Eurydice

The COVID19 pandemic changed many things and had a strong impact on education systems around the world. Protecting children, students and employees while  ensuring the continuity in learning was a challenge that the Ministry of Education addressed successfully. It allowed to demonstrate the importance of digitizing the education system and the benefits it brings.

In France, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports provided teachers with numerous resources to support the implementation of pedagogical continuity. This includes online resources, teaching platforms, as well as self-training guides for teachers.

The Norwegian educational system, from primary school level to universities, has embraced the digital opportunities to keep learning activities going as the country locked down in March 2020. As educational institutions were closed, digital learning opportunities have accelerated. Teachers and pupils/students were forced to quickly acquire new technological skills, teaching and learning styles.

The prompt and overall implementation of the synchronous (live lessons on Webex) and asynchronous (educational material on websites and platforms) distance learning methods was a great challenge for head teachers, students and parents alike.  The teaching community reacted very positively to the transition from at-school in situ presence learning into distance e-learning.  The prime concern of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs is to ensure the sustainability of the educational community.

Digitalisation is becoming increasingly important in all areas of contemporary life. School education thus has the task to prepare the children for the skills they need in the 21st century, where computational thinking is an essential competence.

KlasCement is a teachers’ resources platform aiming at supporting and guiding teachers in their daily practice. It is professionally managed connecting all educational stakeholders and giving them the opportunity to interact based on personal user profiles. 

‘Practical teaching and professional practice’ are integral parts of vocational secondary education, aiming at preparing students for their future occupation. It is also referred as work-based learning, as it combines the theory and the practice.

In France, a recently approved Law Decree (2020-978 of 5/8/2020) established the obligation, as of the academic year 2020/21, that all youngsters must receive training until 18 years old (previously until 16).  

This measure aims to prevent situations of adolescents left in circumstances where they received neither education, nor training, nor being employed.  The compulsory training requirement is met when adolescents aged 16 to 18 are:

The budget for scholarships and grants increased by 22% for the current academic year 2020-2021, being the most significant rise in the last ten years. The aim of this measure is to democratize the right to education by substantially increase the number of students who enter universities based on a criterion of socioeconomic status.  The total investment amounts to 1.900 million euros, which will benefit 625.514 students this year.

The national scholarship system and grants reform is based upon four main points:

Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET is the beneficiary of the programme e-Schools: a comprehensive informatisation of school operations and teaching processes aimed at the creation of digitally performant schools for the 21st century”, conducted from 2015 to 2022.