World Teachers Day: Commission launches tool to support primary and secondary teachers in using digital technologies

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

To mark World Teachers Day, the Commission is launching a new online tool for teachers to reflect on how they use digital technologies in their teaching activities. Based on a series of questions, the tool, ‘SELFIEforTEACHERS‘ can help them assess their digital competences and identify where they need further training and support. Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, and Slovenian Minister of Education, Science and Sport, Simona Kustec officially launch the tool today in Ljubljana.

Commissioner Gabriel said: “Teachers do an amazing job, and I want to thank them, on World Teachers Day. Digital technologies can bring about new methods for learning and teaching, and can even prove to be more inclusive and more fit to train ‘digital natives’. The tool we are launching today will allow European teachers to take a snapshot, a ‘selfie’, of where they stand with technology use and get advice on upskilling. It is important for the European Commission to accompany teachers in their lifelong learning development.”

The tool is today available in English, French, German and Slovenian. Versions in all official EU languages will follow in the coming weeks. 

How does the new tool work?

Any primary or secondary schoolteacher can sign-up to use the tool. Then, they react to a series of statements on their own use of technology, in six different areas:

• Teaching and learning
• Finding, using and creating digital resources
• Personalising learning and engaging students with hands-on learning
• Assessment and student feedback
• Communication and collaboration with students, families and colleagues
• Developing student digital skills

The teacher then receives an automated report with their results (from ‘beginner’ to ‘innovator’) with suggestions on how they could level up. Using the tool can be a good first step to identify strengths and to pinpoint areas for further professional development and support. All teachers completing their self-reflection can receive a certificate and digital badge.

Teachers can use the tool either individually or as part of a team, for example with a group of teachers within their school or with a team of subject teachers in their region or country. This can help planning within a school, network of schools, teacher education institution or local education authority.

All responses to SELFIEforTEACHERS are anonymous and no personal data is shared. The data is not designed to rank or assess teacher performance but to empower teachers to learn how they can use technology effectively in their work and how they can foster the digital skills of their students.

A pilot version of SELFIEforTEACHERS has been tested with more than 4,000 teachers in five countries (Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania and Portugal) this spring. Feedback was positive and teachers found the tool to be of high value and relevance to them. The Commission is working on developing resources and support material for teachers, including sharing practices from teachers who have used the tool for their professional learning.

Background

Funded by the Erasmus+ programme, SELFIEforTEACHERS was developed by the Commission in cooperation with education ministries and experts from across Europe. SELFIEforTEACHERS is based on the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators, which defines the various digital skills that educators increasingly require. It sets out 22 competences in six areas with six proficiency levels from beginner to pioneer.

SELFIEforTEACHERS, is one of the 13 actions of the Digital Education Action Plan, which aims to support education systems in Europe in adapting to digital change. A key goal of the action plan is to support the effective use of technology for teaching and learning. Central to this is empowering educators to use technology in their practice.  

The new tool can be used in combination with the SELFIE tool for entire school digital planning. SELFIE, which has been used by more than 1.7 million users in over 13,000 schools in 82 countries since its launch three years ago, focuses on the school as a whole. The new SELFIEforTEACHERS tool allows for a deeper dive into staff digital skills. The results can be used to identify and prioritise where further training and support is needed.