Key messages from SELFIE multilingual webinar 2/ 3 - Digital skills and Learning - EU instruments and tools

Key messages from SELFIE multilingual webinar 2/ 3 - Digital skills and Learning

Re-thinking digital skills and learning in SEET countries. EU instruments and tools

Three ETF webinars

“I have been promoting digital education for years. Now, with COVID-19, we realise it is not only necessary, but also possible”, said Alessandro Brolpito, ETF, during the third webinar on digital skills and learning organized by the ETF on the 23^rd of June 2020.

The webinar was the final event in a series of three online meetings looking into how new technologies can contribute to the quality and innovation of education and training systems.

The European Commission has developed an online tool, SELFIE , which allows school communities to reflect on their digital readiness.

The ETF has been supporting partner countries through the COVID-19 lockdown. Part of this support has consisted in a series of three inter-connected online events discussing experiences with the use of SELFIE, the needs arising as a result, and scale-up prospects in the SEET countries. This third webinar informed participants on the EU instruments and tools made available to support the implementation of post-2020 national digital skills and learning strategies.

The previous two events were centred around initiatives and opportunities for regional cooperation to support digital skills and learning strategies at a national level, and, respectively, around progress sharing between the six SEET countries that piloted SELFIE.

“Bringing digital learning in schools is really about blending the elements that are already there” added Brolpito.

Anastasia Fetsi, ETF, opened the discussion:

“Two perspectives have been central in our research: to identify what kind of digital skills are important for new occupations that are coming up, or old occupations that have been transformed, and to understand how digital tools can support learning, and how they can support education institutions.”

SELFIE-s taken so far

SELFIE is one of the flagship European Commission tools to support this mission. 173.383 users in 1.113 schools in six SEET countries have been involved the SELFIE pilot, while three of these pilot countries are already scaling up.

Country needs

With the help of the JRC in analysing the results of this initial phase, two needs have taken shape:

• the need for more additional resources, teacher training material and an ecosystem to support the connection between the outcomes of SELFIE and the school development plan
• and the need for further access to aggregated (and anonymised) data, in order to position SELFIE at system level, with a view to evidence-based policy making, for example in relation to quality assurance.

“Our next job at the ETF and with the support of the JRC and the European Commission is to address these needs highlighted by the SEET countries that piloted SELFIE. It is important to use this momentum and take on a multi-country perspective: we can be much more effective in facing these big challenges if we have regional cooperation”, said Alessandro Brolpito.

European Union Commitment

The digital transformation of education systems is high on the list of priorities with the new Commission, as confirmed by Georgi Dimitrov, at DG EAC. Dimitrov quoted President von der Leyen saying that the Digital Education Action Plan is an essential part of getting “Europe up to speed on digital skills for both young people and adults”.

While this commitment had already been made before the pandemic started, it only got reinforced when the Digital action plan was included into the greater scheme of the Recovery plan for Europe – a financial instrument of roughly €1.100 billion for 2021 – 2027.

Dimitrov highlighted three priorities that support this mission: developing digital skills, using technology well, and improving education through data analysis. Progress in all three areas depends on how well we manage to create trust at a societal scale, he added:

“Capacity is important, competences are key, but what we actually need is an entire ecosystem of quality content and trusted platforms”.

As steps taken to consolidate this trust, Dimitrov mentioned the call for open public consultation launched by the Commission on the 18^th of June, and an upcoming initiative on credentials, addressing both micro and macro credentials.

Where disadvantaged groups are concerned, Dimitrov stressed the importance of converging education and social policies, as well as a bottom-up approach:

“In every school there is a good understanding of who these groups are, and what action needs to be taken at school level, as they are closest to these groups. Then policy can step in to provide vouchers, support, safe spaces, and access to education.”

In a closer look at the skills and competencies dimension, Yves Punie, JRC, reminded the webinar attendees that “digital natives are not necessarily digitally competent”.

This is where self-reflection tools like SELFIE prove useful.

Of the 667.365 users that have participated in the SELFIE survey, in 7.362 schools from 57 countries, 28% are from the Western Balkans and Turkey. In response to the interest these countries have expressed regarding aggregated data, Punie announced that the JRC and DG EAC were working together on a new data policy that would enable the sharing of aggregated data with the ministries.

“While scaling up is obviously considered the highest achievement for any activity funded by the Commission, we have so far been cautious because the philosophy of SELFIE is to be a tool that helps schools. The data is therefore owned by the schools, and this is essential to obtaining honest data.”

“We have a role to play to really support partner countries” Fanny Seree, at DG NEAR, continued, “and digital skills and digital education are part of the policy dialogue, both at bilateral and regional level. The policy dialogue needs to be fed by evidence and data, such as that coming from SELFIE, on digital skills.”

The evidence collected with the help of SELFIE and the resulting analysis, Seree added, will serve as the basis for policy dialogue with the Western Balkan countries:

“This diagnosis aims to result in concrete recommendations, to help the partner countries as well as the Commission to better prioritise where to invest first.”

The final result of the diagnosis run in the Western Balkans are expected within 2 years.

What matters most

The first half of 2020 has provided the world with extra motivation to develop digital and online learning (DOL) capacities. The urgent character of this need for digital transformation does not, however, mean that once we have come through the pandemic, such tools will no longer be necessary. On the contrary – the question is how to use them best.

“We can consider pre-conditions, like infrastructure, availability of devices, security of environments. We can consider the capacity of schools and teachers to use digital technologies for the best learning. But what I find most relevant is how we can bring learning to citizens, using digital technologies”, Anastasia Fetsi concluded. “Digital technologies are making it easier for teachers to step into new roles as facilitators of (peer) learning. And the role of teachers to really understand and use these tools for the learning process is an essential one.”

* The full presentation from the webinar can be downloaded in 6 languages from the main event page.