All of the Member States have provisions on education and the Charter in a way summarises these constitutional traditions. The majority of constitutions do explicitly provide for free compulsory education as is laid down in the Charter. However, this is often limited to primary education only, other constitutions provide an age limit (16 in Bulgaria and Lithuania, 18 in Poland)⁴ or delegate the details to national legislation as is the case in the constitutions of Slovakia and Cyprus⁵. In addition, the freedom to found educational establishments is specified in most of the constitutions. This is often phrased as a possibility and only sometimes as a proper right.⁶ Whereas the Charter prominently refers to vocational training, this is the case for just a handful of national constitutions which also provide in this regard a right to “choose his vocation and to train for it how and where he wishes”.⁷

The autonomy of universities is established in the constitutions of Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The Greek constitution even protects university professors against dismissal.⁸ At least ten constitutions refer to parents rights in the context of education.⁹ Often this is put – as in the Charter – in the context of their religious or philosophical convictions. But there are also more far reaching statements with for instance the constitution of Ireland acknowledging that the “primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children”.¹⁰ On the other side of the spectrum is a far reaching reading of the States` mission as laid down in Art 16 (2) of the Greek constitution: ”Education constitutes a basic mission for the State and shall aim at the moral, intellectual, professional and physical training of Greeks, the development of national and religious consciousness and at their formation as free and responsible citizens”.¹¹

Talented students receive special attention in the constitutions of Italy, Lithuana (limited to citizens) and Malta – they committ the State to proactively promote these pupils.¹² Disabled persons find recognition in the constitutions of Malta and Portugal.¹³ The Portuguese constitution charges the State with “protecting and developing Portuguese sign language, as an expression of culture and an instrument for access to education and equal opportunities”.¹⁴ The status of national and/or minority languages is addressed in provisions on education within the constitutions of Estonia, Portugal and Romania.¹⁵

While the EU Member States have signed the EU treaties in the determination to “promote the development of the highest possible level of knowledge for their peoples through a wide access to education”,¹⁶ the EU´s respective competences remained limited with the EU held to “fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity”.¹⁷ But still: as the case judgment quoted at the beginning of the article elucidates, the right to education kicks in wherever EU Member States act within the scope of EU law.

Interested in knowing more? Well, here you are: ‘All EU-r rights‘, stay tuned!