A European Synopsis on Psychological Services in the School

The information that you will find below, is retrieved from EURYDICE, the Information Network on Education In Europe.

For every European Union Member State, the following information is provided by Eurydice.

Within this information, we have selected that concerning psychological services in the school.
In order to facilitate your reading, we have written in bold characters all words including psy.

WHAT IS EURYDICE

OBJECTIVES

The role of EURYDICE, the Information Network on Education in Europe, is to promote the exchange and the production of reliable and comparable information on education systems and on national policies in the field of education in Europe. It contributes to increasing mutual understanding and cooperation between the 15 Member States of the European Union.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY

In 1976, when the Council and the Education Ministers adopted the Resolution on a first programme for cooperation in the field of education, they gave recognition to the importance, in this context, of exchanges of information and experience. It was on this basis that the EURYDICE network was set up and became operational in 1980. Ten years later, in 1990, the Council and the Ministers adopted a Resolution dealing specifically with EURYDICE and calling for a reinforcement of its services. The Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on European Union) marked an important step forward, providing in the new Chapter 3, Article 126, for developing exchanges of information and experience on issues common to the education systems of the Member States. It has thus opened up for EURYDICE new prospects of which the Community education programme, SOCRATES, adopted on 14 March 1995, takes full account (Annex, Chapter III, Action 3, point 2). It is under this Programme that the development of EURYDICE is now assured.

ORGANISATION AND ACTIVITIES

The network comprises National Units, located in the Ministries of Education or in bodies closely related to them. The European Unit of the network, established by the European Commission, coordinates the network’s activities and comparative studies. EURYDICE produces a great variety of basic documents and comparative analyses on topics of interest to cooperation in education at Community level as well as a unique database on education systems. The network is increasingly called upon to fulfil the role of an “Observatory”, in relation to the development of the education systems and policies in the European Union1. Through the dissemination of its publications, and in particular through its web site on the Internet, EURYDICE also reaches a wide public in the education world.

THE BASIC TOOLS

Eurybase, the backbone of Eurydice

The backbone of Eurydice is Eurybase, its database on the education systems in the European Union and in the countries of the European Economic Area. With financial support from the European Commission, this base is updated at regular intervals by the National Units in the network, who provide a guarantee of the quality and reliability of the information.

The national education systems are described on the basis of a common table of contents and a common pattern of organisation of the material, an approach which facilitates detailed research on all the Member States in the European Union.

The description of the systems is complemented by elements essential to an understanding of the individual national educational situations (bibliography, legislation, directory of institutions, and a glossary of national terms).