Digital Education Action Plan – Action 10

On this page:

• Guidelines for teaching informatics
• Council Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills
• Timeline and expected results

Guidelines for teaching informatics: practical strategies for European classrooms

High-quality informatics education helps students understand, critically engage with and shape digital technologies in a rapidly evolving world.

As a teacher or educator, you play a central role in developing the skills that learners need for study, work, and everyday life.

These guidelines support you in delivering high-quality informatics learning for all students, in line with the Council Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills.

Why do these guidelines matter for your teaching?

Help students build essential digital competences

Informatics develops future-ready skills like computational thinking, problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and logical reasoning. These skills support learning across subjects and prepare students for a fast-changing society. The guidelines help you bring these skills into your classroom in a clear and practical way.

Support equity and inclusion

Gender bias, the lack of inclusive teaching materials, and unequal access to tools still limit participation in informatics, especially for girls. The guidelines help you design lessons that engage all learners and support diverse learning needs.

Strengthen quality and consistency in informatics education

Many teachers teach informatics without specialised training or clear guidance. The guidelines give you structured support, practical examples, and trusted resources to build confidence and improve teaching quality.

What do the guidelines offer you?

The guidelines focus on learning that goes beyond basic coding or digital literacy and help students understand how technology works and how they can create with it.

You will find:

• Five structured chapters with practical tips you can integrate in your teaching practice
• Research-based explanations that support effective teaching
• Real-life classroom examples and case studies from across Europe
• A wide range of open-access resources you can use directly in your lessons

Who are the guidelines for?

The guidelines provide practical support for all educators at the primary and secondary school levels who are involved in teaching informatics, including vocational education and training.

Whether you specialised in teaching informatics or a general teacher who wants integrate digital topics into their subjects, these guidelines will help you bring high-quality digital education to your classroom.

What can you do next?

• Use the guidelines in your classroom
• Share them with colleagues in your school
• Involve school leaders, parents, and community partners

By using these guidelines, you contribute to stronger, more inclusive informatics education across Europe.

Council Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills

Technological progress has raised exponentially the need for digital skills and competences at all levels across the economy and society. However, only 55.6% of the EU population can perform basic digital tasks such as connecting to Wi-Fi or using websites.

The ambitious targets set as part of the Digital Compass 2030 and in the Council Resolution on a Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training focus on the level of digital skills for different groups of citizens such as professionals, adults or young people.

These initiatives require education and training systems to reinforce efforts to provide digital skills and competences to as many pupils as possible from an earlier age.

Improving the provision of digital skills

This Council Recommendation:

• aims to empower Europeans to develop basic, intermediate and advanced digital skills through education and training.
• articulates the steps needed to promote digital competence development from early on and at all stages of education and training. It includes using EU tools to invest in teacher professional development.
• encourages the exchange of best practices on instructional methods, including a focus on high-quality informatics at all levels of education, and working with civil society and the industry to develop good practices and meet new and emerging skills needs.

Timeline of key activities

Expected results

• contribute to the objectives of the digital skills targets of the Digital Compass and the European Education Area by improving the level of digital skills of the European population, and the gender balance among students and learners that will consider a career in the ICT sector
• trigger the development of coherent national and regional strategies for digital education and skills
• support EU countries with specific guidance on Informatics as a subject, including its principles, concepts and practices in teaching and learning

Funding

This action receives funding through: the Erasmus+ programme, European Social Fund Plus, Just Transition Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe, Technical Support Instrument.