European Trade Union Committee for Education

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On 16 June 2021, the European Commission hold a webinar to present their plan and piloting of a newly  developed self-assessment tool, the SELFIE for Teachers. SELFIE is one of the 13 initiatives announced in the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) of the European Commission. SELFIE for Teachers is a self-reflection tool based on the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu), which has been developed with the aim to support teachers in the development of their digital competencies and in the use of digital technologies for effective teaching and learning.

Users of the tool need to answer a questionnaire in the beginning to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses concerning digital competencies. This is followed by a personalised feedback form which highlights areas of improvement and a customized, individual learning plan that can be pursued at one’s own pace. Moreover, the tool connects users of all digital proficiency levels to exchange knowledge, troubles and good practices.

The tool has been tested by 3299 teachers across 5 European countries. Five of these teachers from Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, and Estonia have been invited to the event to share their stories about using SELFIE for Teachers and to offer suggestions on improving the tool. The final self-assessment tool will be launched and ready to be used in October 2021.

SELFIE for Teachers is currently only applicable for primary, lower and upper-secondary education. However, the European Commission is looking into extending SELFIE for Teachers to higher education. The platform was perceived as user-friendly and useful to exchange practices among teachers. In the webinar, the European Commission received suggestions to improve the tool to be used by teachers who work in different types of schools and education levels and to make the tool context specific by offering practical activities and resources according to the users’ needs within the local context.

Lastly, SELFIE for Teachers is a distinct, separate tool from the already available and broadly used SELFIE Tool which was developed to be used by any school actors.

SELFIE for Teachers will be launched in October 2021 in 24 different EU languages.