The European Recommendation on Teaching Informatics in Schools

by Enrico Nardelli

(versione italiana qua)

On Wednesday, December 6th, a press conference was held at the Chamber of Deputies, organized by the Innovation Intergroup (a cross-party group of parliamentarians committed to innovation issues), dedicated to the adoption by the Council of the European Union of the European Commission's proposed Recommendation on the teaching of informatics in schools. Representing the Intergroup were Senator Lorenzo Basso (PD) and Deputies Giulio Centemero (Lega) and Giulia Pastorella (Azione). Representing the business world were Agostino Santoni (Vice President for Digital at Confindustria) and Giorgio Binda (National President of Unimatica Confapi). A video of the press conference is available at this link.

The approved Recommendation addresses the need for education to support digital transformation by providing the necessary skills. Consequently, it recommends that all Member States develop high-quality informatics education in both primary and secondary schooling.

More specifically, the Recommendation calls on Member States to:

• Introducing high-quality informatics teaching from the start of compulsory education, with clearly defined learning objectives, dedicated time, and assessment methods, in order to offer all students the chance to develop their digital skills on a scientifically sound basis;
• Ensuring that informatics is taught by qualified teachers who have access to high-quality teaching resources, sound pedagogical approaches, and appropriate methods for evaluating learning outcomes.

This sends a clear message to all Member States: informatics is a fundamental scientific discipline for the education of all citizens in the 21st century. It is a timely and much needed guideline. Indeed, as societies moved from an agricultural to an industrial model, education evolved to include in compulsory schooling those sciences (physics, biology, chemistry, etc.) underpinning industrial machinery. In the same way, the shift from an industrial to a digital society requires adding informatics to compulsory education, as the discipline essential to understanding digital machines.

This Recommendation therefore marks a historic turning point, which we hope will finally prompt all European countries to launch serious and sustained informatics education initiatives in schools. It should be recalled that education remains a national competence, and the role of the European Union is therefore subsidiary.

All speakers agreed in reiterating the hope that Italy will launch intensive educational activities in this direction, stressing the importance of creating a synergy between the public and private sectors.

In Italy, the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, has long declared his intention to strengthen scientific education in schools—a highly commendable goal. Furthermore, since this Commission proposal clearly identifies informatics as the foundational scientific subject for the digital age, it would be appropriate to integrate existing plans in this sector, including within the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), where currently only operational skills for using digital technology are discussed.

To this end, Mission M4 (Education and Research) of the PNRR includes sub-component C1.3 (Skills Enhancement and Infrastructure Strengthening), which provides for Investment 3.1 (New Skills and New Languages), with the objective of «promoting the integration, across the curricula of all school cycles, of activities, methodologies, and content aimed at developing STEM, digital, and innovation competencies», with 1.1 billion euros in available funding.

Ministerial Decree No. 184 of 2023 published the STEM guidelines, which provide only broad, necessarily non-detailed indications of what should be done with regard to digital competencies. In this regard, it should be noted that the "Informatics and School" Laboratory of CINI, the Consortium representing over 50 Italian state universities active in the informatics sector and thus Italy’s reference institution for informatics education, had already prepared a very detailed proposal in December 2017 regarding competency targets and learning objectives for teaching informatics throughout compulsory education, which is cited in a note within the guidelines themselves.

p>With Ministerial Decree No. 65 of April 12, 2023, the Ministry has already allocated 600 million euros to schools for the development of students’ STEM skills: each institution must design its projects in line with the aforementioned guidelines. We note at the outset that, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of digital transformation processes, student training must be complemented by teacher training, so that students can continue to be prepared in the years beyond the PNRR funding period. Furthermore, to enhance the effectiveness of the Ministry’s action, participating schools should be provided with precise guidance on content, without, of course, infringing on school autonomy.

In this light, it is helpful to look at which large European countries faced this crossroad before us and can show us the way. Take the United Kingdom, for example. In the 2014-15 school year, they introduced a mandatory informatics curriculum for all schools. In November 2017, a Royal Society report highlighted that the situation had actually worsened. Consequently, in November 2018, the government decided to allocate 84 million pounds to create a national institute for teaching informatics, the National Centre for Computing Education, which was established in 2019 and is currently being re-funded.

Sufficient funds should remain under Investment Line 3.1 to support a similar initiative, which is indispensable if the country is to be adequately prepared for the digital transition.

A clear political commitment in this direction is therefore essential, supported by broad and cross-party consensus, in order to guide a transformation that will require at least a decade to complete. Only in this way can we ensure that future generations are equipped to shape – and not merely adapt to – their digital future.

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The original version (in italian) has been published by "StartMAG" on 23 December 2023.