Working Groups

Working groups are set up by a group of Ministries of Education to tackle a specific issue. The remit and duration are defined by the Ministries involved.

 

Description: This Working Group has been set to exchange about existing national surveys on ICT at school, discuss their various results and provide possible follow-up actions to improve the monitoring of ICT developments in education at cross-country, European and worldwide level in a comparative way. The working group also discusses the need for new indicators to better cover and monitor the qualitative processes related to the use of ICT in school, especially in relation to teaching and learning practice, space organisation of the learning environment, and innovative teacher training schemes.

In 2023 , the group discussed the Kennisnet's Bit by Bit project, developing standards for cybersecurity in schools and supporting schools' knowledge and expertise in tackling data safety and making agreements with digital service suppliers. An initial survey conducted by the project in 2023 revealed that there were no primary school meeting all the cybersecurity standards. The project supports schools through actions such as offering guidelines, risk analysis and a self-assessment tool.
 
The group has also exchanged on the digital strategy of the Flemish Department of Education and the monitoring of digital transition in schools carried out by the Flemish Education Inspectorate. The Inspectorate developed a smartphone app called "Voi.ce", for collecting survey data from teachers, student, parents, school leaders and school support staff. The collected data helps to understand to what extent schools are able to implement their digital strategy plan. The results suggest that schools have improved in their digital transition since the national monitoring conducted in 2018, but still need more pedagogical support in integrating technology in lessons. Most education actors agree that their schools provide opportunities to share expertise in using ICT, but around half think that the school lacks resources to implement their own ICT policy.
 
PIRLS 2021 and PISA 2022 have been released in 2023, giving an opportunity to the Working Group to exchange on their implications for digital education indicators. Data from PIRLS suggest that there is variation between countries in daily time spent with digital devices. Both international surveys indicate the importance of moderate use of digital devices for overall achievement and reading comprehension.
 

 

 

Description: The Digital Citizenship Working Group, composed of members or nominees from ministries of education was established in 2017. It tackles challenges related to digital citizenship, whilst keeping teachers and schools actively involved in its debates and the design of its action plans.

The Working Group typically meets twice per year with the aim to:

  • 1. develop a strategic digital citizenship framework and give a steer to European Schoolnet's digital citizenship roadmap;
  • 2. provide a platform for exchange between European Schoolnet network members, identifying best practices to share and challenges to overcome;
  • 3. identify gaps and explore new areas of work.

16 countries participate in the working group: Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia, and Turkey.

In 2023, the focus of the working group was on inclusion and wellbeing. The first meeting addressed the digital inclusion of vulnerable groups and was set against the background of the BIK+ strategy which aims for "age-appropriate digital services, with no one left behind and with every child in Europe protected, empowered and respected online". The second meeting focused on digital wellbeing sharing ongoing local and international initiatives to promote digital wellbeing in schools and reflect on current European school policies.
 

 

Description: The Ministries of Education Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) representatives Working Group is a platform of discussion and exchange for Ministries of Education regarding their STEM education policies. The overall objective of this initiative is to help lay the foundations for medium and long-term strategies and activities between Ministries of Education in the field of STEM education, and especially within the Scientix

project, following an agenda that addresses the ministries' priorities and main interests. European Schoolnet coordinates the working group. The working group was launched in March 2016 and Ministries of Education are responsible for appointing the members.
Since March 2023, 25 Ministries of Education from 24 countries have appointed a STEM representative to participate the Working Group, including: Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey.
 
In March 2023, the members of the STEM Working Group redefined the priorities for STEM education for the next period as follows:
  • Priority 1. Improving STEM teaching in early childhood education, primary and secondary
  • Priority 2. Connecting STEM education with real life problems and the world around us.
  • Priority 3. Expanding the access to information on STEM careers
  • Priority 4. Supporting exchanges between teachers, Ministries of Education, industry, higher education and pre-service teacher training centres and other STEM education stakeholders, including the validation, and piloting of initiatives, practices, and solutions; and the sharing of best practices and results from projects.
These priorities will guide the activities of the new Scientix and STEM projects of European Schoolnet going forward.
 
 

Description: The Interactive Classroom Working Group (ICWG) was set up in 2013 and is one of European Schoolnet's standing working groups. The ICWG's aim is to enable education authorities to explore common areas of concern, share experience, address policy challenges related to the integration of a wide range of technologies in classrooms, and investigate their impact on teaching and learning. Every year, it explores different topics connected to the priorities and interests of its members.

The ICWG regularly develops and publishes recommendations, guidelines, best practices, and resources based on:
  • 1. Desk research and analysis conducted in collaboration with researchers.
  • 2. Collecting experiences from schools, teachers, and students through online surveys, interviews, and classroom observations in different countries.
  • 3. Examples and case studies from other countries and educational systems across the world.

The ICWG has investigated topics such as the pedagogical use of mobile devices and K-12 cloud services, personalised learning, bring your own device (BYOD) approaches, design of innovative learning spaces, creation and use of Makerspaces in schools. The group has also taken stock of what was experienced during the COVID-19 schooling disruption, the related lessons learnt, and indications for a more effective use of technology in remote, blended as well as face-to face learning modalities, focusing also on the accessibility and inclusivity of a high-quality education for all. Find more here.