Digital citizenship discussed at Five Nations Network Annual Conference organised within the framework of the European Year 2025

How does citizenship education help prepare young people for digital citizenship? The 5 Nations Network Annual Conference 2025 held in Edinburgh on 1-2 March 2025 aimed at exploring the contribution of citizenship education in supporting digital citizenship education.

The conference, organised by the Association for Citizenship Teaching with the financial support from the Gordon Cook Foundation, saw the participation of practitioners, educators and relevant stakeholders from England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Educators and policy makers have a key role to play in shaping the digital transformation so that it will be fair, just and inclusive highlighted Mr Villano Qiriazi, Head of the Education Department of the Council of Europe in a video message screened at the opening session of the conference. “Only by fostering an inclusive, democratic and ethical digital landscape, we can empower future generations to learn, connect, engage and thrive together”, Mr Qiriazi further emphasised presenting the aims and goals of the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025.

The programme of the conference included several workshops focusing on topics such as integrating AI tools into primary teaching, critical media literacy strategies, the influence of algorithms and the importance of AI literacy, and the rise of online subcultures and related need for key vocabulary when assessing contentious content. Furthermore, a techmeet session offered teachers the opportunity to share innovative digital citizenship teaching practices from the classrooms.

The importance of cross-national dialogue and collaboration in the field of citizenship education in a digitally enriched world was reaffirmed during this year’s conference especially given the current European Year of Digital Citizenship Education.

For more information:

Association for Citizenship Teaching – website