The 2nd European Forum on digital citizenship education

The forum brought together policymakers, researchers, civil society organisations, and educators, and provided us with an opportunity to compare notes and see how we are responding to challenges the rapid digital innovation poses to civic education, and how our experiences could, or should, feed into official policy. More broadly, this forum is a part of the New Democratic Pact for Europe initiative. IDEA was represented by our Head of Education, Matija Pušnik, who shared how debate programs can equip young people with the analytical skills needed to evaluate online information and participate thoughtfully in public discussions.

An important insight of the forum was that digital civic competencies on the one hand require engagement with digital spaces and specific competencies they require, but, on the other hand, that many of the skills are transversal, and that digital civic education requires a wide array of competencies. IDEA believes that debate, in formal and non-formal education alike, has an important role to play in teaching young people how to make arguments, listen to them, criticise them, and maintain a culture of dialogue and open mindedness. 

We were able to learn a lot from this forum, especially in terms of understanding the concrete issues policymakers encounters in planning and drafting responses to the challenges of digital civic education, and teachers in juggling new, disruptive technologies, with tightly packed and sometimes rigid curricula. A lasting impression, however, is that many institutions and stakeholders are actively innovating and ensuring digital civic education keeps up with the new challenges; IDEA is resolved to continue its contributions in the future as well.

You can read more about the forum here!