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Resolution 2313 (2019)
The role of education in the digital era: from “digital natives” to “digital citizens”
1. The 21st century needs education
systems that promote skills and competences for the future, not
least creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication,
and that respond to Europe’s demands for economic innovation, growth
and the adaptability of labour markets, and the needs of society
at large.
2. Digital technology offers unprecedented opportunities to complement,
enrich and transform education to meet these new challenges. In
addition, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are
a key tool to facilitate equitable and inclusive access to education,
bridge the learning divides, open new perspectives for teachers
and for their profession, enhance the quality and meaning of learning,
and improve education administration and governance.
3. Education systems all over Europe have, however, been slow
to adapt to the new circumstances. Currently, it is estimated that
some 44% of adults in the European Union (EU) member States do not
have sufficient digital skills and nearly 20% have no digital skills
at all. Less than half of children are in digitally equipped schools
today and only 20% to 25% of students are taught by teachers who
are confident using technology in the classroom. The divide is even
wider in the greater Council of Europe area.
4. “Digital natives”, albeit proficient in the informal use of
hi-tech tools and social media, do not necessarily learn to make
systematic use of ICTs in academic settings. To date, 50% to 80%
of schoolchildren have never used digital textbooks, software or
learning games.
5. The acquisition of digital skills starts at school, yet a
large proportion of schools are not connected. One of the goals
of the EU European Education Area project is to ensure that by 2025
all schools in the European Union have access to high-capacity broadband
networks, and this with adequate financial backing. Other Council
of Europe member States do not benefit from similar resources and
support structures. The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned that
such substantial disparities risk creating new social divides both within
and between European countries.
6. Many countries outside the European Union have made heavy
investments to equip schools with ICTs. The Assembly recalls, however,
that technological investments made without integrating ICTs meaningfully into
teaching and learning processes will not bring about the desired
transformations in education. A major paradigm shift is necessary
to refocus education from knowledge transmission to knowledge creation
and from the teacher’s teaching process to the student’s learning
process. This paradigm shift should be accompanied by properly defined
strategic goals; enhanced autonomy of schools and of teachers; introduction
of new hybrid forms of learning where mobile, digital, virtual,
social and physical learning spaces merge; and substantial reforms
in student assessment.
7. In this process, young people need to be equipped with appropriate
skills and competences to become efficient and responsible actors
in the increasingly digitalised world. The Assembly commends the
European Union institutions for their work in this domain, and in
particular for the adoption of the European Commission’s Digital
Education Action Plan in 2018 and for having drafted the comprehensive
Digital Competence Frameworks for Citizens and for Educators, which
together offer an in-depth reference model to systematically promote
digital competence.
8. The acquisition of digital skills needs to start from the
earliest age and continue throughout life. Learning about robotics,
coding, cybersecurity, blockchain and artificial intelligence will
form the backbone of future education and training schemes. Active,
problem-based learning that covers various subject areas will benefit creativity
and innovation. The Assembly stresses the urgency of establishing
a minimum level of digital competences that students should acquire
during their studies and the criteria to assess them. In this regard, the
Assembly commends the Council of Europe Guidelines to respect, protect
and fulfil the rights of the child in the digital environment, which
provide comprehensive guidance in this area, notably concerning
the promotion and development of digital literacy, including literacy
in media and information, and digital citizenship education.
9. The Assembly regrets that, whereas a similar share of young
women and young men feel sufficiently skilled to use digital technologies
in their daily lives, there is still a considerable gender gap when
it comes to young women’s representation in ICT and science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies and careers. The Assembly
recalls its Resolution
2235 (2018) “Empowering women in the economy”, which emphasised
that greater efforts should be made to enhance the use of information
and communication technology by girls, and motivate young women
to pursue technical professions, the latter being necessary to unleash
Europe’s digital potential and ensure that women take an equal share
in shaping the digital world.
10. Digital transformation creates numerous challenges for online
safety and cyber hygiene. Digital natives are particularly vulnerable
to a wide range of dangers; they are exposed particularly but not
exclusively, to risks of harm from sexual exploitation and abuse,
cyber bullying and harassment, indoctrination, cybersecurity threats
and fraud. They need to be trained in critical thinking and media
literacy. It is the role of education systems, the media and other
stakeholders to help them become competent and responsible digital
citizens and actors in both the digital economy and digital society.
In this context, the Assembly pays tribute to the Council of Europe’s
Digital Citizenship Education project, which provides competences
that help digital natives to engage positively and critically in
the digital environment.
11. The Assembly is conscious that the excessive use of ICT equipment
may cause problems related to health and well-being, including sleep
deprivation, a sedentary lifestyle and addiction. It is therefore
particularly important, in curriculum design, to balance the daily
classroom use of technological and ICT equipment with adequate physical
exercise and training. It is also vital in the learner-focused approach
to education to encourage teamwork, personal contact between students
and teachers, and to prioritise the well-being and healthy development
of children and adolescents.
12. For the educational transformation to be successful, teachers,
educators and school leaders need to be properly assisted and trained.
Their training should take place at two levels: training in ICTs,
so that digital skills can be transmitted to students effectively,
and training in the integration of ICTs into teaching methods so
that digital technology becomes not just an objective but also a
vector of teaching across all subjects. Governments must find ways
to make appropriate and sustainable investment in both initial teacher
training and in-service development. Competent, digitally confident
and motivated teachers in a reform-supportive environment are the
best guarantors of innovative and engaging learning environments.
For this, teachers must be effectively involved in curriculum design
and development and they should be empowered to enjoy the autonomy
to choose and to vary methods of instruction, pedagogical approaches,
selection of teaching materials and evaluation methods.
13. In the light of the above, the Assembly calls upon the governments
of Council of Europe member States:
13.1. when devising digital education and skills development
policies, to take into consideration the above-mentioned concerns
and principles, alongside those stipulated in Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)10
of the Committee of Ministers to member States on developing and
promoting digital citizenship education and in:
13.1.1. the
Qingdao Declaration “Seize digital opportunities, lead education
transformation”, signed by all UNESCO member States in 2015;
13.1.2. the recent European Union policy documents, in particular
in the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences
for lifelong learning and the Council conclusions of the same date
on moving towards a vision of a European Education Area, the European
Commission communications on the Digital Education Action Plan (COM/2018/0022), improving
and modernising education (COM(2016)0941) and a New Skills Agenda
for Europe (COM(2016)0381), its report “DigComp 2.1: The Digital
Competence Framework for Citizens”, the European Parliament Resolution
of 12 June 2018 on modernisation of education in the European Union
and the Committee on Culture and Education report on education in
the digital era: challenges, opportunities and lessons for European
Union policy design;
13.1.3. the Council of Europe publications Digital Citizenship
Education – Volume 1 Overview and new perspectives and Volume 2
Multi-stakeholder consultation report;
13.1.4. the Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences
for Democratic Culture;
13.1.5. the Council of Europe Guidelines to respect, protect and
fulfil the rights of the child in the digital environment;
13.2. to develop and implement complementary policies to combat
digital exclusion, and to ensure that these policies reach all population
groups, especially the most vulnerable ones;
13.3. to review the role of teachers and educators in society,
offering them both initial and in-service training and development
opportunities, to improve their digital skills and competences so
that digital technology can be integrated in learning processes
in pedagogically meaningful ways, enriching the processes and enabling
new pedagogical solutions that are motivating for teachers as well;
13.4. to empower schools with more autonomy to develop new learning
methods that can be tested and adapted to various new settings,
because the Europe of the future needs creativity, not uniformity;
13.5. to invest in ICT facilities and digital resources to support
learning, including hardware, software, connectivity and adequate
bandwidth;
13.6. to further integrate digital citizenship education in
formal and non-formal education as defined in the digital citizenship
education project of the Council of Europe;
13.7. to increase dialogue and joint action between government,
educational, training and research institutions, local communities
and businesses, notably in content development, keeping in mind
the risks of over-commercialisation of educational content;
13.8. to share their experiences and best practices through
the various international forums.
14. The Assembly acknowledges the lead role that the European
Union has assumed in pushing the digital education agenda as an
investment strategy for Europe’s future, promoting economic growth,
employability, competitiveness, innovation and social cohesion.
This is an ambitious plan to provide modern quality education for
all. In order to ensure that nobody is left behind in this process
and to avoid creating new dividing lines within and between European
nations, the Assembly urges the European Union institutions to:
14.1. consider including the development
of digital skills and competences and technical support to schools
as a priority area of project funding in non-European Union countries;
14.2. develop a comprehensive digital education strategy that
defines the steps toward enhanced formal, non-formal and informal
education and training, maps the full range of digital skills and competences
required, provides clear guidance for teacher training and develops
a harmonised method for the assessment and certification of digital
skills and competences.
15. The Assembly welcomes the project of the OECD to develop a
digital module for PISA 2024 in order to test the ability of students
to learn in a digital world. It hopes that this new module will
incorporate new formats for benchmarking and assessing interdisciplinary,
complex skills such as problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking
and creativity. It urges the OECD to further develop peer-learning
online platforms that can facilitate the direct sharing of educational
methods and best practices between practitioners around the world.