Education is of prime importance to young people as it gives them the possibility to ensure their personal and professional development and their active participation in all spheres of society, thus increasing their job opportunities and contributing to the prevention of social exclusion. Although the common view of education tends to focus on its formal aspect such as schools and universities, education is a lifelong and a life-wide process. People learn throughout their life in very different environments such as family, media, youth organisations, etc. The European Youth Forum believes that education policy should look at education in a holistic way, by recognising and supporting quality formal education, non-formal education (education taking place outside formal institutions, in alternative structures such as youth organisations) and informal learning (day-to-day learning from friends, media, work, etc).

In its work plan 2009-2010, the European Youth Forum continues to address the challenges that education faces. The main focus of the YFJ work is building a real life-long and life-wide learning society, in which all learning is valued, where young people can take ownership over their own educational paths and where youth organisations are recognised as the most important providers of quality non-formal education for young people. Young people are also citizens of our society and need education and learning possibilities that provide them with the skills and competence to be active citizens in a globalised world.  With its work on Global Education, the YFJ is providing a model for education for global citizenship.

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