Ei-iE

The European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) has published a framework on how teacher unions can help to prevent early school leaving with the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in schools. This is the result of a multinational project in partnership with teacher unions from Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. The guidelines will also serve as a basis for policy work in the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Education.

The multinational ICT project involved different activities, notably case studies and a workshop involving students, teachers and head teachers, teacher unions, and education employers. Its aim was to help reduce the percentage of early school leavers in upper secondary schools in Europe and to support students at risk of exclusion from formal education through the pedagogical use of ICT, ICT-based tools and innovative teaching based on ICT. The project was funded with support from the European Commission.

The project, aimed specifically at including teachers and students from the participating countries at grassroots level, combined both research and practical expertise, with case studies in schools and teacher education institutions, and a workshop. The results of the case studies were presented at a final conference in November 2013 in Bratislava.

The specific objectives of the project were to:

• Identify how ICT and innovative teaching methods based on ICT can motivate and re-attract students at risk of exclusion from formal education
• Analyse the effect that using ICT in education has on these students at risk of exclusion in terms of raising the potential to (re)connect them to learning and active citizenship
• Identify specific teacher skills and competences needed to make proper use of ICT in education
• Analyse how teachers can use ICT to better integrate and bridge between formal end non-formal education
• Examine the transferability of methods and project results to other countries

EI: ICT a useful tool

EI believes that ICT provides opportunities to enhance the quality of education; facilitate new forms of interaction between students, teachers, education employees and the community; and enhance the quality of education by making education more accessible. That is according to a statement on the use of ICT in Education adopted at EI’s 42nd executive board in December 2013.

Although education may be enriched by integrating such technologies into traditional educational activities, ICT should never displace the relationship between teacher and learner which is crucial to the learning and development process.

More information:

• To learn more about this project and to follow up its results, visit http://www.elfe-eu.net/
• ETUCE’s brochure with draft guidelines can be accessed here
• Read ETUCE’s Statement on the European Commission’s Communication on Opening up Education here
• The policy document approved at EI’s 42nd executive Board meeting on the use of ICT in education can be accessed here