Pedagogical structure


 

What are the European schooling and education criteria to which accredited European schools must conform?


 

Pedagogical equivalence of studies
  
Under the conditions and within the limits laid down by the Regulati​ons​ and the particular agreements concluded pursuant to them (hereinafter referred to as ‘Accreditation Agreements’), the European Schools may, subject to reciprocity, grant to Accredited European Schools equivalence between the pedagogical standard, year group by year group, of the education provided by the Accredited European School and that provided by the European Schools.

It follows therefrom that subject to reciprocity, passing a school year in the Accredited European School shall be regarded, automatically and without any formality, as equivalent to passing the corresponding school year in a European School, it being understood, however, that this success does not result in entitlement to enrolment at or admission to a European School, one and the other remaining subject in particular to the decisions of the Board of Governors of the European Schools, to the relevant provisions of the General Rules of the European Schools and, where applicable, to the enrolment policies enacted by the competent bodies.

The Accreditation Agreement relates to recognition of pedagogical equivalence between the education provided by the Accredited European School and that provided by the European Schools for the first years of schooling up to secondary year 5 inclusive.
For reasons connected with the specificity of that recognition at the level of secondary years 6 and 7 and having regard to the Regulations pertaining to the European Baccalaureate, there shall be a procedure for secondary years 6 and 7 which is separate from the one leading to accreditation of the other year groups.
The accreditation for years 6 and 7 shall be granted by the Board of Governors, on submission of a Dossier of Conformity, at the end of the procedure referred to in Articles 9-14 of the Regu​lations​. 
The decision to grant accreditation for secondary years 6 and 7 shall automatically carry with it the power for the Secretary-General to sign the Accreditation Agreement.

Language sections and language learning

 As far as the linguistic conditions of the education provided are concerned, a school may be accredited only if, within the meaning of the General Rules of the European Schools (available in the Basi​c texts​​):

  1. Two language sections, including at least one in either English, French or German and one in any other Language 1 accepted in the European Schools system, ordinarily that of the host country. ​
  2. It offers mother tongue / dominant language courses to pupils without their own language section although the minimum number of pupils as from which such a course is created is left to the discretion of the Accredited European School. This minimum number of pupils will be indicated in the Dossier of Conformity.
  3. Pupils without their own language section receive support to learn the language of the section which they join. 
  4. Language learning provision in terms of Languages 2, 3 and 4 complies with the Regulations in force in the European Schools, more especially with the provisions of the General Rules of the European Schools and with the particular decisions of the Board of Governors concerning the teaching of languages. Exceptions to the aforementioned regulations may, however, be proposed by the school which is a candidate for accreditation at the time of submission of the Dossier of Conformity and must, where applicable, be approved by the Board of Governors.
 
Teachers

Teachers should hold a pedagogical qualification in the subjects that they have been employed to teach. The qualification, or recognition of same for non-EU qualifications, should be from one of the EU member states. Teachers must have language competences equivalent to those required for the teachers in the European Schools [1]. The final decision concerning the pedagogical qualifications of a teacher rests with the national body responsible for quality assurance of the EU member state in which the Accredited School is situated.


[1]Decision of the Board of Governors of 17-19 April 2018 on the control of the level of linguistic competence as part of the procedure for recruitment of non-native speaker teaching and educational support staff (2018-01-D-65-en).