Structured Dialogue with Member States on digital education and skills

Promoting accessible, high-quality and inclusive digital education must be a common endeavour across society. Governments, education and training institutions, the private sector and the public all need to be committed to delivering a high-performing digital education ecosystem.

President Ursula von der Leyen called in her 2021 State of the Union address for “leaders’ attention and a structured dialogue at top-level” on digital education and skills. The Structured Dialogue with Member States on digital education and skills started in October 2021 and aimed to increase the political visibility and commitments on digital education and skills, so Europe can deliver on the ambitious targets set out for 2030.

The Structured Dialogue was implemented through EU-level discussions and bilateral meetings between the Commission and individual EU countries’ representatives. These gathered different sectors and institutions of government, as well as various stakeholders, such as social partners, civil society and the private sector. The dialogue was guided by the concept of “whole-of-government approach” which involves collaboration between various sectors of government. This approach brought together different strands of policy, including:

• education and training
• digitalisation
• employment and social affairs
• finances and investment

Objectives

• focus on how to achieve ambitious national and European objectives in digital education and skills
• mobilise EU tools to better support EU countries in their additional reform efforts to deliver on the 2030 vision
• increase the political visibility and commitments on digital education and skills
• feed into the future actions at EU level, particularly the planned initiatives on digital education and skills, as well as into the preparations for the 2030 Digital Decade Policy Programme 
• bring together different policy strands: education, labour, digitalisation and finance ministries as well as all relevant stakeholders, from education and training institutions to infrastructure providers, the private sector, social partners, civil society and the innovation, technology and research community

Key activities

• discussions with EU countries in a common setting, in the high-level group of national coordinators for digital education and skills
• bilateral dialogues with EU countries
• stakeholder consultations
• preparing proposals for Council recommendations on the key enabling factors for successful digital education and training and on improving the provision of digital skills in education and training
• providing input for the Digital Decade Policy Programme and national roadmaps

Results

• increased political commitment of the EU countries towards EU objectives on digital education and skills
• shared experience and best practices
• raised awareness of the key factors for the successful digital transformation of education and training systems and improvement of digital skills

Timeline

Council Recommendation on the key enabling factors for successful digital education and training

The Council Recommendation outlines a modern framework of investment, governance and capacity-building for effective and inclusive digital education and training.

Digital education and training are essential in supporting the resilience, accessibility, quality and inclusiveness of education and training systems, and in enabling learners to thrive in today’s digital world.

The COVID-19 crisis highlighted the need for systemic digital transformation in education and training. Drawing on the results of the Structured Dialogue, the Council Recommendation calls on all EU countries to ensure universal access to inclusive and high-quality digital education and training for everyone, addressing the digital divide.

Objectives

This recommendation aims to promote the necessary structural reforms at national level in the EU countries, to enable significant progress in the digital transformation of education and training, based on:

• coherent strategies specifically addressing digital education and skills
• improving policy feedback, through better monitoring and evaluation of digital education and training policies and faster integration of these results in policy upgrading
• a whole-of-government approach to digital education and training, and strengthened cooperation amongst stakeholders, including with the private sector
• building and enhancing partnerships with teachers, while ensuring access to digital training for all teachers, educators and staff and support digital capacity building for all education and training institutions
• equitable and impact-focused investment in quality and inclusive digital education and training

Key activities

• discussions in the Structured Dialogue on Digital Education and Skills (2022)
• stakeholder consultations (2022)
• Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation (April 2023)
• adoption of the Council Recommendation on the key enabling factors for successful digital education and training (November 2023)

Timeline

Funding

This action is funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, European Social Fund Plus, Just Transition Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe.