NPO 3.1 DIGI – Teacher Education System for the Digital School

The NPO 3.1 DIGI project provided a nationwide system of free professional education and methodological support in the Czech Republic in 2022-2025, which helped primary and secondary schools to introduce new informatics and develop pupils' digital competences across teaching subjects.

Teachers, school leaders and school coordinators could choose between short online courses, longer-term blended programmes, webinars, training sessions for entire teaching staffs, individual consultations and experience-sharing meetings. From 2022 to December 2025, the project supported 4 943 schools, trained 48 063 school representatives and provided 1 968 consultations on digital infrastructure.

The added value of the initiative was the combination of curricular reform, continuing teacher education, practical methodological materials, regional support and peer learning between schools. This model can also be adapted to other countries that are introducing a digital curriculum or need to systematically develop educators’ digital competences.

From changing curricula to supporting day-to-day learning

Project NPO 3.1 DIGI – Supporting schools in the context of digitalisation was implemented by the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic on the basis of a call from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The project was launched on 1 January 2022 and funded by the National Recovery Plan, component 3.1 Innovation in Education in the Context of Digitalization. The total project allocation amounted to CZK 385 million.

The initiative responded to the change in the Czech framework education programmes in the digital field. A new key digital competence has been introduced into the curriculum to be developed across educational areas. At the same time, the original concept of ICT was replaced by newly conceived informatics, focusing, for example, on working with data, modeling, algorithmization, programming, information systems and understanding the principles of digital technologies.

Therefore, the change did not only concern computer science teachers. Teachers of languages, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, arts and professional subjects were also to start developing pupils' digital competences in a targeted manner. At the same time, school leaders needed to adjust school curricula, divide responsibilities between subjects, and create the conditions for meaningful and safe use of technology.

A survey by the National Pedagogical Institute showed that schools mostly accepted change positively, but needed support. Two-fifths of the representatives of the school management contacted used the consultations or education provided by the NPI of the Czech Republic when introducing the changes. At the same time, teachers cited the lack of time and energy needed to familiarise themselves with new technologies as one of the barriers to the introduction of digital technologies in teaching.

Training according to the role and needs of participants

The strength of the project was a portfolio of educational formats of various lengths and orientations. Schools did not have to complete one standardized program, but could combine support according to their readiness, the specific problem and the professional role of the participants.

Long courses for computer science teachers combined e-learning with practical workshops. Their aim was to create a comprehensive understanding of computational thinking and the main areas of new informatics.

Short courses for computer science teachers, conducted mostly online, focused on specific topics or tools. Teachers could, for example, work with data, algorithmization, programming, robotics or information systems.

Long field courses for the development of digital competences were intended for teachers of other subjects. They combined e-learning and workshop and showed how to integrate digital competences into the teaching of a specific field.

Short industry courses offered practically focused topics that could be quickly translated into teaching. These included, for example, working with digital resources, data visualisation, multimedia creation, digital maps, online tools, artificial intelligence or the safe use of technology.

Separate courses and trainings were intended for directors, ICT coordinators and school curriculum change coordinators. They focused on understanding curricular change and managing it at the school-wide level.

Support for the entire teaching staff

One of the most successful and effective formats was the Workshop for Choirs, which brought education directly to a specific school. The specialized lecturer worked with the entire teaching staff and helped them understand new informatics, digital competencies and their projection into the school educational program.

This offer included, for example, DIGI-SBOROVNY and KYBER-SBOROVNY. Their importance lay in the fact that digitization did not become the task of a single computer science teacher or ICT coordinator, but a common topic of the entire school. (National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic)

Schools could also use repeated individual consultations aimed at modifying the school curriculum and introducing new teaching. The consultant was familiar with the situation of the school in advance so that they could adapt the recommendation to its conditions, size and current approach to digital education.

Professional learning based on experience sharing

The project complemented traditional educational courses with formats based on peer learning by educators.

DIGIplovárny created a predominantly online environment for moderated discussion, exchange of experience and reflection. These online hubs focused, for example, on history, foreign languages, chemistry, physics, work with mind maps or artificial intelligence in teaching. Participants were not just listeners, but actively shared their own experiences and teaching activities.

DIGIactions allowed schools and other educational organizations to present examples of their own practice to teachers from the surrounding area. Their program often combined demonstrations of teaching, practical testing of technologies, reflection on their pedagogical contribution and discussion of specific situations at school.

By doing so, the project supported the emergence of professional learning communities and the dissemination of practices that have already been validated in a real school environment.

Unified approach to supply and methodological materials

The educational programmes were made available through the MojeEdu portal. Here, teachers could search for an offer by topic, target group, educational level or method of implementation.

At the same time, the project developed the web Digitization in Education, which concentrated information on curricular change, methodological materials, teaching topics, webinar recordings, podcasts, examples of good practice and other resources.

Thanks to the interconnection of educational programs and content platforms, the teacher was able to move from the basic explanation of the reform to the course and then to specific material usable in teaching. Creating a unified digital ecosystem for educational content was one of the three main activities of the project.

Results and impact

From the start of the project in 2022 to December 2025, the following were supported:

4 943 schools,
48 063 school representatives through educational activities;
1 968 consultations on digital infrastructure through the IT Guru service. (Digitalisation in education)

More detailed evaluation data available as of 30 June 2025 showed that around 91% of schools surveyed participated in education across regions. At the same time, the project originally planned to hit 3,370 schools and 10,400 participants, so both set indicators were significantly exceeded.

The most common choice was short courses, which were used by participants from around three quarters of the schools involved. The average participating school spent 18.7 hours in short courses focused on digital competences and 17 hours in short courses focused on new informatics. Participation in long courses represented on average more than 30 hours per school.

The largest average time range was reported by the Workshop format for meeting rooms. However, only around 15% of participating schools used this format, showing its greater organisational complexity compared to more accessible short online courses.

What worked according to the evaluation

Qualitative case studies showed that teachers valued both face-to-face and online education when it was practical and aligned with school reality. The greatest benefit was identified by specific teaching resources, programs, technologies and activities that they could use immediately after completing the course.

It was also important to be able to try out tools and methods in a safe environment and then return to webinar recordings, worksheets, brochures and other materials.

At the same time, the evaluation identified areas for improvement. Too general or mostly theoretical courses and cases where the lecturer did not have sufficient contact with current school practice were assessed worse. Sharing experiences without a clear professional input alone was not enough for some participants.

The findings also showed that the impact of education depended on the pedagogical management of the school. If the participation in the courses was not part of a well-thought-out professional development plan and the experience was not further shared in the collegiate room, the benefit could remain limited to individual participants. Case studies have worked with eight schools, and therefore their qualitative results cannot be automatically generalized to the entire Czech education system.

Why it is a good practice

NPO 3.1 DIGI is a good practice because it did not perceive teacher education as an isolated series of courses. It created a multi-level support system that combined:

curricular change with specific needs of schools;
short, long, online, face-to-face and blended learning;
support for individual teachers, school leaders, coordinators and entire teaching staff;
central methodological content with regional and individual support;
vocational training with peer-to-peer learning between schools;
educating educators with the support of digital infrastructure;
wide-ranging monitoring of results with qualitative evaluation of school experience.

Within the four pillars of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, the initiative directly fulfills the pillar of Digital skills in education. It also indirectly contributes to the digital skills of citizens and the future workforce by supporting teachers who further develop digital competences among pupils.

Sustainability

An extensive free offer of educational activities was provided until the end of 2025. However, methodological materials, records, publications, podcasts and other created outputs will also be available after the end of project funding on the web platforms of the NPI CR.

At the same time, the development of the digital competences of teachers was followed by a thematically related project NPO 3.1 – AIDIG. Building on the European DigCompEd framework, it extended support to the areas of generative AI, cybersecurity, media literacy, disinformation, digital wellbeing and digital pedagogical leadership. More information.

Sustainability therefore lies not only in the preservation of individual materials, but also in the use of the created know-how in the continuing professional education of teachers and in the subsequent changes in educational content.

Portability

The model is particularly transferable to countries or regions that are introducing a new digital curriculum or need to develop the digital competences of educators on a large scale.

Based on the project experience, the following can be identified as key elements for replication:

A clear link between educator education and curricular change.
Modular offer of short and long programmes.
Training adapted to different professional roles.
The opportunity to work with the entire teaching staff.
A central platform linking courses and methodological materials.
Regional network of lecturers and consultants.
Peer-to-peer formats for sharing best practice.
Continuous monitoring of participation, needs and qualitative outcomes.
All resources for free.

Portability does not mean copying individual courses. The overall architecture of the aid is essential: a combination of centrally set objectives, flexible learning formats, local support and feedback from schools. This is an analytical conclusion based on the structure of the project and its evaluation findings.