Minister of Education Jokin Bildarratz presented the Plan for the Digital Transformation of the Basque Education System for the period 2022-2024 on April 29 in Bilbao. The Department of Education will invest 202.6 million euros in this plan over the three years of 2022-2024. The presentation was attended by Begoña Pedrosa, Deputy Minister of Education, Jorge Arevalo, Deputy Minister of Vocational Training and Adolfo Morais, Deputy Minister of Universities and Research.
Student in the center

The new plan is designed to promote a new framework that will leverage pedagogical innovation. This will strengthen the development of digital skills through the efficient and optimal use of technology in the education system. It places students at the center of the learning process so that they can develop their full potential in the digital age. Therefore, one of the goals of the plan is to promote the digital skills of both students and teachers. Ultimately, it is an essential step for Basque students to successfully face the challenges of this century.
Adapting the entire education system to the digital age is a priority for the new plan at all stages. But the challenge of this transformation of the education system lies not only in pedagogy, but also in work organization, infrastructure, and governance. In this context, transformation and the use of digital environments need to be transformed in order to improve pedagogical practices.

According to the Digital Transformation Plan, this transformation is a challenge that must be met collectively, with the following general objectives in mind:

Promote the transformation of the Basque Education System through an innovative model that integrates the use or application of digital technologies.

• Strengthen the skills of teachers and students to take advantage of digital capacity and incorporate this capacity into teaching and learning.
• Encourage collaboration between all actors in the education system to meet the challenges posed by digital transformation.
• Enabling infrastructure to be adapted and modernized to make schools lighter and to ensure connectivity, security and accessibility for all.
• Promote the responsible use of digital technologies to prevent possible digital divide and promote sustainable development, in line with the 2030 Agenda.

All of the above deals with three basic dimensions:

A person-centered dimension to strengthen the training of professionals and students.
The technological dimensions will be provided by the school with infrastructure and tools to facilitate the quality training process and research of excellence.

The dimension that includes the whole system, promoting the planning of digital transformation in the Basque education system, from pre-school to university, also in response to the network of Science and Universities.

1. In the stages of Infant Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education and Baccalaureate: Digital technologies will be included in the teaching, learning and assessment processes of schools.In this way, the techno-pedagogical skills of the teachers will be developed and the students will be digitally qualified.

• It will also engage in digital leadership for educational communities and advocate for infrastructures aligned with digital challenges.
• In addition, advanced Digital Transformation experiences will be taken in high-capacity centers.
• Some specific actions:
• Create a strong digitization team to meet the challenges.
•  Promoting a digital strategy in all schools. Training and guidance for the development of the centre's digital project.
• Design and implementation of training pathways tailored to teacher competencies.
• Activation of a network of digital counselors in schools, which will play the role of techno-pedagogical counseling.
• Creation of digital pedagogical materials. Own licenses and materials.
• Installation of devices for all students from the 5th grade onwards. As well as for teachers from 1st to 4th grade of Primary Education.
•  Design of digital classrooms and spaces.

2. Vocational Training:

• The digital transformation will bring a new evolution to Vocational Training, based on disruptive transformation; a new model of advanced training with different school arrangements and structures, new spaces and intelligent systems applied in digital environments.
• Some specific actions:
•  Develop a digital maturity model that will include new infrastructures, new skills in the advanced use of digital technologies and the development of high-performance learning.
• Digital training for teachers and students.
• Transformation of digital infrastructures (state-of-the-art equipment, 5G, Wifi 6).
• Implementation of advanced digital technologies (digital and interactive immersion technologies).
• New spaces for learning in digital transformation.

3. In the university ecosystem:

• The priority is to create the skills required for employability, to be open to rethinking what is taught, and to recognize that technology has the potential to transcend boundaries in education and science.
• Digital empowerment of students, ensuring equity and equal opportunity for university students.
• Encourage Open Science by improving the availability of results and resources, including bibliographic resources, with the aim of helping to create a better science and a more accessible global level.
• Main initiatives:
  • All the universities in the Basque University System will have their own Digital Transformation Plan.
  • Fostering connectivity and virtual learning environments; Upgrading the I2Basque data network to ensure internal and external connectivity.
  • Acquisition of technological resources for vulnerable students.
  •  Strengthen supercomputing services to strengthen resource autonomy by creating the HPC Polo (High Performance Computing Euskadi) for the entire Basque research community

The Basque Country in the context of digital transformation

The 2020 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index shows the positive trend of the Digital Transformation in the Basque Country in the five dimensions that make it up: connectivity, human capital, use of Internet services, integration of digital technology and digital public services.
In general, the Basque Country is almost ten percentage points higher than the European average and four points higher than the national average. It is ahead of countries like Germany, France or Austria. The Basque Country is also the Autonomous Community with the highest number of computers in the classroom, with an average of 1.5 students per computer.