In order to promote digital education initiatives and practices within the Member States of the European Union, on Thursday 27 June, the European Commission’s European Education and Culture Executive Agency published a report overseen by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI).
This study puts forward recommendations for strengthening digital literacy and skills across the continent. This is the second report devoted to innovative programmes in this field.
One of the main conclusions of the report is that various digital initiatives can be reproduced and adapted within different European educational contexts. For example, Estonia’s ProgeTiger programme, which incorporates programming and robotics from an early age, is presented as a model that other countries could adopt.
The report also refers to the importance of continued investment in digital education. According to this document, it is crucial in order to regularly update infrastructures and provide adequate training for teachers.
Improving technological equipment in schools and developing the digital skills of educators are also fundamental for guaranteeing high quality education.
Initiatives such as the Spanish Digitaliza programme and the French Class’Code programme have also resulted in success by training thousands of teachers and by integrating digital skills into school curricula.
For example, Digitaliza has trained more than 5,000 teachers in digital tools by 2023, while Class’Code programme has equipped more than 200 French schools with programming and robotics kits.
According to the report, 75% of schools in the EU will have integrated e-learning platforms by 2023, which is a significant increase of 20% on the previous year.
Furthermore, the report encourages a continuous and integrated approach to the development of digital education, including pedagogical, technological and organisational aspects, in order to ensure that it is effectively and sustainably implemented in all sectors of education. It invites policy-makers and education providers to use these best practices as models for developing similar initiatives.
The ‘Fostering digital education’ report can be read here: https://aeur.eu/f/cwx (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)