically in East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the
Caribbean, Sub Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and Arab states. 16
In sum, then, I might state that the so-called Knowledge-based Economy has promoted
evident changes in economic ways of production. Supporting and promoting it require
learning new competences. But, which kind of competences should be developed? How can
these new competences be constantly adapted to the rhythm of change that characterizes the
Knowledge-based Economy? What is the role that the Secondary Education system within
the European Union plays in this process? What can be the contributions that Secondary
Education can give in order to materialize the goal of being the most competitive economy in
the world?

15

See for instance: Lisboncouncil, Lisbon Council Policy Brief: EU 2020, Why Skills are Key EU 2020: Why
Skills are Key for Europes Future. Brussels: The Lisbon Council asbl, 2009 by Paul Hofheinz,
http://www.lisboncouncil.net/publication/publication/54-skillseuropesfuture.html, (Accessed, March 2010).
16
Bind, Towards Knowledge Societies, 21.

3. Competence: the learning process by emphasizing the capacity of solving problems

When it comes to the issue of competences17, two key words, ambiguity and polysemy,
characterize the concept 18. However, another unquestionable element constitutes a part of its
conception: the fact that this concept is traditionally linked to the context of training workers
within a given company.
Ambiguity and polysemy are deeply related to the fact that sometimes the several
definitions that are presented are not clear at all and do not coincide in terms of meaning. This
situation can be easily perceived in the field of education, my principal objective of reflection.
Maybe it could be understood as the consequence of the fact that this concept is still quite
new in the referred field. Many educational systems around the world face serious problems
when trying to draw up a kind of educational system based on competences, as such a system
has direct implications in all other sectors that constitute the body of the referred educational
structure. The focus of a given definition depends on several values, its epistemological
understanding and the idiosyncrasy of a given educational system.
For instance, De Ketele, one of the most well known thinkers on this issue, defines
competence as the capacity that one person has to mobilize a set of resources (cognitive,
affective, relational) to carry out one category of task or to solve a set of problem
situations 19. Another prominent research on this issue is Perrenoud. He conceives
competence as the faculty of mobilizing a set of cognitive resources (knowledge, capacity,
information) to solve with pertinence and efficacy a set of situations20. Tardif, an
additional leading thinker on this issue defines competence as knowing how to complexly
act based on the mobilisation and efficient usage of different internal and external resources
within a set of. 21
From these definitions several main ideas should be summarized such as: (i) the concept of
competence involves personal characteristics and attributes; (ii) competences are directly

17

I would like to say that in this reflection I use the terms competence and competences and not competency and
competencies. According to Hyland (1994) quoted by Bryony Hoskins and Ruth Deakin Crick (2010, 123)
competence refers to the holistic understanding of an individuals capacity, such as the competent mechanic or
the competent carer. The term competency alternatively refers to a specific activity.
18
See, for instance, Jean Marie De Ketele, Caminhos para a Avaliao de Competncia, Revista
Portuguesa de Pedagogia, 40 (3), 2006 and Philippe Perrenoud, in interview with Paola Gentile and Roberta
Bencini, 2000, http://www.unige.ch/fapse/SSE/teachers/perrenoud/php_main/php_2000/2000_31.html
(Accessed, May 2008).
19
De Ketele, Caminhos para a Avaliao de Competncia, 138.
20
Perrenoud, in interview with Paola Gentile and Roberta Bencini, 2000.
21
Jacques Tardif, Lvaluation des comptences: Documenter le parcours de dveloppement (Montreal:
Cheneliere Education, 2006), 22.

10

related to the capacity of execution and aim to produce positive results and (iii) the idea that
competence as ability implies a sort of holistic perspectives. In addition, what could be
viewed as further important, inherent element of competence are the ones suggested by
Tardif. According to him, competence has a combinatory character in the way that different
resources support each competence; the developmental character meaning that every
competence evolves during a persons lifespan; and also the evolutionary character meaning
that every competence has the possibility to integrate new resources and new situations
without compromising its own nature22. This paper considers these elements as strategical
when analysing the secondary education and its challenges.
To sum up the key ideas presented and discussed above, it might be underlined that
competences are a set of integrated capacities and abilities that can be mobilised as a critical
and reflected response to a given problematic situation. They are related to the transference of
knowledge into the practical way of life aiming to solve a given situation. It is a way to give a
practical sense of knowledge by solving concrete problems. It is concerned with the fact of
what we can do with what we know.
As I already stated, European Union has established as its strategical goal, becoming the
most competitive Knowledge-based economy in the world. At the same time, the European
Union is aware of the importance of new competences in achieving that goal. Indeed, the
concretization of this objective requires a deep analysis about the ways that can allow this
objective. For instance, the project named Definition and Selection of Competences Project 23
(DeSeCo) considers that key competences should fulfil several conditions such as, its relation
with economic and social objectives; its capacity in producing benefits in diverse sectors of
society, namely the labour market; the role that it plays for all social groups in the society. It
is clear that the current society imposes new challenges to individuals. These challenges are
mainly characterised by the complexity of life. This situation requires a kind of continuous
reformulation of individual competences in order to be able to adapt to this permanent rhythm
of change. This capacity and ability to adapt to the uncertain rhythm of social dynamics can

22

Ibid, 26.
DeSeCo: Project which provides a framework that guides the longer-term extension of PISA assessments into
new competency domains. PISA is a program launched by OECD member countries in 1997, with the aim of
monitoring the extent to which students near the end of compulsory schooling have acquired the knowledge and
skills essential for full participation in society. The 8 competences are: Communication in the mother tongue;
Communication in foreign languages; Mathematical competence and basic competences in Science and
Technology; Digital competence; Sense of initiative; Social and Civil Competence; Cultural awareness and
expression. For more information see: http://www.oecd.org/document/17/0,
3343,en_2649_39263238_2669073_1_1_1_1,00.html.

23

11

be considered as one of the key competences important to the well-being of individual

citizens as well to social cohesion and the development of the economy. 24
Education is normally appointed as a strategical sector to materialize such an objective.
The European Union recognizes this fact clearly when it states that the trend in the school
curriculum is to help learners acquire knowledge and the skills and attitudes necessary to
apply in the life situations. 25 One point should be underlined in this concern. Becoming the
most competitive Knowledge-based Economy in the world is not only the task of introducing
new technologies in the school and all the structures that support it. I maintain my position
that new competences should be developed through the curriculum of Secondary Education.
That is, this level of education should be reorganized in order to prepare its students to
interpret the complexity of the current society.

4. Secondary Education: searching for the strategy to connect to the society

It is precisely Secondary Education, which provides pupils with an all-around
education, which touches the conscience and addresses the meaning of knowledge. 26
Elitism and selectivity are the two main elements that I can extract from the initial history of
Secondary Education in Europe or maybe in the entire world27. However, the end of the
Second War World in Europe can be understood as a turning point in that after this dramatic
fact, several measures were taken in order to promote its availability to the large sectors of the
society, for instance, the exam to select the ideal clientele that normally is accepted into this
level of education. Some significant international organizations such as UNESCO and OECD
played a great role in the promotion of this exam.
In contrast to the idea of ideal clientele, the principle of merit and ability as well the
change of the curriculum gradually became the core characteristics of Secondary Education.
As Benavot points out, these measures taken might not be understood only as the
consequence of an educational reform but also as the direct outcome of the social, political
and economic dynamics that Europe (mainly Western Europe) has experimented after the
24

Jean Gordon et al., Key Competences in Europe: Opening Doors for Lifelong Learners Across the School
Curriculum and Teacher Education (Warsaw: CASE, 2009),11.
25
COMMISSION, Improving Competences for the 21st Century: An Agenda for European Cooperation on
Schools (European Union: Brussels, 2008), 5.
26
Roger-Franois Gauthier, The Content of Secondary Education Around the World: Present Position and
Strategic Choices (Paris: UNESCO, 2006), 18.
27
See for instance: Donald B. Holssing, Positioning Secondary School Education in developing countries (IIEP:
Paris, 2000) and Susan L. Mitz, History of Secondary Education in, Encyclopedia of Education,cood. James
W. Guthrie (USA: Thomson Gale, 2003).

12

referred period 28. This approach is unquestionably important to understand the educational
dynamics nowadays. It simply means that the development of educational issues could be not
understood only as the consequence of measures taken in the field of education. Other social
agents and interests play an unquestionable role in the educational change.
Several studies have underlined Secondary Educations inadequacy to the society, for
instance, to the labour market. Delors Report noted that Secondary Education has a deficient
connection with the society and for that it has been incapable of preparing young people to
the tertiary education and the labour market. At the same time he highlights that the
Secondary Education gives less importance to the development of the attitudes and values and
for that he underlines the importance of the referred level of education in promoting the
process of building up a comprehensive and democratic society underpinned by the four
pillars that he proposes. He concludes his analysis of Secondary Education, saying that its
contents are not so pertinent at all.29
According to the WB in the context of developed countries, the main issue regarding
Secondary Education is the fact that the productive sector of the society, that is, industry and
services, is claiming that Secondary Education must bet in the development of basic and
essential competences and abilities in order to promote the competitiveness of the current
world. They, for instance, underline the so-called non-cognitive competences such as
creativity, spontaneity, flexibility and entrepreneurship. 30 The issue is combating the
disarticulation between Secondary Education and the vision of development, that is, the
economic project. Therefore, what is important to stress here is the continuous necessity of
articulation between the goals that Secondary Education intends to materialize, according to
its social mission, and the project of development that the same society draws for its citizens.
However, it is clear that these two processes are always changing and they are interdependent.
In spite of the contrarieties mentioned above in the framework of Secondary Education
trajectory within Europe, it is normally accepted as a strategical element to promote economic
and social development. In fact, according to what I have already stated before, the WB and
the OEDC bring together the direct relationship between Secondary Education and the
economic overcome of a given country. This direct relationship is made due to the fact that
28

Aaron Benavot, The Diversity of Secundary Education: Educational Curriculum in Comparative

Perspective, Profesorado, Revista de Curriculum y Formacin, 10 (1), 2006.
29
Jacques Delors, Educao um Tesouro a Descobrir, (Porto: UNESCO/ASA, 1997), 134-135.
30
World Bank, Expanding Opportunities and Building Competences for Young People: An Agenda for
Secondary Education (Washington: World Bank, 2005).

13

Secondary Education, through the competences and abilities that it can develop in students,
allows them to integrate positively in the labour market and improve their participation in the
society.
Nowadays, the rhythm of economic development, as I referred to in the first part of this
paper, is requiring new competences and abilities. Countries/regions such as Denmark, New
Zealand, Hong Kong are giving priority in its Secondary Education curriculum to a of new
competences such as: the ability of critical, creative, reflexive and logical thinking; improving
the imagination; initiative and flexibility; the capacity of identifying, describing and
redefining problems; the capacity to analyse the problems from different perspectives: the
capacity to establish connections and relations among the problems; the capacity to
investigate, to explore, to generate and develop new ideas. 31
As I can see through this example, the main task has been focused in the process of
developing complex thinking and learning. In fact, as I stated when talking about
competences these are the main characteristics of it. This is the new challenge that Secondary
Education should be able to answer. Living in a complex world implies automatically the
development of tools that can enable its understanding. This is not only related to the problem
of developing competences to respond in a better way to the economic context. The
Knowledge-based Economy should not be understood only in this way. It is a complex
reality. Social relations, economic relations, political relations are more complex than ever.
Accordingly, the abilities and competences to their understanding should be developed in a
complex way. Secondary Educational programmes should be drawn having in account this
complexity. That does not mean that we are centralizing the students learning process or the
process of developing competences only on an economic basis. In fact, as Perrenoud stated,
even if we are doing so, economic competences are also important to promote the
concretization of the main objectives of human being.

5. Knowledge-based Economy, new Competences and Secondary Education:

approaching the debate within European Union context.
The future of Europe was to be constructed by a shift from objective to constructed
knowledge; from an industrial to a learning society; from instruction to personal

31

See, Adriaan M. Vesper and SEIA (Secondary Education in Africa) Team, At the Crossroads: choices for
Secondary Education in Sub-Sahara Africa (Washington: WB, 2008), 179.

14

learning; and from formal educational institutions towards new organizational structures
for learning. 32
If I go back to the previous parts of the present paper, I will find several questions presented
but not answered. From my current position, I dont intend to answer them completely in
terms of giving closed answers. My intention is to try to bring together some reflections about
them in a way that they can help me clarify my principal statement. However, all these
questions stated out can be summarized in the following one: Why do I consider that
Secondary Education needs to develop new competences in order to foster the main goal of
European Union that is becoming the most competitive Knowledge based Economy in the
world?
I am not stating that this function belongs only to Secondary Education. I also know that a
recent rapport published by OECD demonstrates that tertiary education has a close
relationship between education and Knowledge-based Economy in the way that it promotes a
higher level of creativity and innovation, main characteristics of this kind of economy. What I
am trying to demonstrate is that, if the European Union is proposing to become the most
competitive Knowledge-based Economy in the world several issues related to Secondary
Education should be taken into account. 33
Firstly, it might seem contradictory that, according to the data presented in annex 1; 14,9
percent of the population aged 18-24 years within European Union (27 countries) leave
Secondary Education early and do not attend training programmes. It seems contradictory
because this important low skilled part of population contradicts the idea of transforming
European Union as a model of Knowledge-based Economy. That is, the level of learning that
this significant part of population has when they leave Secondary Education is not adequate to
integrate itself in a sort of society where competitiveness, creativity, and the capacity of
adapting in this world of uncertainty are, at least, the basic competences that are required. The
Knowledge-based Economy is, in my opinion, incompatible with the low skilled population.
What I am advocating is that the lower Secondary Education level, that is significant
according to the annex 1, can represent a great obstacle to the triumph of the so-called
Knowledge-based Economy. What are the risks that this high level of incomplete secondary
school poses to the ambition of the EU in becoming a space of Knowledge-based Economy?
32

Sotiria Grek and Martin Lawn, Europeanising Education: Fabricating a System for Governing? (ESRC/ESF
Research Project on Fabricating Quality in Education, work paper 1, University of Edinburgh:w/d), 3, (2007):
03.
33
See for instance: OECD, Education at Glance (Paris, OECD 2009).

15

The second element that I can notice is the fact that a significant part of workers within the
European Union is skilled with lower Secondary Education. What is the significance of this
fact? Does it mean that the abilities and competences that these workers have are not still
deteriorating or that these workers were employed because of the positive economic growth
happened in European Union in the last decades? I strongly agree with the last part of the
question because when the problem starts, that is, in the context of economic difficulties and
crises such as the one that European Union is facing now, those low skilled workers are the
ones who face unemployment. The annex 2 clarifies this situation. That is, unemployment has
a stronger effect on people with a low level of education.
According to the Council, some researches have demonstrated that low-skilled workers are
the ones that are less interested in getting involved in training programmes in the context of
lifelong learning. 34 Indeed, the simplest example that can be taken by the referred table is that
the less skilled people are the ones that dont have the abilities and competences to adapt to
the new conjunctures. The Council of the European Union is clear in this aspect when it states
that future labour markets in a Knowledge-based Economy will demand even higher skill
levels from a shrinking work force. Low skill will become an over great challenge35 The
flexibility of their competences is weak. As I stated when I talked about Knowledge-based
Economy, new challenges imposed by technology, information and knowledge require this
capacity of continuous adaptation to new contexts. That is, the traditional systems must be
transformed to become much more open and flexible. 36
So, what are the new competences that the EU is promoting in order to materialize the goal
of becoming the most competitive Knowledge-based Economy in the world and to which
extent does the goal affect Secondary Education? If I want to sum up the strategical
competences presented by the EU in its several statements I would like to underline the
following ones: the capacity to solve practical situations and problems; the capacity to analyse
and intervene in complex realities; the capacity to generate their own process of learning; the
capacity of creativity, imagination and innovation; the capacity to participate actively in the
society; the literacy and numeracy competences. From the competences mentioned the
consequent question that obviously comes to my mind is, how to configure the Secondary
Education in order to develop these competences. Is the traditional structure of Secondary
34

COUNCIL, Delivering Lifelong Learning for Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation (Brussels, 2008), 2,
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/natreport08/council_en.pdf, (Accessed, March 2010).
35
Ibid.
36
EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality (Brussels, 2001), 4,
COM (2001) 678, http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/MitteilungEng.pdf (Accessed, March 2010).

16

Education in terms of contents, learning process, and teacher training able to find answer to
these competences? I am not sure about it. What I strongly think is that if Secondary
Education still plays an important role in the process of preparing the European Union
workers, according to what we can see through the annex 1, the competences that it allows
should be redefined in order to manage the process of building up the most competitive
Knowledge-based Economy. The European Commission is clear in this concern when it states
that, people, their knowledge and competences are the key to Europes future. 37
I am conscious that basic competences such as literacy and numeracy are still needed as
well as the 8 key competences presented by DeSeCo. However, the complexity and the
challenges of the world and European Union, requires as I already argued, the capacity of
analyzing and intervening in these complex realities. Thus, the learning process in Secondary
Education should be materialised through a pedagogical context that can develop these
competences. That is, the ability in conceiving the reality as a complex one and also the
ability in mobilising several cognitive, intellectual, emotional and environmental resources in
order to solve problematic situations. However, these competences should be developed
taking into account the characteristics of the concept competence such as the ones provided
by De Ketele, Perrenoud and Tardif: its integrated, combinatory, developmental, contextual
and evolutionary characters; its personal characteristics and attributes; its relation with the
capacity of execution and production of positive answers and its holistic perspectives.
Consequently, Secondary Education should be guided by these elements. The traditional
configuration of Secondary Education does not allow these requirements. For that, the
learning process should be drawn in a way that students can experiment and exercise deeply
and continually the current complexity of the learning process shaped by new economic
challenges and centralised in competences. The spirit of continuous necessity of learning
should be developed. The capacity of creativity, imagination and innovation should be
intrinsic to the whole process of teaching/learning in secondary school in order to face
problematical situations.
European Union member states have been doing serious investments in reformulating
educational systems and including new technologies in the learning process as a way to
promote better preparation of the students. What I can advocate for is that introducing new
technologies in school does not mean that it is enough to prepare the students to future
challenges. We need to help the students understand what is behind these technologies and

37

Ibid.

17

why they are important to the present and future conjunctures and how to use them as a tool
to improve their competences. As Hofheinz says we must help people learn to think
creatively- and to respond flexibly- to a global market place where speed and innovation are
as important as technical prowess. 38

The competences presented above should be

transversely integrated in the Secondary Education. They should be implemented as

operational competences that can help the students to (re) interpret the complexity of the
current society and economic system. The model of promoting the learning process of
Secondary Education through competences constitutes the main strategy of preparing students
to solve problematic situations in the context of the Knowledge-based Society.
I understand that the integration of key competences for 21st century in a learning context
should not restricted to as economic imposition to the education system. But it is through
education that we would empower its students, they are normally young people. That means
that specific knowledge about this singular group of population should be integrated when
politicians are drawing up the educational programmes. Young people constitute one of the
key issues in the context of the European Union. On the one hand, they are the most
vulnerable in cases of crises as I have demonstrated. On the other hand, they represent the
future of the European Union due to the fact of the dramatic ageing of the European
population. The solution can be their empowerment. As the Commission states:
Empowering young people and creating favourable conditions for them to develop their
skills, to work and to participate actively in society is essential for the sound economic
and social development of the European Union, particularly in the context of
globalisation, knowledge-based economies and ageing societies where it is crucial that
every young person is given the possibility to fulfil his or her potential. 39
Thinking about the future of European Union, Hofheinz formulates an interesting question
that I would like to underline here. He asks, What are the skills that Europe needs?
According to him:
Judging from market signals, the most important skills today seem to be not so much
the basic cognitive skills that made people successful in a linear mass-production,
manufacturing-driven economy (). Instead, the most important skills would seem to
be the ability to formulate complex solutions to new and unforeseen problems and the
capacity to learn new and different skills throughout a life time. 40

38

Hofheinz, Lisbon Council Policy Brief: EU 2020, Why Skills are Key EU 2020: Why Skills are Key for
Europes Future, 4.
39
COMISSION, Promoting young people's full participation in education, employment and society (Brussels,
2007), 2, COM (2007) 498, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2007/com2007_0498en01.pdf
(Accessed, March 2010).
40
Hofheinz, Lisbon Council Policy Brief: EU 2020, Why Skills are Key EU 2020: Why Skills are Key for
Europes Future, 13.

18

What he intends to say is that the structural skill that European citizens need in order to foster
the building up process of Knowledge-based Economy, is the one that allows them to go out
and learn more. That is, to be able to generate their own process of learning due to the
complexity of new competences and social dynamic imposition. This is also a question of
competences because as I already stated they have developmental characteristics that enable
lifelong development.
The European Union Commission is also aware of this situation. For instance, the
document, EUROPE 2020: A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
presents as one of its flagships the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs". This flagship is
considered a priority which intends to modernise labour markets and empower people by
developing their skills throughout the lifecycle. 41 Once again, the issue of competences
comes into debate. However, the document also analyses the goal of building up a society
based on social cohesion and innovation. This is also the goal of a Knowledge-based
Economy and contradictorily it is facing some obstacles. For instance, the same document
underlines that a quarter of all pupils have poor reading competences, one in seven young
people leave education and training too early. Around 50% reach medium qualifications level
but this often fails to match labour market needs.42 As I can see, the problems are
accumulating due to the fact that traditional competences are still weak, let alone the new
ones that I described above which are indispensable to integrate actively a Knowledge-based
Economy. Secondary Education has to fulfil its responsibility. That is, it has to prepare its
students to live in the so-called knowledge-based society, and to work in the context of
Knowledge-based Economy. It has to promote innovative competences, to promote the
practical use and understanding of technologies, information and knowledge, and to engage in
further learning activities in order to prepare its students for a world in speed and deep change
where creativity and flexibility are strongly needed. The wealth and prosperity of the socalled Knowledge-based Economy are directly linked to the peoples creative capacity in
order to be more competitive, to interpret and understand the signals coming from the market
and to be able to change or develop new competences when the conjunctural context requires
so. Having in mind the significance of Secondary Education in European Union context, I
think that it should follow these patterns.

41

COMMISSION, EUROPE 2020: A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive growth (Brussels, 2010), 3,
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/pdf/complet_en.pdf (Accessed: March 2010).
42
Ibid.

19

The last section will be directed towards an idea that I consider to constitute a global scene
from where I try to elaborate my reflection. It is the fact that when I talk about Secondary
Education within the European Union, I am indirectly admitting the necessity of a sort of
harmonisation among Secondary Education policies of Member States. That is, I am
emphasising one aspect that has not been seriously included in the process of political and
economic integration of European Union. In fact, the issue of education has only been
included more strongly in the agenda of European Union in the last decades with more
emphasis on tertiary education. What I would like to argue is that the current financial crisis
can demonstrate the necessity of better coordination of educational policies in order to combat
unemployment and promote creativity and innovation. Different educational systems produce
visible disequilibrium among the European Union Member States because the citizens are
differentially prepared and equipped to face situations such as economic crises. That is, they
have different skills and competences.
Obviously, when it comes to the point of harmonisation of educational systems among
European Union member states, I can also talk about the Europeanization process in the
current conjuncture promoted from educational issue. For that, I consider that the method of
open coordination that nowadays leads the education within EU member states is not enough.
I might state that maybe what EU needs is not only one space of high education but overall a
space of education with its specificities and diversities. It may be a new challenge to
European Union integration. However, I strongly think that education can be a strategical
triumph to promote the well-known absence of citizen participation in the EU affairs. In this
concrete case, Delantys position can be a sort of prospective one. He argues that Europe
(European leaders), need to think about new strategies to promote the effective participation
of citizens. For us, education can be a strategic sector.43 However, particularly in the field of
Secondary Education, new competences should be developed. This is a direct consequence of
the economic dynamics. The capacity to face the problematical situations with several tools
depends on the strategies used in the teaching/learning process. Here I underline, once again,
the main transversal competences presented above. The harmony among educational systems
of the European Union Member States should be reinforced.

43

Gerard Delanty, The Idea of a Cosmopolitan Europe: On the Cultural Significance of Europeanization.
International Review of Sociology /Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 15 (3) (2005).

20

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Bristol University. Producing Knowledge Economies: The Word Bank, The KAM,
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en/com/2007/com2007_0498en01.pdf (Accessed, March 2010).
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___________. (2000) Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon European Council (23 and 24
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(Accessed, February 2010).
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David; Putkiewicz. Elzbieta; Wishieweski, Jerzy. Key Competences in Europe: Opening
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Grek, Sotiria; Lawn, Martin. Europeanising Education: Fabricating a System for
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22

6- Annex

Annex 1- Annex 1- Percentage of the population aged 18-24 with at most lower secondary education and not in
further education or training

geo\time
1997
European Union (27 countries)
:
Denmark
10,7
Germany (including ex-GDR fro 12,9
Greece
19,9
Netherlands
16
Portugal
40,6
Finland
8,1
Sweden
6,8
United Kingdom
:

1998

1999

2000

2001

:
9,8
:
20,7
15,5
46,6 (b)
7,9
:
:

:
11,5
14,9
18,6
16,2
44,9
9,9
6,9
19,8 (b)

17,6 (e)
11,7
14,6
18,2
15,4
43,6 (p)
9 (i)
7,3
18,2

17,2
9,2
12,3
17,1
15,1
44,2
9,5
10,2
17,8

(e)

(p)
(i)
(b)

2002

2003

17
9
12,5
16,5
15,3
45 (p)
9,7 (i)
10
17,6

16,6
10,4
12,8
16
14,3
41,2
10,1
9,2
12,1

(b)
(b)
(i)
(b)
(b)
(p)
(i)
(b)
(b)

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

16,1
8,8
12,1
14,7
14,1
39,4 (p)
10 (i)
9,2
12,1 (i)

15,8
8,7
13,5 (b)
13,6
13,5
38,8 (p)
10,3 (i)
10,8 (b)
11,6

15,5
9,1
13,6
15,5
12,6
39,1 (p)
9,7 (i)
12,4 (p)
11,3

15,1
12,5 (b)
12,5
14,6
11,7
36,9 (p)
9,1 (i)
11,4 (p)
16,6 (b)

14,9
11,5
11,8
14,8
11,4
35,4 (p)
9,8 (i)
11,1 (p)
17

:=Not available e=Estimated value b=Break in series i=See explanatory text p=Provisional value u=Unreliable or uncertain data
Footnotes...:
Source of Data::
Eurostat
Last update:
19.11.2009
Date of extraction:
04 Apr 2010 15:06:03 MEST
Hyperlink to the table:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=0&language=en&pcode=tsisc060
General Disclaimer of the EC: http://europa.eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en.htm
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/Annexes/lfsi_edu_a_esms_an2.pdf

Annex 2- Employment rate, by highest level of education attained - Upper secondary and post-secondary (not
tertiary education)

24

Annex 3- Total Public Expenditure on Education (2004)

Source: Eurostat

25