Quality Education in Europe for Sustainable Social Transformation
QUEST
Quest is an independent and participatory European network supporting children's rights in education by the promotion of democratic, inclusive and sustainable education.
ID: 295356452304-80
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Maria Zafra Saura (Cabinet of Commissioner Michael McGrath) and Save the Children Europe and
20 Jun 2025 · Exchange of views on the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act and on children’s participation in decision-making
Response to Combating child sexual abuse
16 May 2024
QUEST welcomes this directives mention of the need for a whole society approach to guarantee child protection. This starts from early ages on as an investment towards the creation of a culture of peace, cooperation and respect of human rights, including childrens rights, reproduced and strengthened by the new generations. However this mention is only made once, without a clear description of what a whole society approach entails. In our view, a whole society approach cannot overlook the key role of children as active individuals with agency, in their families, schools and their broader communities. QUEST believes this approach should be brought more transversally within the directive, focusing on children agency, reinforcing their participation and their awareness. In this sense, stronger attention to children's education should be given as a core preventive measure enabling children's emotional and sexual awareness. The need for a comprehensive sexual and emotional education, for instance, should be added. By comprehensive sexual and emotional education, we mean an education in which children can learn about their rights, what consent means to them and for others, how to express them, protect them, and act when their own or anothers rights and consent are threatened, if not violated. This means promoting schooling systems in which childrens consent is being heard and respected on a daily basis. Indeed, learning how to express ones own rights and consent, does not happen on a single-time basis, through a course or an awareness-raising campaign, but rather through repetitive practice. This means for Member states to promote : 1. An education allowing children to learn, express and practise their rights every day ; 2. Promote easily accessible and child-friendly information to not only adults, but children themselves ; 3. Allow for spaces for collective reflections around what abuses mean, what shapes they may take, their consequences and how to prevent them within society (parents, children, professionals, institutions) ; 4. Funding training on childrens rights & protection for individuals interacting closely with children (families, education professionals, institutions) as well as on education philosophies fostering a culture of peace such as non-violent communication, open-schooling and democratic education ; 5. Guaranteeing that every (EU/nationally) funded project is created following clear child protection guidelines when interacting with children, and that partners possess a child-protection policy. QUEST recommends to modify Article 28 in the following manner : 1. To discourage and reduce the demand that fosters all forms of sexual exploitation of children, Member States shall take appropriate measures to promote a long-term culture of peace and human rights protection embedded first of all throughout their national education systems, with childrens rights and consent being practised daily. Member states shall take appropriate action to guarantee the provision of a comprehensive sexual and emotional education, based on human rights, to children and adults interacting closely with children. 2. Member States shall take appropriate measures, such as education and training (...) 4. Member States shall take appropriate measures to enhance the prevention of child sexual abuse in community settings, including schools, families (...) Prevention measures shall devote particular attention to the needs of children who are particularly vulnerable, including children with mental or physical disabilities, and taking into account neuro-divergences. Prevention measures should also be considered as learning, and when relevant, healing opportunities for children, in which children can actively participate while developing their knowledge and skills.
Read full responseResponse to 1st progress report of the EU antisemitism strategy
18 Apr 2024
QUEST welcomes the EU Commissions ambition to prevent, protect and preserve both communities and cultures throughout the EU, as well as its consideration of education as a pillar towards these goals. While great action has been taken at EU and national levels to promote intercultural understanding, much more could be achieved by : 1. Opening schools to society ; 2. Promoting the democratic education philosophy and children participation as the backbone to strengthening childrens overall resilience, including to discrimination, well-being and the acquisition of life skills necessary to live together ; 3. Embedding a culture of cooperation and solidarity, through children-led research and activities. Today schools mainly remain closed units, where students learn within single classrooms, isolated from society and the concrete diversity of realities. By allowing children to collaborate directly with a diversity of actors (communities, minorities, experts, associations, local stakeholders, other children) children can both develop their understanding of otherness through intercultural dialogue, their understanding of themselves and their own culture, and work together to protect European rights. Doing so builds social cohesion and can foster positive perceptions of the jewish culture in the long-term around the EU. QUEST therefore encourages to include the promotion of the open-schooling and the democratic education approaches, at both EU and national levels, as the next steps to strengthen the EU strategy on combating antisemitism and on fostering Jewish life. This first means highlighting these philosophies as good practices to promote a culture of peace and intercultural dialogue within EU policies, but also granting funding and training to promote their spread throughout the EU. Concretely, this can also mean inviting school classes to take part in European Heritage Days as well as any other cultural protection and preservation activities, as actors rather than solely visitors. Children must be given the opportunity to actively engage, collaborate and find solutions with European communities to develop life skills (emotional, technical, cognitive), allowing them to act, today and later on, as positive agents of change. This in turns grants a feeling of agency, deepens resilience to physical and emotional shocks, and promotes children's well-being. Opening schools is therefore an investment for greater social cohesion at the European level. For instance, children-led research and activities can promote data collection and analysis, while serving as learning and cohesion creation opportunities. QUEST therefore encourages the commission to pay a strong attention to children active participation in its evaluation of the EU and national strategies to combat and prevent antisemitism.
Read full responseResponse to Joint European degree
6 Feb 2024
QUEST is a European network bringing together 60 civil society organisations, schools, universities, institutions and public bodies advocating for change in education and lifelong learning by the promotion of democratic, inclusive and sustainable practices. QUEST welcomes the Commissions initiative to propose a European Joint Degree, as it acknowledges its strong potential in terms of mobility opportunities for learners, intercultural dialogues and the strengthening of a collective EU identity. As expressed within the call for evidence, limits exist regarding the variety of administrative requirements, national legislations and educational offers. However, QUEST believes these limits should not lower this proposals ambition. Indeed, for this European Joint Degree to be both inclusive and representative of learners needs, QUEST trusts it should embrace the following points : A Joint European Degree should be representative of learners present and future needs. To do so, the Common European Criteria should not only include the acquisition of passive knowledge, but also the active and transversal development of soft skills in a life-long perspective. Student-led and student-centred activities should therefore be transversally represented within these criteria, and systematically implemented - rather than sporadically - to grant eligibility to the European Joint Degree. This European Joint Degree could therefore become an opportunity to : 1. Engage both students, from their studies onwards, in elaborating innovative sustainable and inclusive solutions to present and future challenges; 2. Harmonise and spread innovative pedagogies across EU universities, therefore promoting students active participation and skills adoption throughout the curriculum; 3. Ensure students and professors' well being in the short and long terms. Current as well as future university learners should be granted a voice in defining both the needs, the shape, the content and the evaluation of this European Joint Degree. Indeed, QUEST is convinced that learners should be given the space to express their right to become agents of their educational futures. A European Joint Degree, elaborated without their perspectives, would fall short from fully recognising the diversity of learning needs and ambitions of future generations. Opening the debate to multi-ages learners, could additionally serve as a learning experience - promoting collective decision making, futures literacy, analysis and problem-solving skills. It could further grant greater knowledge about EU institutions and mechanisms, therefore consolidating democratic knowledge and a feeling of belonging to the EU. QUEST thus believes this proposal should engage school classes as well as student-led organisations in sharing their views about, if not co-designing, this European Joint Degree. Cutting-edge pedagogies such as democratic education approaches and youth parliaments could be used in that regard. An equal access to this European Joint Degree should be ensured, so that all students within the EU may benefit from it. This means specific actions should be taken to allow every institution to implement and promote such a degree. For instance, specific funding and technical assistance should be provided to less advantaged higher institutions. Otherwise, the risk is high to see this degree leaving out the students who are unable to access the most prestigious universities. Likewise, funding and communication should be provided in order to promote access to disadvantaged students (inc. disability, socio-economic inequalities). Finally, a European Joint Degree should not burden university professors with additional administrative workloads and leave them the flexibility to propose innovative educational experiences.
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