YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Education, training and learning mobility  99 2.4  LEARNING MOBILITY 2.4.1  THE RELEVANCE OF YOUTH LEARNING MOBILITY Mobility has become a fundamental part of global social reality, espe- cially when it comes to younger populations who are either still in edu- cation or making a more concrete transition into the labour market. At the societal level, mobility is at once an expression, an outcome, and a catalyst. In this context, human mobility is often seen in terms of the positive effects it is supposed to have on the well-being of individuals and society, but often also as something negative. Mobility is mostly per- ceived by young Slovenians as an activity with good effects on the well-being of individuals and society, as highlighted in the last decade by Slovenian Youth Survey 2013 (Flere et al., 2013), a supplement to Slovenia Youth Survey 2010. The impact of mobility on society’s well-being has been discussed in various reports by both European and Slovenian insti- tutions. For example, the resolution National Programme for youth (2013-2022) states that “ In today’s world of intense globalisation processes, mobility becomes one of the areas strongly supported by the European Union. ” These mobilities are mainly linked to the global (economic) competitive- ness of Europe as a whole (CEC, 2009), but their broader importance is best illustrated by the introductory part of the European Commission’s Youth on the Move report (2010: 3), which states that “ one of the main ob- jectives of European Union is smart, & inclusive and sustainable growth, and the achievement of this objective depends on young people, whose potential can only be unlocked through quality education, an inclusive labour market and their increased mobility. ” This is also linked to the conclusions of the EU Summit in Rome, where, in a declaration of March 2017, Member States committed to directing the work of the European Union towards “ a Un- ion where young people can get the best education and training, study and find work across the continent ” (European Council, 2017).