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Dáta a fhoilsithe:  9 Mar 2022

Network of National Advisory Services for digital education: First meeting of 2022

The first meeting of the network of national advisory services (NASs) took place on 3 March 2022 and was hosted in the virtual space of the Digital Education hub.

What the network does

The network of NASs brings together organisations that are responsible for coordinating or advising on the implementation of digital education policy throughout the European Union (EU).

They carry out, monitor, evaluate and fund digital education activities. The network also supports the digital transformation of education and training organisations and helps regional and local governments to implement related policies.

Participants

The meeting was attended by participants from 22 organisations. The focus was to look at the means and substance of cooperation and support for a high-performing, innovative European digital education ecosystem.

Sharing experience and challenges

Two members of the network opened the discussion by sharing their experience and challenges with cooperation.

Indire – the Italian National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research – illustrated their involvement in the Avanguardie educative engaging primary and secondary schools in peer-tutoring network.

Some of the key challenges Indire underlined were related to bridging the gap between top-down and bottom-up approaches, as well as mainstreaming and scaling-up innovative practices in schools.

The DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service – reflected on how they promote virtual academic exchanges between universities and maintain an online Community of Practice.

The DAAD’s challenges relate to establishing virtual international exchange formats and digital credentials.

Members of the Network highlighted challenges concerning the fragmentation of the EdTech market, the lack of open standards and insufficient funding for innovation, in particular for smaller schools and educational organisations.

Funding and support

The network also welcomed the presentations of three external speakers. Google for Education were joined by the Andalucian Council of Innovation and Education from Spain and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM).  

Google for Education presented their €15 million Digital Education Fund, which supports EU Member States’ digital education transformation plans , complementing the €13.8 billion allocated to digital education under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The Andalusian Council explained how they use different funding mechanisms to foster innovation in the education system in region.

Finally, DG Reform presented the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) – an EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to Member States to design and implement reforms.

Dáta a fhoilsithe:  9 Mar 2022