Informatics for All Members Emphasize Need for Informatics Education at Digital Education Action Plan Closing Event

September 22, 2020

Informatics for All steering committee members Enrico Nardelli (President of Informatics Europe) and Austeja Trinkunaite (Secretary General of CEPIS) participated in the 9 September closing event of public consultation on renewing the European Commission's Digital Education Action Plan (DEAP), which seeks to support the use of technology in education and the development of digital competences in European Union countries.

The period of open public consultation on the new DEAP gathered views of citizens, institutions and organizations on their experiences and expectations during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as their visions for the future of digital education.

The closing event consisted of private meetings of invited experts who participated in one of three “clusters” focused on various aspects of DEAP. The clusters included policy makers; students, parents and teachers; and advocates of digital education. Nardelli and Trinkunaite participated in the digital education cluster which addressed a very broad set of topics. They stressed the need for Informatics Education and cited the Informatics for All position paper that came out of their March workshop focused on DEAP.

The public phase of the closing event was introduced by Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, and was livestreamed. It consisted of reports from the various clusters, and invited Q&A from participants and social media.

Informatics for All, a coalition formed by the ACM Europe Council, CEPIS, and Informatics Europe, aims to establish informatics as a fundamental discipline to be taken by all students in school.