Tallinn: The Education and Skills package that the European Commission launched on 5 November 2026 asks governments to reverse falling pupil results and a shrinking teaching workforce. Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu presented the plan, which rests on two proposed Council Recommendations, one on basic skills and one on the attractiveness of the teaching profession.
Figures from the 2025 round of the PISA tests explain the urgency. Across the Union, 33.9 percent of 15-year-olds fail to reach a sufficient standard in mathematics, 31.3 percent in reading and 25.9 percent in science, according to the Commission’s analysis. Only 6.8 percent reach the top level in mathematics, 6.4 percent in science and 4.8 percent in reading. Mînzatu argued that education must become a top political priority in every capital.
The Education and Skills package sets four priorities: basic skills, digital and artificial intelligence tools in classrooms, the teaching profession, and vocational education and training. The basic skills recommendation calls for reform and investment in reading, mathematics, science and digital literacy, with more autonomy for schools and teachers and stronger use of evidence. The teaching recommendation, described as an EU Teachers Agenda, targets careers, working conditions, initial training and professional development, and it gives teachers more say over how they use artificial intelligence.
Several concrete instruments in the Education and Skills package follow. From 2027 the Commission wants European School Alliances, and its ambition is to create 100 new alliances a year under the next long-term budget, each with a measurable plan to lift pupils in at least one basic skill. A network of advisory and support services will also start in 2027, including 30 regional services backed by Erasmus+. The Commission plans a pilot of an AI Literacy Certificate from the 2027/28 school year, and it intends to propose a Healthy Screens Pledge to limit distraction from devices. Teacher Academies 2.0 round out the school side of the plan.
Vocational training gets its own track. The Education and Skills package announces a European Sectoral Training Accelerator, with a pilot from 2027 that offers short training modules designed with industry partners, and an EU mobility marketplace for vocational learners. Partnerships for new training centres are planned from 2028. A new vocational strategy accompanies these measures, although its detailed timetable has not been published in the material released so far.
The limits of the Education and Skills package are just as clear. Council Recommendations are not binding, so each government decides how far to follow them. The announcement gives no euro total and no numeric target for cutting underachievement, and the school alliance ambition depends on the 2028 to 2034 budget negotiations that are still under way. Eight member states also set up a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium on Education on 3 November, which shows that some governments are willing to move ahead together.
The Council will now examine the proposals, and the Commission hosts the European Education and Skills Summit on 20 November 2026 to launch implementation with national governments and stakeholders. The summit will show whether ministers treat the Education and Skills package as a political commitment or as one more set of guidelines. If capitals back the recommendations with national targets and money, the next PISA round could show the first sign of recovery.
