Brussels, 26/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Representatives from the member states' departments for education and the European Commission met up in Brussels from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 October. Discussions covered accomplishments involving the E-Twinning platform, which enables teachers and pupils to make contact, set up collaborative projects and exchange ideas throughout Europe. The Commissioner for Education, Tibor Navracsics, explained: “Thanks to eTwinning teachers & pupils have been able to run collaborative projects with peers in other countries for a decade!”
Following the Commission's appeal to strengthen cooperation in the fields of education and training and promote social inclusion, the eTwinning conference mainly focused on the way in which trainers can teach active citizenship and civic skills. Participants looked at how they could work together to promote fundamental values of citizenship and inclusive education, following the terrorist attacks in Paris and Copenhagen at the beginning of 2015. More than 500 teachers, heads of institutions and trainers from 41 countries in Europe and neighbouring countries met up during this annual three-day event. During the event, participants attended 55 workshops and took part in a broad range of network activities to analyse how eTwinning has helped transform education in Europe. The event provided an occasion for presenting the most striking accomplishments in eTwinning over the past decade. Since it was launched exactly 10 years ago in 2005, the eTwinning platform has engaged 2 million teachers and pupils through 43,000 projects, harnessing their cultural differences into common work projects. Approximately 45% of European schools have participated in eTwinning projects since 2005. (Original version in French by Isabelle Lamberty)