42 Amendments of Dominique BILDE related to 2018/2090(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, with technology developing at an accelerating rate, the digital society and economy are now a fact of life, meaning that digital skills are essentialver more useful in a large number of jobs;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the innovative capacity of technology is conditioned by the leveltraining of a sufficient number of dhigital skills of the populationh-calibre specialists in the areas of science and technology, and by the quality of teaching in higher education in the Member States and professional training in these areas;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas a basic knowledge of digital technologies is becoming vital for completing essential administrative and everydaytasks, given that a growing number of administrative services are being dematerialised, as are certain everyday - but relatively simple - tasks;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas it is estimated that approximately half of the current jobs worldwide – and 30 % in the European Union – will disappear over the next 25 years9, withand even new professions requiring advanced digital skills emergingwill disappear, given the advances made in artificial intelligence; _________________ 9 http://eskills- scale.eu/fileadmin/eskills_scale/all_final_d eliverables/scale_digitalisation_report.pdf
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas, however, according to a Cedefop publication dated June 2018, growth growth projections point to a sharp rise in demand for ‘lower-skilled jobs’, particularly in the sales, security and cleaning sectors and catering and care professions, and a stable number of jobs in certain fields, including person- centred services such as hospitality; whereas in spite of the rapid progress made in digital technologies, which should also affect these sectors and in particular the health sector, there will also be a need to meet the increased demand in person-based and manual occupations, which require a very moderate level of digital skills, in particular by means of a suitable policy to steer people towards apprenticeship;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas, however, gaps in digital knowledge are often associated with general learning gaps, and the number of pupils with difficulties in mathematics and science in particular has increased between the 2012 and 2015 PISA assessments in most Member States, reaching about 22% for mathematics, and even approximately 40% in Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus in 2015;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas in spite of the predominance of technology in the daily life of the ‘Y’ generation, born after 1980, a study by the Educational Testing Services of the prestigious US-based University of Princeton noted that this generation showed the poorest level of all age groups in the United States in the basic skills - reading and comprehension (literacy), basic mathematics and problem-solving in a technology-rich environment - which shows that there is no causal link between the omnipresence of digital technologies and the acquisition of a high level of digital skills; whereas, in the same study, some European countries had the same or lower scores than the US for Generation Y skills in reading and comprehension (Italy and Spain) and problem-solving in a technological environment (Slovakia, Ireland and Poland);
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
Amendment 32 #
I. whereas a new and innovative approach should place technology at the heart of educationthere is a need to reconnect with tried and tested methods of teaching, in particular systematic learning and repeated exercises for mathematics and traditional methods for learning to read: the syllabic method, homework, and, if necessary, a repeated year if the pupil fails at school;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas, according to an OECD study of 15 September 2015, schools which have invested more heavily in new technologies than the other countries studied have not seen a significant improvement in school performance; whereas new technologies at school could even have helped to exacerbate existing inequalities between students, according to the OECD director of education Andreas Schleicher, quoted by the BBC (15.09.2015);
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas the most successful education systems, particularly in Asia (and in particular South Korea, Japan and Singapore), make limited use of new technologies in schools; whereas in contrast, in seven of the states studied, where the use of new technologies was the most intensive, there was a deterioration in school performance in reading, in particular in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas the ‘active participation’ of pupils should not change the teacher- pupil hierarchy and whereas, in this respect, the PISA tests include an assessment of the disciplinary climate in classes, which - according to the test - is a key condition for academic success; whereas France, in particular, has experienced a steady decline in the disciplinary climate in classes since the year 2000, and school results have deteriorated accordingly;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J b (new)
Recital J b (new)
Jb. whereas some of the best- performing states in the PISA tests, in particular South Korea and Singapore, are implementing educational methods based on strict hierarchy and discipline within classes, and this educational model should be reconsidered in Europe in view of the excellent academic results it yields;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J c (new)
Recital J c (new)
Jc. whereas the models generally invoked in support of ‘participatory’ teaching methods - the Scandinavian models, in particular Finland - have not necessarily proven effective, given that a comparison of Finland’s results in the PISA tests in 2012 and 2015 shows a notable decline in mathematics and science;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas basic education in cyber hygiene, cyber safety and media literacy is necessary from an early age to help children become critical consumers, make informed decisions and be aware of risks associated with the Internet, in particular cyber-bullying and access to pornography;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas parents should be made aware of the risks associated with early use of the Internet and social networks, in particular access to pornography and cyber-bullying, but also the impact of exposure to screens on cognitive development and academic results;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas digital learning can be a more captivating, less passive, and more personalised way of teaching thannot replace lecture- style teaching methods, providing platforms for collaboration and knowledge creation and students’ consistent attendance of classes;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas a number of professors in the French universities and higher education institutions, in particular the President of the Association of Teachers of Economic and Commercial Preparatory Classes (France), advise against the ongoing use of computers and advocate a return to paper-based methods; whereas some prestigious institutions, like the preparatory classes at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, have banned the ongoing use of the computer in view of its negative impact on academic results caused by the low involvement of the student and the distraction caused by Wi- Fi, and whereas, for this reason, the use of computers in higher education should be minimised to what is strictly necessary for the academic content being covered and to encourage students to take notes in the traditional way;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas, to better deliver on the promise of technology, Member States need convincing strategies to build teachers’ capacity and policymakers need to become better at building support for this agendafor the digitisation of teaching that take account of the harmful effect of exposure to new technologies, in particular screens, on cognitive development, mental health and academic results;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the fact that adults who are out of work or in jobs that do not require digital skills tend to fall quickly behind their more digitally proficient peers, thus hampering probably reflects an overall lack of general skills, in particular basic skills such as mathematics and reading, which hampers their job prospects and exacerbatinges social and economic disparities; whereas primary and secondary-level teaching should be improved to reduce the number of people leaving the school system with or without qualifications but without having obtained basic skills in the key disciplines;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas lifelong learning opportunities tend to be far more available to already highly-skilled workers; whereas lifelong learning should be promoted as a way of boosting social mobility, in particular for low- or medium-skilled workers, which could help to increase motivation and productivity10; _________________ 10 Joint Employment Report 2018, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?qid=1519897788119&ur i=CELEX%3A52017DC0674
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O a (new)
Recital O a (new)
Oa. whereas 30% of higher education graduates in the European Union hold jobs that do not match their formal qualifications, and they are very often over-qualified, which can lead to a loss of productivity in the long term; whereas, therefore, professional reorientation or retraining schemes should also be introduced for workers with a higher education diploma with a view to tackling this phenomenon;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas ongoing monitoring and assessment of digital skills proficiency both in organisations and among individuals is a prerequisite for effective policy deliverycould be a good way to develop suitable policies in this area;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that digital skills acquisition requires a ‘cradle to grave’ approach anchored in lifelong learning across formal and non-formal education settings, with a policy response and targeted interventions appropriate to the needs of different age groups and learners, especially given that non-specialised digital skills are generally acquired spontaneously over the course of one’s professional life, in particular at the beginning - higher education students carrying out their first internships in companies, for example;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses, therefore, that a transformation of the educational and training systems at all levels is necessary to meet the demands of the society and labour market of the futureif we are to ensure that no European completes secondary or higher education without mastering the basic skills, in particular in the areas of reading, maths and sciences, that are key to finding a place on the labour market;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Regrets that, despite the potential of digitalisation for fostering and enhancing learning, the impact the increased use of digital technologies oin education itself has been limitedhas not proven useful to learning; expresses, in particular, its concern that investments in ICT in schools and training centres have not yet resulted in the hoped-for transformation of educational practiceled to a significant improvement in academic results, as the above-mentioned OECD study shows;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that a lack of connectivity in schools across Member States comes at the cost of the digital skills education of students; calls on the Member States to connect all remaining schoolsavailability of digital teaching tools; stresses, in particular, that the use of digital teaching tools presupposes the adaptatation of all the necessary school materials and educational content and not just making computers available to pupils, which would involve considerable public investment, and would probably require financial contributions from parents; calls on the Member States to ensure universal access to broadband across the country, and to mtake use of existing EU programmes for this purposeaccount, in their educational strategies, of the full impact of the digitisation of education;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Points out that education and training institutions require assistance from the Union and Member States, as well as from stakeholders and industry, to make the difficult transition to a more digitalised learning environment, but that this assistance would probably be insufficient given that digitisation necessarily involves considerable investment to guarantee the compatibility of learning materials with the network and the availability of high- quality educational content; stresses that the digitisation of schools should not create additional expenditure for pupils’ parents in addition to the expenses they already pay;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that teachers and trainers should be at the core of the digital transformation and therefore require adequate preparation and training themselves; insists that this training requires time and should not come as an extra task on top of their daily activitiethemselves do not always see the point of digitising teaching methods; highlights that, even more thanas with the teaching of other basic skills, such as numeracy and literacy, digital skills teaching requires teachers to update their knowledge and skills on a continuous basis; argues, therefore, that teachers need proper and ongoing support;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Encourages the Member States to promote and finance regional and local initiatives that support the transformation of teachany initiative that can improve European educational systems, ing practices to enhance innovation; articular to match the performance of systems in certain East Asian countries;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to make good use of Union financial support to makein the area of access to digital learning content, tools and solutions a reality for all;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that, in line with the lifelong learning approach required for digital skills and other skills, governments, in cooperation with stakeholders such as companies and civil society organisations, and through both formal and non-formal settings, should ensure that nobody is left behind and that all can find a place in the new orderon the job market, in particular by maintaining a healthy and level playing field, which means protecting against unfair competition;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls for a shift towards more on- the-job learning and insists on the need to have the right education and training frameworks in place, and to ensure that vocational education systems are properly resourced; believes that opportunities for re-skilling and upskilling are essential, including in certain low-skilled manual professions so that social mobility is a real possibility, with relevant digital skills components mainstreamed in workplace training programmes;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Encourages Member States to take steps, in collaboration with businesses, education and training centres and civil society stakeholders to identify existing skills gaps, in particular in certain manual professions accessible through professional training, limit restrictions to professional reorientation, in particular those relating to age, expand digital literacy, enhance media literacy and establish a high level of digital connectivity and inclusion;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recalls that proper assessment and monitoring of digital skills is essential to achieve progress; welcomes the development of EU-level tools for organisations (e.g. the Digital Competences Framework) and for individuals (e.g. SELFIE); insists, however, that effective digital skills assessment methods must be dynamic and constantly updated and must also achieve much broader up-take across the Union at national, regional and local levels, but points out that there should not be a generalised ICT module in the PISA test;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. WelcomNotes the Union’s increased policy focus on digital skills and education, as evidenced notably by the Digital Education Action Plan of January 2018, which builds on a number of successful small-scale policy initiatives, like EU Code Week and the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition; notes, however, that some initiatives have not proven effective, and that, in particular, the insistence on the early teaching of computer programming has not shown added value in the countries where it has been brought in, but could instead lead to an overloading of school curricula in favour of computer skills that have become obsolete by the time students enter the labour market, in particular given the rapid progress made in the area of artificial intelligence;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Supports the increased funding available for digital skills across the next generation of Multiannual Financial Framework programmes; iInsists on the need to deliver synergies across programmes to maximise the effectiveness of funding for digital skills development and deliver lasting resultsmeasurable and lasting results that show the added value of these digital skills development programmes, in particular as concerns employability;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls forWarns against the introduction of thea generalised PISA ICT module acrossin all Member States to ensure that they are aiming for the same level of digital skills and to pinpoint any problems quickly; encourages Member States to share lessons and best practices, having regard to the results of previous results for PISA skills tests in the areas of mathematics, science and literacy; encourages Member States first to step up efforts to reduce the number of pupils that have difficulties in these subjects, keeping the 15% goal established in the Europe 2020 programme in mind;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Believes that the Digital Education Action Plan should be viewed as the first step towards a fully-fledged EU strategy on digital education and skills, which can provide both a more coordinated policy frameworknot be prescriptive, given that school curriculae are a sole Member State competence, but that it can serve as a source of inspiration to the Member States and simultaneously be adaptable to changing realities; callsuggests, therefore, onthat the Commission toshould critically evaluate the 11 actions under the Plan to prepare for the 2020 mid-term review; recalls that a proper review should imply a willingness to focus only on the best- performing actions, to jettison those that are not delivering and to develop new actions as required; stresses that enhancing digital skills in the harder-to-reach adult population is currently a glaring gap in the Plan, as is the recognition of the harmful effects of digital technologies, in particular on young children;