The Commission launched a new social dialogue committee in education with teachers, trainers, lecturers and education authorities from across the EU to tackle challenges facing their sector. Education and research employs 14.7 million workers and represents 5.7% of EU GDP. This new committee brings together trade unions and employers' organisations from the sector to discuss issues such as the quality of education, classroom violence, adapting to demographic trends and the impacts of public spending cuts. [more]