Working Groups

European Schoolnet has 4 working groups and one interest group set up by our network of Ministries of Education to tackle some of the most important challenges faced by today's education ecosystems.

The Artificial Intelligence in Education Working Group was established in 2025 and is composed of representatives from ministries of education, public education authorities, and related public organisations across European countries. It addresses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in K12 education, in particular for what concerns teaching, learning, and assessment, looking at policy initiatives, practices and evidence from research to support policy learning in a cross-country context. The working group consists of 22 participating countries: Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels), Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Türkiye.

The Working Group works on the following areas:

• Share and discuss respective policy initiatives and developments.
  • ◦ Collect and analyse common frameworks for the ethical and responsible use of AI in K12 education.
  • ◦ Reflect on how to align national policies with international standards and recommendations (e.g., UNESCO, OECD).
  • ◦ Facilitate policy exchanges among members of the Working Group and international collaboration on AI governance, engaging with international experts and international organisations such as EU institutions, OECD, UNESCO, and Council of Europe.

• Support capacity building for AI literacy among educators and learners.

  • ◦ Collect and share national strategies for training educators to use AI in school contexts.
  • ◦ Identify and share inspiring practices and case studies across countries.

• Projects, Research and Evaluation

  • ◦Broker research evidence through presentations by external researchers and experts, and discussions among Working Group members.
  • ◦ Collect and share with Working Group members research on the impact of AI on learning, teaching, and assessment.
  • ◦ Become a space for project-ideas development on AI in education and main consortium-building platform for members to co-develop with European Schoolnet large projects on AI in education – based on the needs and challenges of the members.
  • ◦ Share with Working Group members the state of progress of various AI related projects (e.g.  funded by the EC, national funds, etc.) that European Schoolnet and/or education authorities are involved in and ensure that all members can profit from the outcomes of the projects currently developed.
  • ◦ Encourage the development of evidence-based policies for the implementation of AI in education.
Find more about our initiatives on AI on our AI in schools focus area.
 

The ICT@school indicators Working Group was created to share national surveys on ICT in schools, discuss their results and suggest follow-up actions to improve the monitoring of ICT developments in education at the cross-country, European and global levels 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 2024, the group exchanged and discussed findings from national surveys on digitalisation of schools. The focus this year was the results of the 2023 cycle of the International computer and information literacy survey. The working group organised a webinar on the results, presented by the International association for the evaluation of educational achievement (IEA), with a special focus on the 22 European countries that participated in the survey. The results suggested that the digital divide remains a challenge in Europe, as well as the rest of the world, pointing at the important role of socioeconomic background. While the European average for computer and information literacy is similar to the average of the entire ICILS, computational thinking varied more within Europe. The working group also discussed the implications for screen time - for instance, a higher computer and information literacy seems related to less or no limit to screen time. The ICT@School indicators Working Group (WG) is currently counting members representing 20 education systems: Belgium (both Flemish and French-speaking communities), Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. 
 

 

 

The Digital Citizenship Working Group, composed of members or nominees from Ministries of Education (MoEs), was established in 2017. The group typically meets twice a year, aiming to develope a strategic digital citizenship framework,  provide guidance for EUN's digital citizenship roadmap and offer a platform for exchange between EUN network members. The group works to identify best practices to share and challenges to overcome, gaps to identify and new areas of work to explore.

Currently, 16 countries participate in the working group: Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia and Türkiye. In 2024, the first meeting focused on media literacy and how to identify and counter disinformation in connection with the 2024 European elections. The second focused on digital citizenship education and was dedicated to brainstorming for a webinar to be delivered as part of the Council of Europe's European year of digital citizenship education 2025.

 

 

The Ministries of Education Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) representatives 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 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 in the Working Group, including: Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Türkiye.
 
In 2024, the working group met on several occasions. One occasion was the online workshop "Policy briefs in STEM education" which was co-organised by Scientix®, the GenB and Life Terra projects. The workshop was held in September 2024 to discuss and define the format of policy briefs and what they should contain to meet the needs and plans of Ministries of Education. The workshop was open to members of the Scientix Ministries of Education STEM representatives Working Group1 and their guests. 20 participants from 15 different Ministries of Education attended the workshop. Read more about the Policy Brief. 
 
The online workshop, "Policy recommendations on bioeconomy, oceans and trees in education", was co-organised by the GenB, Life Terra and EU4Ocean projects. It was held in November 2024 to present the lessons learnt, share the results from these three projects and to discuss with the MoEs how to deliver actionable policy support. The workshop was open to members of the Scientix Ministries of Education STEM representatives Working Group1 and their guests. The workshop was attended by 10 participants from 9 different Ministries of Education. This presence showcased the impact of the results and lessons learnt from the three environmental education initiatives and discussed with the ministry representatives how these resources can be incorporated into their respective educational systems. 
 
In a previous workshop, participants explored the length, depth and format of policy recommendations and other policy background documents. Building on that discussion, this event moved on to highlighting the common policy considerations and challenges impacting the introduction of environmental subjects into the practice of European teachers. From the need for trustworthy knowledge and accessible resources to quality professional development offerings, teachers across Europe face the same needs and challenges when introducing new pedagogies and topics into their teaching. In this dynamic discussion, participants explored how Scientix® and the projects can help policymakers support their teachers. The workshop shed light on curriculum design and reform processes, the needs and opportunities for official endorsement and recognition of resources and continuous professional development (CPD) offerings.
 
 
 

The Interactive Classroom Working Group (ICWG), set up in 2013, enables education authorities to explore common areas of concern, share experience, and address policy challenges related to the integration of a wide range of technologies in classroom and their impact on teaching and learning. Members decide on a work programme for a specific period where they explore different topics connected to their priorities and interests, regularly developing and publishing recommendations, guidelines, best practices and resources. The working group consists of nine members: Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
 
During the period February 2025 – May 2026, the ICWG members are working on the topic ‘Inclusion in an increasingly diverse and technology driven society. Strategies to create inclusive learning environments with the support of (emerging) technology.'. The members are addressing the question ‘How do teachers harness digital technologies to support inclusive learning environments?'  through a series of video case studies and a ‘Playbook' that will map the identified strategies for creating inclusive learning environment with the support of technology and provide practical recommendations for their integration in the classroom. The outputs are expected to be published in spring 2026.  
 

Two key political issues affect small and rural schools in Europe: efficiency and unequal access to education. 

In November 2019, the Steering Committee of European Schoolnet created the Small and Rural Schools Interest Group to explore issues of mutual concern related to small schools at a European level.  

About the Interest group 

The Small and Rural Schools Interest Group is composed of 13 countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Spain and Türkiye). It is supported by European Schoolnet and INDIRE — the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research, which is the Italian Ministry of Education's oldest research organisation.  

 

The objectives of this Interest Group are to: 

  • 1. Collect and share different research findings across European countries. 
  • 2. Work at the European level on the collection and sharing practices on the use of ICT to overcome isolation. 
  • 3. Collect and share experiences on learning practices in multi-age classes. 
  • 4. Collect and share experiences on models of school organisation and links with local communities. 
  • 5. Consider the opportunity to offer an open community of practices for all practitioners working in small and rural schools, and the chance to create a European network of small rural schools. 
  • 6. Offer a capacity-building programme for small and rural schools in Europe. 

Latest activities and outcomes 

In 2024, this interest group created a MOOC for small rural schools as part of the European Schoolnet Academy. The course will open on 29 September 2025 and will consist of four modules. 

The core aims of the 'Smart schooling and networking' MOOC are to offer practical tools, inspire ideas and provide a supportive community to help teachers and educators in small and rural schools.  

Through the four modules, educators will discover innovative leadership approaches, flexible classroom organisation, multi-age teaching methods, and ways to actively engage parents and local communities. During the course, real-life examples from 24 schools in 12 countries will be shared to illustrate how to turn challenges such as under-capacity and teacher isolation into opportunities for personalised, community-based learning. 

 

    

 

In 2023, the Small and Rural Interest Group presented its first publication titled "Rural schools under focus". The publication features 11 monographies, covering 11 countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Serbia, Sweden and Spain) in 11 languages, the executive summary and a comparative analysis of the findings of these monographies. 

Here you can find: 

The full research report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The executive summary (also available in French)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The monographies