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Informatics in Schools

Fostering high-quality education in Informatics is one of the pillars of Informatics Europe. We are committed to promoting informatics education as one of the fundamentals in modern education across Europe. Here are some of our activity and achievement highlights:

CECE's Map of Informatics in European Schools, in partnership with ACM Europe

Informatics Europe, in partnership with ACM Europe, has been since 2012 proactively working on the matter of Informatics education in schools. The first outcome of this work was the landmark report "Informatics Education: Europe cannot afford to miss the boat", published in 2013. To follow up on this work the Committee on European Computing Education (CECE) was convened in 2014, the goal was to collect data on the current status of Informatics education across Europe. The outcome of three years of intensive work by the CECE is the major report on the state of art of education in Informatics, Digital Literacy, and Teacher Training in these disciplines in Europe: Informatics Education in Europe: Are We All in the Same Boat? The report is supplemented by an online map (cece-map.informatics-europe.org) where the results of the study can be explored visually and interactively.

Establishment of Informatics for All initiative, workshops & position paper

In 2017, the Informatics for All initiative was created to move the recommendations of the CECE report forward. Informatics for All is a coalition that aims at getting academia, industry, government, and society together to influence education policy in Europe toward the full recognition and establishment of Informatics as a foundational discipline in schools. In February 2018, the paper Informatics for All: The Strategy presenting a detailed strategy for the initiative was published. The paper has been distributed to key members of the European Commission who joined members of the Informatics Europe Board and the ACM Europe Council for a constructive discussion panel held in Brussels on March 15, 2018.

In February 2019, the Informatics for All coalition hosted a hands-on workshop in Brussels for over 50 representatives from leading European universities and industry where the top challenges for the initiative were identified and discussed. An important output of this workshop is the Action Plan that was developed and this forms the basis of Coalition activities in the coming months. 

Following the successful 2019 Workshop, the Informatics for All coalition planned a second Workshop on 17th March 2020. The event was scheduled to take place in Brussels, however due to COVID-19 outbreak, a Workshop Webinar took place. The video recording and presentations held during the Webinar can be found here. In addition, a Position Paper was prepared for the public consultation on the renovation of EC Digital Education Action Plan which preceded this event.

Informatics Reference Framework for School

In April 2022, IE President Prof. Enrico Nardelli and Board Member Prof. Michael E. Caspersen, core members of the Informatics for All coalition, have been invited to present the “Informatics Reference Framework for School” to the European Commission (EC) at a stakeholder consultation meeting in Brussels, in preparation for a Council Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills in education and training. The Reference Framework was published in February 2022 as a report to support the advancement of informatics as a fundamental discipline for the 21st century. During the meeting, the Reference Framework has been discussed with Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director for ‘Innovation, Digital Education and International Cooperation, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC), European Commission, and Georgi Dimitrov, Head of the ‘Digital Education’ Unit in the same Directorate. The vision proposed in the Framework, which provides a minimum set of high-level common requirements, leaving space for the national communities in various countries to derive fully-fledged curricula both attuned to their culture and needs, and coherent with a common European vision of informatics, has been highly appreciated. The Eurydice report "Informatics education at school in Europe" is published in October 2022, with Prof. Enrico Nardelli as the report's Scientific Expert, examining the subjects throughout primary and secondary education, including learning outcomes related to informatics in 37 European countries (39 education systems). The report also looks at the qualifications of the teachers of these subjects, training programmes, and other support measures available to them.

IE at EU Commission Expert Group on AI and Data in Education and Training

From July 2021 to October 2022, Prof. Viola Schiaffonati (Politecnico di Milano), served as Informatics Europe representative at the EU Commission Expert Group on AI and Data in Education and Training. The group assisted the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sports, and Culture with the preparation of practical guidelines for primary and secondary school educators, with concrete practices on the ethical implications of AI and data use in education and training.  Besides supporting the cooperation and the exchange of information, expertise, and best practices between the Commission and relevant stakeholders, the members of this group also helped to raise awareness within the education and training sectors about the opportunities and risks of the use of AI and data. As a result of this work, on October 25, the European Commission released the Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence and data in teaching and learning for educators. Informatics Europe is proud to have initiated this important work! You can find more details under the EU Commission press corner page, the article on europa.eu, and the article on DEAP website.

We also run petitions to advocate informatics for all at the European level, and support national associations in doing the same at their local level. Take action and sign them!

  •  Rome Declaration: join us to make Informatics accessible to all, throughout Europe.
  • Joint manifesto "Por la Informática en España", supporting our member institutions SCIE, and CODDII to promote the extension of informatics education at all levels of the educational system in Spain.

Read more about our task forces, summaries of outcomes, and resources related to Informatics in Schools in the tabs below.