The rapid evolution and digitalisation of society means that schools are having to adjust the ways in which they communicate with and teach students. Teaching methods and practices are having to adapt to these changes and must take into account how important technology is for the younger generations. These ‘digital natives’ require technology to be part of their learning process, and this means that there is an obvious need for teachers to increase their digital awareness.

In the past, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education and training facilities and teaching staff have typically had "technology" and "incorporating" approaches, with the result that teachers appreciate and use technology, but rarely bring it into class. In recent years there has been a growth towards a more intrusive breakdown of traditional didactic schemes, in particular with small scale interventions. To this extent it is important to review pedagogical approaches.

This is the main goal of DECODE (DEvelop COmpetences in Digital Era), an Erasmus+ funded project which is exploring the skills need facing education professionals as technology becomes more common in the classroom.

The activities are being developed following a stepwise approach.

A first step regarded the definition of the entire research design (IO1).

In the second step DECODE produced the National Research Report on “Training models and pedagogical teaching methods for teachers in the digital age” (IO2), where each Partner country identified the most interesting training models and pedagogical teaching methods for teachers to improve their digital skills and favour their incorporation of digital resources in their daily practices.

In the third step DECODE produced “Guidelines for Assuring Quality in the process of Integration of ICT tools in the teaching-learning process“ (IO3).

In the fourth step each country realized the quantitative research and produce a report, titled “Practices, skills and training needs of digital teachers” (IO4) based on the results of national online survey.

The fifth step DECODE will produce a pilot training to improve teachers’ competence (IO5), to realize a national report to share evidence of testing.

The sixth step will gather all intermediate national report to elaborate the Comparative International Report.

Now DECODE is at the end of its fourth phase: realising a quantitative research on “Practices, skills and training needs of digital teachers".

A report will be soon produced, based on the results of national online survey.

The comparative survey aims to detect experiences, skills and training needs of teachers with the aim of detecting strengths, areas for improvement and development prospects, encouraged by the changes observed in the new educational paradigm, through a multi-dimensional and multi-perspective approach. The survey aims to reconstruct the digital innovation trend in educational agencies (meso level), supporting the accompanying demands of educational agencies.

To know more about the project, please visit the website: www.decode-net.eu