European Schoolnet strives to support the development and implementation of new teaching and learning models for the benefit of practitioners, decision-makers, private sector partners and ultimately, and most importantly, learners. The actions encompassed in this area of work span from the provision of comprehensive professional development opportunities for teachers, through the Future Classroom Lab and European Schoolnet Academy, to the coordination of projects, ministerial working groups and communities of practice, focused on school innovation. All these initiatives undergo an iterative process of improvement and adaptation, and the Future Classroom Lab programme more specifically has been the object of a dedicated effort to revamp and strengthen the initiative. The integration of policy exchange and research activities with peer learning and training programmes allows promising teacher and learning models to be debated, finetuned, validated, and integrated in the daily practice of teachers, contributing to driving change and improvement in schools across Europe.
Our Work
Teachers' professional development and capacity-building are integral parts of the majority of European Schoolnet's projects. However, an important part of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activities is channelled through two flagship initiatives: the Future Classroom Lab and the European Schoolnet Academy:
Future Classroom Lab
The Future Classroom Lab (FCL) initiative has been a flagship initiative in Europe since 2012, encouraging countless public authorities, schools, headmasters and teachers to embark in a journey of transformation and constant innovation. Following the same principle of continuous improvement and innovation, the initiative is currently undergoing a process of review and realignment of its development and strategy. This new strategy is being implemented starting from summer 2023. The FCL is supported by approximately 30 industry partners and a community of over 23 FCL Lead Ambassadors from 15 countries. It also boasts a network of more than 200 innovative learning labs across the world inspired by the FCL concept. In the current effort of scaling up the FCL, specific attention has been given to the reorganisation and expansion of the network of Future Classroom Lab Lead Ambassadors, which is expected to play a crucial role in the future in supporting school innovation policies implementation in their countries, mentoring schools and teachers on the integration of innovative methods in their practice, supporting the creation and management of local innovative learning labs. Every year, the initiative organises several courses where teachers and teacher trainers can experience in practice the classrooms of the future, while a series of webinars takes a closer look at the various aspects of innovation in education. In 2023, the FCL organised five face-to-face courses on: Active learning in my school and classroom; On-demand workshop: STEAM; Innovative practices for engaging STEM teaching; Summer Academy: Enhancing creativity and innovation in my classroom; Cultivating inclusive learning environments" ; Interactive technologies for the future classroom. Also, in the framework of the FCL activities, the 2023 edition of the School Innovation Forum was held on June 6-7 in Brussels on the theme "Innovating in times of transformation".
European Schoolnet Academy
Under the umbrella of the European Schoolnet Academy, 10 massive open online courses were organised in 2023, which more than 16 000 teachers enrolled in. The courses were effective in both attracting teachers and meeting their expectations, and, following the success of the Code Week MOOC's study groups in 2021 and 2022, the hybrid learning model was implemented again this year with excellent results. In 2023, European Schoolnet published its third annual European Schoolnet Academy Evolution Report, examining the aggregated data from all EUN Academy courses that ran in 2022
Code Week
EU Code Week aims to promote coding and digital literacy in schools by providing professional development opportunities to educators and engaging activities to students. In 2023, European Schoolnet offered two online courses and one face-to-face train the trainer camp in Brussels, and produced training modules, resources and challenges for schools. Through the input of its large community, European Schoolnet contributed to the overall impact of the campaign, which this year reached 3.1 million people, more than half of whom were girls.
European Digital Education Hub
The European Digital Education Hub is one of the actions of the European Commission Digital Education Action Plan seeking to improve cooperation on digital education at EU, national and regional level, among different education and training players in the private and public sectors, in research, policy and practice. As part of the consortium coordinating the hub, European Schoolnet has contributed to the expansion of the community among K12 education actors, shared relevant information and opportunities across its channels and actively participated in workshops and debates. More specifically, and together with Educraftor, European Schoolnet has been supporting the conceptualisation and organisation of the accelerator programme. After a first successful iteration, a second call for applications to the European Digital Education Hubs Accelerator Programme received the interest of almost 30 digital education solutions. Eight of them were selected to undergo the programme and validate their solutions in real educational settings or in innovative labs.
DIGI-LINGO
DIGI-LINGO is a transnational cooperation project involving partners from Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Spain. It aims to:
- 1. Develop new teaching guidelines for digital language learning,
- 2. Develop easily accessible methods for virtual language exchange,
- 3. Establish a sustainable organisational model anchored at regional level.
The project is focused on upper-secondary level, but in time, it should be applicable to the broader scale of language education in the whole European Union.
Teach Europe
At a crucial time for Europe, when Euroscepticism has grown, along with populism and extremism, Teach Europe aims to upskill teachers by providing them with innovative learning scenarios to implement an EU perspective across the curriculum. The project will also empower teachers through training and give students the opportunity to learn more about the EU, think critically about their European identity and explore active citizenship.
Teach Europe firstly established a task force of teachers and experts (composed of 12 representatives from six different countries) who are currently supporting the design, selection and curation of the learning scenarios through co-construction and peer learning processes.
The FCL explored facets of the educational context, such as the impact of sound in learning and teaching in schools. In collaboration with Saint-Gobain Ecophon, we launched a pan-European survey for teachers to investigate teacher well-being in secondary schools with a particular focus on the impact of classroom acoustics on educators' work and their physical and mental health. The report titled ‘Sound in Schools and its Impact on Learning and Teachers' Wellbeing' captures the results of this survey.
The European Schoolnet Academy organised a series of thematic webinars early in 2023 and presenting a report called ‘Effective Use of Learner-Generated Data in Teacher Training Activities', authored by Prof. Hendrik Drachsler. The report offers an analysis and introduction to the concepts and use of learner-generated data (learning analytics) and practical examples of learning analytics applications.
