Today the Culture Committee debated one Report on the design of digital education by reporter Viktor Negrescu (S&D), published on October 7, 2020. Negrescu had taken the trouble to submit a extensive working paper to publish, which summarizes the efforts of the EU Commission and the European Parliament since 2018 and now also takes up the situation in the member states due to the corona pandemic. For this purpose, statistics were evaluated and broad lines of the draft report were sketched.
The fact that 43% of EU citizens have fairly inadequate digital skills is just one finding that is not only disillusioning, but also reveals various digital gaps between urban and rural areas, between and within the member states. The socio-economic barrier cannot be overlooked, nor is the peculiarity that in Romania during the pandemic 100% of all schoolchildren were excluded from education for months, but this still affects 10% of all learners in the rich countries that actually have a good digital infrastructure.
In today’s exchange on the draft report, Martina Michels thanked the rapporteur for having done the patchwork around the Digital Education Action Plan is very well summarized and requires a more concentrated approach. Everyone’s access to education is paramount and goes so far that the digital infrastructure should be treated as a public good. He followed up on the problem that was noted on all sides that the lack of digital competence level is of course also a problem for teachers, alongside the learners, just as it is for the population as a whole. Only those who exercise their lifelong right to education and strive for further training are those who have acquired basic digital skills. Career changes and structural changes cannot be managed today without such skills.
However, Martina Michels made a point in the debate about the problems, which have become clear again through Covid-19, such as a lack of learning software and networking, because it cannot just be about emailing the previously copied worksheets during a lockdown Attentive problem that has not yet been discussed at all:
“Teachers will not be computer scientists in the future either. When developing learning software and learning networks, you should be part of the development team with your educational experience right from the start.
And at one point we need to rethink: At universities, network support is normal for everyone. We need computer scientists at every educational institution, including elementary school, internally, not externally. This also includes the first knowledge of programming through to data-secure applications, from setting up intranet structures at educational institutions. It’s about non-discriminatory communication and secure sources of knowledge on the Internet, etc. ”
(The video of the request to speak will be posted here immediately.)
The report will be drawn up in the coming weeks, with statements, for example from the Employment Committee (EMPL), and we will report on the progress.
A report on the future of education in view of the pandemic was voted in plenary last week. Martina had commented on the vote and we can take away from this – in addition to the problems already mentioned here – that we also need adequate funding for the best political proposals. This applies equally to the EU and the member states.
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