Digital Literacy Development Network - Croatia
The Digital Literacy Development Network in Croatia is a 3-year project that aims to streamline the a network of partners from the civil, public and private sectors with a common goal to advance digital literacy for everyone. Digital.hr aims to network stakeholders in the development of digital literacy in Croatia.
The Digital Literacy Development Network is the go-to place for high-quality scientific research and a vibrant hub for research, expertise, and opinion. It collects a variety of guidelines to support the digital inclusion of vulnerable groups in Croatia, advance the development of digital literacy in schools and higher education institutions, and boost the digital transformation of key industries such as health, as well as culture and creative industries' development.
About the initiative
For over 2 years, the Croatian Employers' Association, HUP HR has taken part in numerous activities organised within the context of the Digital Literacy Development Network. In addition to HUP, there are numerous civil society organisations, as well as a number of scientific and educational institutions, including several regional and local self-government units, including the City of Zagreb, the City of Krk and Varaždin County. The 25 members of the Network come from 3 crucial sectors – civil society, education and local self-government.
The Digital Literacy Development Network was created as part of the Digitalna.hr project and co-funded by the European Union from the European Social Fund (ESF+), with the overall objective of strengthening cross-sectoral cooperation and capacity building of civil, public and private sector stakeholders for research and development of the digital society in Croatia. The project was launched at the end of October 2020 and ran until October 2023. The project in Croatia is coordinated by Telecentar, working closely with the European organisation All Digital.
Why is this a good practice?
Since its start, the project has achieved some admirable results: having launched numerous opinion polls, carrying out 5 scientific studies on digital literacy, and producing a total of 15 scientific and expert articles. Finally, the research and opinion polls conducted by the Digital Literacy Development Network serve as a basis for developing concrete guidance to policymakers to make changes based on reality and concrete scientific research carried out.
One of the excellent examples of interdisciplinary links between sectors and industries developed by the Digital Literacy Development Network is the survey on the needs of the digital transformation of cultural and creative industries, which was carried out in the last three months of 2021. Following this extensive research, it could be concluded that the participants in the study were well informed about the trends in the digital transformation of CCIs, but only 43.53 % have a digital transformation strategy. Business has already undergone significant changes to which they have adapted well and most consider that they have the necessary competences.
Development of digital competences and media literacy in secondary schools
For example, the Digital Literacy Network prepared Guidelines to complement the national plan for the development of education systems for the period up to 2027, which aim to improve the IT education system in secondary schools.Some of the measures are, for example, a more accurate monitoring of the number of pupils attending computer sciences, as IT is still an optional subject from the second to fourth grades of gymnasia and for vocational schools the computer curriculum has not yet been adopted.
Further recommendations are to harmonise the equipment of schools as well as to equalise the IT curriculum for all secondary schools, as this will allow the development of digital competences at the same level for all students, regardless of whether they are undergoing gymnasia or vocational schools. Key digital competences are needed by all citizens and are applicable later in all occupations, which is why their adoption should also be uniform among individual secondary schools.
As part of the cooperation with the Medicine Education Platform, it is important.MOV, the Digital Literacy Network also advocates the development of media literacy in secondary schools. The guidelines developed by the.MOV platform for the Ministry of Science and Education, the Agency for Education and Education and the Agency for Vocational Education and Adult Education aim to build capacity for the systematic development of media literacy as part of the secondary school curricula concerned and cross-cutting.
