Minister of Education of the Slovak Republic: The labor market in the EU is closely linked to the support of new skills

Brussels/Bratislava – Without support for new skills, it will not be possible to adequately fill the labor market in Europe. This was stated on Monday evening in Brussels by the Minister of Education, Science, Research, and Youth of the Slovak Republic, Tomáš Drucker (Hlas-SD), after the meeting of the EU Council for Education and Youth, as reported by TASR.

The minister reminded that the main topics of discussion were the security and resilience of education systems after the COVID pandemic and the rapid onset of artificial intelligence systems, cooperation, and the fight against the spread of disinformation, with the necessity to invest in new technologies.

He added that the discussions also included building a skills union, which aims to support competitiveness in the EU, the recognition of the European diploma, and an extraordinary point, at Sweden’s request, was the assessment of the impact of smartphone use in schools and education. According to him, some countries are even considering possible restrictions for young people regarding the use of social networks in the form of greater pressure on network operators to adjust certain algorithms and delete hate content.

Drucker confirmed that the labor market in the EU is closely linked to skills support, which is connected to the education system. He pointed out that Slovakia has launched several reforms in this area.

“We are also focusing on changing the content in secondary schools. The market is changing very quickly. When we talk about artificial intelligence, the impact on various professions is so rapid that we cannot keep up. What has changed in a year now used to take maybe ten years,” he described the situation.

He admitted that it is difficult to predict what the future development of the labor market will be, but the only way to respond is through education.

“When we talk about skills, it cannot be done without linking to the labor market; we need to discuss with employers and be more flexible in these needs. We must look at where the development is heading, but also be aware of the concerns associated with artificial intelligence, what the risks are, and what security and ethical standards need to be adopted,” Drucker stated. In this spirit, he specified that there is a need to focus primarily on transferable skills, applicable more broadly, which is also related to the need to ensure lifelong learning and build necessary skills and habits from childhood and in the early stages of education, with an emphasis on collaboration within the team and favorable emotional development.

“This does not mean that artificial intelligence will replace education and that children will not learn. On the contrary, it is about making education more interesting and addressing current challenges such as low literacy and the fact that children from poorer families achieve worse academic results,” he concluded.

On this occasion, Drucker invited his EU counterparts to the Global Forum on the Future of Education and Skills, which Slovakia is organizing together with the OECD, as well as to the November summit on artificial intelligence in Bratislava. (May 12)