COMMISSION IN BID TO SPEED UP SCHOOLS' ESPOUSAL OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

Schools in Europe are gradually coming to embrace the new tools of the information society - but the process needs speeding up. It is, after all, a fundamental issue, in that young people have to learn to work with computers, CD-ROM, the Internet and what have you if they are to master tomorrow's trades and find jobs in tomorrow's world. That is why the Commission has today adopted an action plan under the title "Learning in the information society", whose aim is to speed up the process and which proposes four main lines of action: interconnection of schools at a Community level; development and dissemination of teaching material of European interest; training for teachers; and information on opportunities offered by audiovisual and multimedia products.

Tomorrow's jobs at stake today

Launched with the combined backing of Commissioners Edith Cresson, responsible for research, education and training, and Martin Bangemann, in charge of industrial affairs, telecommunications and information technologies, and with the agreement of Padraig Flynn, Commissioner for social affairs, the action plan underlines the educational importance of these information society products, as evidenced by various research and experimental projects. Provided they are properly geared to people's needs, such instruments make it easier to acquire knowledge and to develop new, flexible, customised and interactive forms of learning. Above all, they prepare people for tomorrow's trades, which will require an ability to use computers and the whole range of multimedia applications. What is at stake, then, is jobs for tomorrow's citizens

Hence the need without further ado to make the information society's resources available to schools and training establishments. If we fail to do this, only the children of well-off families and pupils of the best equipped schools will reap the benefits of educational multimedia. Increasingly inequitable access to these new practices will have serious consequences for the future of education and, in the longer term, for jobs and the general cohesiveness of European society. What is more, any delay would make Europe increasingly dependent on non-European sources of educational and cultural material, since this is a market in which US products currently predominate. This would be a bitter blow for the cultural identity and linguistic diversity of the European Union.

Unfortunately, there are still many obstacles. For one thing, the kind of computer equipment available at educational establishments is still insufficient, in terms of quality and quantity. In many cases, the multimedia "content" available on the market is unsuitable for teaching purposes. Schools are subject to severe budgetary constraints, and funding is limited. Finally, there is a pressing need for trained teachers and for teaching methods and systems to be adjusted, which is often a delicate exercise.

Four action lines, designed to bring in a strong Community added value element

The initiative "Learning in the information society" stems from the European Council in Florence and focuses on primary and secondary schools (including vocational schools), the weak links in the educational chain in terms of information technology resources. Four main action lines are proposed:

• Encouraging the interconnection of schools: The point here is to gradually increase the interlinking of existing regional and national networks and individual schools, to try out innovative educational projects focusing on the new technologies, and to create and interconnect multimedia discovery classes.
• Stimulating the development and dissemination of teaching "content" of European interest: The Commission intends to encourage cooperation with TV channels, multimedia publishers and producers responsible for co-productions and exchanges of products and services.
• Promoting training and support for teachers and trainers and aimed at using new technology in their teaching methods: This will involve stepping up training activities and encouraging the networking of training centres for teachers and trainers to enable "good practice" to be disseminated.
• Informing all concerned about the teaching opportunities afforded by the new technologies: Helping to create a forum for the exchange of information accessible on the Internet, and circulating information by the traditional media (leaflets and radio and television programmes).

The requisite funding can be obtained:

• by making use of Community resources, particularly from the programmes concerned with developing multimedia "content" (Media 2, Info 2000), education and training (Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci), and research (telematics applications, information technologies, socio-economic research) under the joint calls for proposals coordinated by the research/industry Task Force on educational multimedia software (launched in 1995 by Edith Cresson and Martin Bangemann), as well as funds allocated to the transEuropean telecommunications network and to the Structural Funds;
• by promoting permanent partnerships between the public and private sectors for fitting out and interconnecting schools in accordance with their needs and constraints (involving the signature of "letters of intent" and the possible setting-up of a European entity, such as a private foundation, and for designing multimedia content;
• by encouraging general goodwill through publicity events in conjunction with schools, multimedia firms and network operators. What the Commission is suggesting is an action weekend of networked schools to show what is being done and what progress has been made in networking schools electronically; or a European competition for the best educational multimedia products (with the award of a European label) in partnership with young people and teachers.