UK Steering group discussions

The two summarised discussions brought to my mind the two different, but complementary, pathways by which the EGCRF  and its content might evolve over the months ahead. On the one hand, there is the pathway of discussion and content development within each of the five national steering groups, with perhaps most of  the discussion and material focused through the context specific to each country, though not exclusively so. On the other hand, there is the pathway of discussion and content development across the five national steering groups, with much  of  the discussion and material focused through trans-national themes and comparisons.

Obviously, the main and current priority is the first pathway, ensuring that all country steering groups are up and running and well-formed, and that the members of each are comfortable and “up to speed” with the website process within their own country context. However, I think the interesting challenge ahead is to what extent we eventually broaden out the discussion and content development to embrace a truly European, trans-national, process. Lucy reminds us of the possibility of identifying a number of themes that could form the basis of European comparisons and trans-national discussions. For example: equal opportunity-related legal entitlements that apply in the five partner countries; the status and development of telephone-based advice and guidance in each of the five.

Question: would the next project meeting in January in Athens, where all of the five partner countries will be represented, be a good opportunity to raise the possibility of identifying some common themes for the production of trans-national material and, better still though more problematic because of language, the stimulation of trans-national discussion?