FCL Ambassadors Share Their Views on the FCL

13/09/2022

In 2022, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of European Schoolnet’s Future Classroom Lab initiative. The project started exactly 10 years ago with the aim of helping the teaching community introduce innovative and creative classroom practices centered around ICT.

At first, it focused on a single lab located in European Schoolnet’s premises in Brussels which came into being with the support of the organisation’s network of ministries of education and around 10 industry partners. The space represented a flexible learning environment with reconfigurable furniture and EdTech tools enabling experimentation with different teaching styles and methodologies.

A decade down the road, this single lab has evolved into an ecosystem of over 100 similar labs in more than 26 countries around Europe and beyond. The project is supported by 34 ministries of education and 34 industry partners. It offers a venue for testing and evaluating different approaches and EdTech solutions in addition to being a meeting platform for educators, policymakers, industry representatives, researchers and school officials.

Over the years, the FCL has welcomed more than 7,000 teachers from around the world in its educational programmes. It has also built a network of 15 ambassadors tasked with raising awareness around the benefits of early ICT education.

At the School Innovation Forum back in June of this year, we invited three of our FCL ambassadors to share their observations on the development of the Future Classroom Lab concept in their countries.

Jose Luis Fernandez, from the Spanish National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training discusses the journey of the FCL in Spain pointing out to the significant growth in interest they have seen in the past few years.

Ms Teresa Godinho from Directorate-General of Education in Portugal discusses how a visit to the FCL in Brussels has inspired teacher to innovate.

Ms Maria Joao Horta from Directorate-General of Education in Portugal shares her observations on the pedagogical innovations that the FCL is spurring.