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TINKER Research Reveals Ground-breaking Findings and Recommendations

The TINKER project, aimed at enhancing informatics education across Europe, has released its comprehensive report on the state of informatics education in six European countries: Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, and Croatia. The report, compiled through literature reviews, focus group discussions, and questionnaire responses, offers a detailed insight into informatics education, authentic learning practices, and gender inclusion initiatives. Key aspects of the research included a thorough analysis of National Curriculum frameworks, educational guidelines, and textbooks used for teaching informatics.

Curriculum Structure and Integration of Informatics

TINKER highlights significant variations in the structure and integration of informatics education across partner countries. In Greece, informatics stands as a standalone subject in primary education, whereas Cyprus integrates learning outcomes into optional and compulsory subjects. Italy and the Netherlands embed digital competencies within various subjects without a distinct informatics course. At the same time, Ireland integrates informatics concepts across subjects rather than offering it as a standalone subject at primary and secondary levels. At the secondary level, Cyprus and Greece maintain informatics as a separate compulsory subject, whereas Italy and Croatia integrate it into other subjects, making it optional in later grades. Despite these variations, the TINKER project underscores the universal recognition of informatics education’s importance while highlighting the challenge of establishing it as a standalone subject with dedicated time allocation.

Authentic Learning Practices

The TINKER project identifies significant implementation limitations across the studied countries regarding authentic learning, which connects academic concepts with real-world applications.
Despite the National Curriculum’s intent in Cyprus, many teachers lack familiarity with authentic learning, leading to inconsistent application. Greece faces gaps in aligning teaching methods with digital competency development, necessitating comprehensive professional development. In Ireland and Italy, efforts to incorporate authentic learning are hindered by time constraints, limited resources, and resistance to change. Croatia’s educators encounter obstacles like inadequate resources and large class sizes despite using authentic learning practices.

Gender-inclusive practices

Gender inclusion in informatics education emerges as an area requiring substantial improvement. While efforts are made in some countries, such as Cyprus, to represent male and female role models in curricula, comprehensive strategies for diverse perspectives still need to be developed. Greece and Italy struggle with tailored approaches for diverse student demographics, perpetuating gender stereotypes. In Ireland and the Netherlands, challenges like gender imbalances in the field and curriculum materials reinforcing stereotypes are prevalent.

To address these challenges, the TINKER project proposes strategic recommendations. These include advocating for curriculum reform to integrate informatics as a compulsory subject at the primary education level, aligned with the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp 2.2). Recommendations also focus on updating curriculum guidelines to explicitly promote authentic learning and gender inclusion, alongside enhancing teacher training and professional development programmes.

The research findings will be used by the partners to shape the project materials and activities. The ultimate aim is to develop innovative teaching methods that meet the needs of teachers and
students. This will involve creating resources and strategies tailored to enhance informatics education across Europe.

To read the TINKER Transnational Report on state-of-the-art and needs, visit: https://tinker-project.eu/transnational-report-on-state-of-the-art-and-needs/

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Η υποστήριξη της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής για την παραγωγή του παρόντος δικτυακού τόπου δεν συνιστά έγκριση του περιεχομένου, το οποίο αντανακλά τις απόψεις μόνο των συντακτών, και η Επιτροπή δεν μπορεί να θεωρηθεί υπεύθυνη για οποιαδήποτε χρήση των πληροφοριών που περιέχονται σε αυτόν. Подкрепата на Европейската комисия за създаването на този уебсайт не представлява потвърждение на съдържанието, което отразява вижданията само на авторите и Комисията не носи отговорност за използването на съдържащата се в сайта информация. Tento projekt byl financován s podporou Evropské komise. Tato publikace odráží pouze názory autora a Komise nenese odpovědnost za jakékoli použití informací v ní obsažených De steun van de Europese Commissie voor de productie van deze publicatie houdt geen goedkeuring van de inhoud in die alleen de mening van de auteurs weerspiegelt, en de Commissie kan niet verantwoordelijk worden gehouden voor enig gebruik dat van de informatie in deze publicatie wordt gemaakt. Podrška Europske komisije za proizvodnju ovih objava ne predstavlja I njezino odobrenje sadržaja koji odražavaju samo stavove autora i Europska Komisija se ograđuje od odgovornosti za bilo kakvu upotrebu informacija sadržanih u njima. Le soutien de la Commission européenne à la production de cette publication ne constitue pas une approbation du contenu qui reflète uniquement les opinions des auteurs, et la Commission ne peut être tenue responsable de l’usage qui pourrait être fait des informations qu’elle contient. Die Unterstützung der Europäischen Kommission für die Erstellung dieser Veröffentlichung stellt keine Billigung des Inhalts dar, der nur die Ansichten der Autoren widerspiegelt, und die Kommission kann nicht für die Verwendung der darin enthaltenen Informationen verantwortlich gemacht werden. O apoio da Comissão Europeia à produção desta publicação não constitui um aval do seu conteúdo, que reflete unicamente o ponto de vista dos autores, e a Comissão não pode ser considerada responsável por eventuais utilizações que possam ser feitas com as informações nela contidas. El apoyo de la Comisión Europea a la producción de esta publicación no constituye una aprobación de su contenido, que refleja únicamente las opiniones de los autores, y la Comisión no se hace responsable del uso que pueda hacerse de la información contenida en ella. Finanziato dall'Unione europea. Le opinioni espresse appartengono, tuttavia, al solo o ai soli autori e non riflettono necessariamente le opinioni dell'Unione europea o dell’Agenzia esecutiva europea per l’istruzione e la cultura (EACEA). Né l'Unione europea né l'EACEA possono esserne ritenute responsabili. Podpora Evropske komisije pri izdelavi te publikacije ne pomeni odobritve vsebine, saj odraža le stališča avtorjev in Komisija ne more biti odgovorna za kakršno koli uporabo informacij, ki jih vsebuje.
[Project Number : 101132887]

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