More effective and inclusive European Maths and Sciences Teaching - supported by the internationalised work of European Khan Academy Advocates

Teachers across Europe have been exposed to new challenges since March 2020, when most schools closed due to the pandemic. They were asked to keep on teaching using new practices, resources and tools; digital learning played a new, crucial role. Although teachers were at the core of this digital change, many were struggling with this new role. Students, on their side, also faced new challenges and distance learning appeared to increase dropout risks (see source here : https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/news/coronavirus-distance-learning-increases-dropout-risk-vulnerable-learners). Since then, many teachers developed new practices and started integrating digital tools into their everyday teaching life. However, most of them still don’t know all the potential and functionalities of the many tools at their disposal. They don’t necessarily know of the best practices related to those tools, often lack time and consideration for the associated risks... Also, many teachers are still not truly convinced that digital tools and resources are a real support and can make teaching and learning more effective, even “in normal times” and even for in-class work.

Our main objective was to improve digital accessibility and readiness among teachers at secondary schools. We therefore aimed at significantly increasing the digital readiness of teachers and digital inclusion of students in Belgium and Bulgaria, by giving them concrete tools and pieces of advice, based on the experience of selected teachers. To foster a deep, durable change going beyond the timeframe of our project, we defined as our key goals: - the creation of a network of digital ambassadors within the teaching community; - the development of several freely available tools on how to integrate digital tools in pedagogy – in French, Bulgarian, English; - the exchange of good practices in terms of localisation and curriculum creation on an educative platform. Along the deployment of the project, our common thread and case study was the Khan Academy platform, of which both partnering organisations are official language representatives (responsible for the localization of the platform and its adaptation to local curriculums). This project was therefore an opportunity to reinforce our common work with and around Khan Academy, and on smart digitalisation advocacy in general.

1. Build a sustainable international network of teachers interested in being “digital ambassadors” in their schools/communities: teachers were selected and organised into working groups. 2. Build a training tool to enable teachers to include free digital tools into their practice: - Our toolkit - in FR, BG, and EN - based on the findings and good practices shared within the working groups; - A one-day, in-person training session for teachers, conducted in each country; - Training modules, made accessible for other teachers and trainers to be able to train their peers; - Three webinars disseminating our results and resources – in FR, BG, EN. 3. Build an ongoing working relation, synergies and common processes: 2 face-to-face meetings were held (each 2 days long), in addition to regular online meetings, allowing our executive teams to to regroup and discuss topics such as strategy, advocacy, etc. 4. Build a common process of quality control and exchange best practices in the production process of learning and pedagogical content towards a better efficiency of the investments: 1 face-to-face and 2 online meetings allowed us to align and exchange practices. 5. Guarantee sound management and dissemination of results of this project.

The key outputs and results of our project were: - The creation of a small network of teachers, in Belgium and Bulgaria, that were very invested in the project and, for some of them, are still involved in the work of our organisations and the promotion of our resources and learnings. - The creation of a good practice toolkit available in 3 languages (FR, BG & EN), which we will keep on promoting in months to come. - The creation of resources made available freely in 3 languages (FR, BG & EN) (including the toolkit, but also the training module and recordings of our webinars), so teachers from all over Europe can get pieces of advice and recommendations for the successful implementation of digital resources in their pedagogical practices. - The exchange of good practices between the two organisations on how to manage a localisation project of this scale, but also how to best accompany teachers and engage with them, how to better advocate around smart digitalisation, etc. - A better understanding of the teachers' needs and of the resources that can help them overcome eventual fear when it comes to using digital tools.