Proposals submitted under this topic must address one of the following priorities, and these are further explained below:

Priority 1: Building a teaching framework and policy intervention aiming to boost gender balance in pursuing ICT related studies and professions

Europe is facing a growing need for ICT specialists and especially female specialists who only represent 19% of the field. Supporting research on the key factors and actors influencing girls’ aspirations and mapping best practices across Europe could help developing and piloting of a more impactful and scalable policy intervention. In addition, a relevant teaching framework could support educators in primary and secondary schools with breaking patterns of harmful cultural barriers such as gender stereotypes and biases, often conveyed in language and visuals.

Priority 2: Digital well-being: Putting into practice what works

Well-being in digital education is an emerging policy area which addresses the effects of the digital technologies on the well-being of the school community. It is central for the mainstreaming of high-quality and inclusive digital education (i.e. digitally competent teachers, high quality digital content, effective pedagogy, access to devices etc.).

It is important to accompany the evolution of digital education through a holistic approach that responds to the challenges and takes advantage of the benefits of today’s digital world while safeguarding children’s and young people’s privacy, safety and mental health. Lastly, this policy situates well being in the broader digital education ecosystem and the complex nature of wellbeing in digital education is intertwined with the integration of digital technologies in learning, teaching and assessment.

Priority 3: Data literacy strategies in primary and secondary education

Data plays a crucial role in education as they provide valuable insights into student learning, helps educators make informed decisions, and drives continuous improvement in teaching and learning. Data are important in a number of key functions: assessment, personalisation, evaluation, decision-making and research.

Data literacy is the ability to critically understand, evaluate, create and communicate data as information, and it focuses on the competences involved in working with data.

This skill set and knowledge base provides many advantages.
Data literacy also gives teachers tools to improve their teaching, reduce their workload, connect better with individual students, and enables teachers to educate students in developing this skill.