CESI calls for investment in teachers and public education in Education Package 2040

CESI has submitted its contribution to the European Commission’s consultation on the forthcoming 'Education Package 2040 Roadmap: Quality Education for All'. The initiative is intended to address three interconnected challenges: declining basic skills, teacher shortages and the need for digitally sovereign education infrastructure. The European Commission currently envisages presenting the package in the fourth quarter of 2026.

CESI welcomes these priorities but stresses that educational quality depends first and foremost on well-qualified and adequately supported education professionals, sufficient public investment, inclusive access, professional autonomy and genuine social dialogue. Teachers and their representative trade unions should therefore be involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all strands of the package.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Europe cannot improve educational outcomes without investing in the people who deliver education every day. Addressing basic skills, teacher shortages and digitalisation requires attractive working conditions, sufficient staffing and meaningful involvement of teachers and their trade unions.”

The European Commission identifies a long-term decline in basic skills and growing teacher shortages among the structural challenges facing European education systems. Its planned package is expected to include measures on basic skills and an EU Teachers Agenda aimed at making teaching careers more attractive.

For CESI, these issues cannot be addressed separately. Sustainable improvements in learners’ outcomes require attractive teaching careers, sufficient staffing and supportive learning environments.

EU funding instruments, including Erasmus+ and the European Social Fund Plus, should support teacher education and mobility, staffing, tutoring, inclusive education and modern education infrastructure. Particular attention should be given to disadvantaged, rural, remote and otherwise underserved areas. At the same time, new EU initiatives should avoid creating additional administrative and reporting burdens for schools and education workers.

Measures to reduce underachievement should start early, including through investment in early childhood education and care and early language support. CESI also cautions against reducing basic skills to their immediate labour-market value. Alongside literacy, numeracy, science and digital competences, education should develop citizenship, critical thinking, media literacy, creativity and the capacity to recognise disinformation.

The planned European measures on teaching careers should address the reasons why education systems struggle to recruit and retain qualified professionals.

CESI calls for competitive remuneration comparable to other tertiary-educated professions, secure contracts, stable career prospects, manageable workloads, family-friendly working arrangements and meaningful career progression. Precarious successive fixed-term contracts, including arrangements interrupting pay and social protection during school holidays, should also be addressed.

Occupational health and safety must form an explicit part of the package. This includes preventing burnout and psychosocial risks and addressing violence, harassment, cyberbullying and attacks on teachers’ reputation.

High-quality initial teacher education and career-long professional development are equally necessary. Training should be publicly funded, accessible during paid working time and adapted to classroom realities. Qualification and professional standards should not be lowered as a response to shortages.

CESI also calls for measures reflecting differences across education sectors and territories, from better recognition and career pathways in early childhood education and care to attracting professionals with current occupational experience into vocational education and training, and tackling shortages in STEM, digital and special-needs education.

Digital education forms the third strand of the European Commission’s planned package, which aims to promote secure, accessible and pedagogically sound European digital infrastructure while developing AI literacy and strengthening media literacy, online safety and wellbeing.

CESI supports greater European digital sovereignty in education, provided that digitalisation remains human-centred and pedagogy-driven. Teachers must retain final responsibility for pedagogical decisions, assessment and learner support. AI should not replace teachers, enable intrusive surveillance or impose algorithmic management.

Digital and AI systems used in education should be assessed for accuracy, bias, accessibility, data protection, cybersecurity and educational value. Education workers need appropriate information, consultation and training, as well as effective possibilities to challenge automated outputs.

European digital education infrastructure should be based on open standards, interoperability and portability, while preventing vendor lock-in and complying with EU data protection, cybersecurity, accessibility and AI requirements. CESI also stresses that face-to-face teaching and human interaction remain indispensable: technology should complement rather than replace them.

Stronger cooperation between schools, public authorities, teacher education institutions, universities and other services can help translate research and evidence into educational practice. However, CESI stresses that evidence-informed approaches should reinforce teachers’ professional judgement rather than lead to external control, ranking or standardised interventions.

CESI's full consultation position is available here.

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