Blended learning

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the proposal's intention to implement the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights and other EU initiatives aimed at making quality and inclusive education a reality within the green and digital transitions;
• calls on Member States to ensure that blended learning (BL) is not detrimental to the social value of education or to the relevance of face-to-face teaching; as lack of access to broadband and IT tools, inadequate teacher-student interaction and a lack of appropriate learning environments during the pandemic have contributed to higher drop-outs, it is important that BL is carefully designed and deployed to ensure an inclusive learning environment for all children;
• welcomes the proposal's emphasis that qualified mental health professionals need to provide effective support for the well-being of students and teachers;
• considers that BL should be available for all students, to ensure their autonomy in the learning process; calls on Member States to include BL in their education strategy, following effective dialogue with the relevant stakeholders;
• notes that well-developed BL needs to be supported by sustainable public investment; it should be implemented in curricula with a whole-school approach, taking into consideration the needs of teachers, students and their families;
• emphasises the teachers' role in BL and welcomes the proposed measures to support teachers' IT literacy; calls for the proposal to support the right of teachers to receive up-to-date and accessible continuous professional development, which should be recognised in social dialogue and collective bargaining at national, regional and local level with the meaningful involvement of education social partners;
• welcomes the fact that the proposal emphasises the well-being and attractiveness of the teaching profession; notes that combining face-to-face and distance learning requires creativity and innovation from teachers, and calls for BL to be designed in a manner that respects their workload and working time, coupled with a supportive learning environment;
• calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide sustainable public funding and put in place a suitable legal framework to ensure data protection and intellectual property rights in education; welcomes the Commission's proposal to develop, in cooperation with Member States, specific guidance material and other concrete deliverables, based on evidence, peer-learning activities and good practice, which would help fill the gaps identified for developing a BL approach at school and system level;
• recommends ensuring a democratic school leadership, to allow for effective independence for students and teachers to steer their own learning and teaching process;
• draws attention to the importance that the implementation of BL respects the specific features of education institutions and priorities with regard to the use of ICTs.