EDUCATION : COUNCIL SETS OUT THE KEY SKILLS REQUIRED IN A GLOBALISED WORLD.

Member states will henceforth be guided in the development of their education policies by an agreed list of key skills or competences that their citizens need to possess, if they are to compete successfully in a knowledge-based economy.

The list, described as a reference framework,' was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 18 December, and sets out eight such competences - namely communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology, digital competence, learning to learn, social and civic competences, sense of...