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.

1. Indicators Working Group

Description: This working group has been set for European Schoolnet members to exchange about their respective national surveys on digital education, discuss their results and improve the monitoring of digital developments in education at cross-country/European/worldwide level overall. The working group meets twice a year – face-to-face or online – and systematically organise a" tour de table" for the participating country to present their most recent surveys and indicators about digital education; it also provides the opportunity for more detailed presentations and discussions about most recent and substantial surveys or developments. 

In 2017, the work of the Working Group has been supported by the Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies FBK-IRVAPP that produced a comparative report on existing national surveys on ICT at school around Europe on the basis of detailed information collected through the working group members in a structured way. The report entitled ‘Comparative analysis of the European surveys on ICT at school' reveals the diversity of methodologies, target populations, topics and education level covered across countries. 
 
In 2019 and 2020, two second-level analyses of the TALIS 2018 survey data were commissioned for the Working Group. The first report investigated the relation between continuous professional development, teaching self-efficacy and the use of innovative teaching practices among European teachers. A key finding of the report was that teachers who recently followed an online course are more likely to feel confident in their teaching and make use of innovative teaching practices. Moreover, educators who participated in a CPD activity in ICT are more likely to feel confident in using ICT in their teaching and more likely to use it in their classes. The second report looked at the collaborative activities and feedback practices of teachers and how they relate to their likelihood of using innovative practices in their classroom. The report revealed professional exchange practices are related to innovative practices and differ a lot both between and within European countries. The report also highlights those teachers who participated in team teaching and collaboration activities at induction are more likely to participate in collaborative activities in their daily practice.
 
The Working Group has continued to work (from distance) during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a platform to exchange about the situation and the related surveys implemented to monitor the very specific challenges created by the emergency online teaching context. It has also discussed the need for new indicators to better cover and monitor the qualitative processes related to the use of digital education in school, especially in relation to teaching and learning practice, space organisation of the learning environment, and innovative teacher training schemes.
 

Recently, Netherlands, Croatia and Italy shared insights from national surveys on the impact of digital education and COVID-19 on teachers, school leaders and students. Switzerland presented results from their national survey on digitalisation of education, as well as insights from their systematic research on meta-analyses on the effect of digital device use on learning outcomes. Norway and Ireland presented the results of their digital strategy for schools, the next cycle of the strategy and how its assessment and monitoring will be organised.    

Member countries: Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

2. Interactive Classroom Working Group

Description: The Interactive Classroom Working Group (ICWG) allows policy makers to explore common areas of concern, share experience, and address policy challenges related to the integration of a wide range of technologies in classrooms and their impact on teaching and learning. The ICWG is currently focusing on different approaches to personalising learning that includes: developing guidelines on adapting learning spaces in schools; creating short learning activities for teachers interested in personalising learning, and publishing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) technical guidelines as a follow up to the BYOD guide for school leaders.

Member countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, and Turkey.

Check out the ICWG's video playlist on personalised learning below, featuring experiences and tips from teachers across Europe.

3. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Working Group

Description: The Ministries of Education Representatives STEM Working Group is a platform for 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 and European Schoolnet in the field of STEM education, following an agenda that addresses the Ministries' priorities and main interests. The working group is coordinated by European Schoolnet and supported by Scientix, the community for science education in Europe. The members of the working group are appointed by the Ministries of Education directly. 

Member countries: Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey.

4. Digital Citizenship Working Group

Description: This new working group has been recently established, following the outcomes of EMINENT 2016, European Schoolnet's annual conference which was dedicated to the issue of digital citizenship. This working group will concentrate in the first instance on a specific sub-area of digital citizenship; the digital competence of teachers, students and schools. Specific meetings of the group are currently being organized and will focus on teachers' self-assessment of digital competence, as well as requirements related to the digital competence and citizenship of students and educational organizations.

Countries: Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Federation Wallonia Brussels), Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey.