Sofia Call for Action on Digital Skills and Education was adopted following two-day discussions within the Flagship Conference “Educate to Create: from Digital Consumers to Digital Creators” in the calendar of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which took place in Sofia Tech Park. The instrument sets the guidelines for harnessing the potential of digital technologies and supporting education to become more innovative in all EU Member States, said Minister of Education and Science Denitsa Sacheva.
Sofia Call for Action on Digital Skills and Education is based on four components: inclusive digital education for all; training and continuing training of teachers to work in a digital environment; innovations in education, and cooperation between all stakeholders from education in developing training programmes. The full text of the document is available on the website of the conference “Educate to Create – from Digital Consumers to Digital Creators” at https://educatetocreate2018.bg/. Sofia Call for Action on Digital Skills and Education will be discussed during the upcoming meeting of the education ministers of all EU Member States on 22 May 2018.
Education is at the heart of learning to be not only digital consumers but also digital creators. Digital technologies offer unlimited opportunities but to benefit from those opportunities, Europeans need digital skills. Those skills are the ticket to the future, they are life skills. Therefore, new-reality-oriented educational systems in Member States are the key to helping people to acquire basic digital skills. With those words European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Maria Gabriel addressed the participants in the conference which took place within the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The conference brought together in Sofia more than 400 teachers, students, politicians, public, NGO and business sector representatives. High-level speakers included Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev, European Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Maria Gabriel, the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education Petra Kammerevert, among others.