What will the future digital landscape look like? “The Way Forward”, Closing Conference of the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025 held on 18-19 November 2025 in Ljubljana, Slovenia helped shape action, policy and measures relating to the digital environment in and outside education.
The conference, organised by the project DIGI.DR – Strengthening Digital Citizenship in Educational Institutions, in co-operation with the Ministry of Education of Slovenia and the Council of Europe Education Department, aimed at taking stock of the achievements of the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025.
In her opening video address, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, stressed that “education for digital citizenship is no longer a choice, it is a prerequisite for a free and responsible future”. She underlined the importance of the national Digi.dr project, noting that with its integrative approach and collaboration between experts “it has laid the foundations on which we must build a society which knows how to use technology rather than live under its weight”.
Opening the conference, Vinko Logaj, Minister of Education of Slovenia, highlighted Slovenia’s long-term commitment to embedding digital citizenship into education systems. “Digital skills are the key to safely navigating the digital world and a prerequisite for using digital tools, which have become indispensable in a digital society”, he said. He emphasised that Slovenia will continue to share its experience in media literacy, digital well-being and the ethical use of technology as part of the European effort.
Addressing the participants, Matjaž Gruden, Director for Democracy at the Council of Europe, stressed the need for coherence and genuine support to teachers in Europe’s rapidly evolving educational landscape. “Digital citizenship education will only succeed if we connect civic education with digital skills and ensure that both meet the real needs of classrooms”, he said. “Our task is to create an ecosystem where schools, parents, institutions and learners work together—and where teachers are not left alone to navigate these challenges”. Through plenary sessions, short presentations and parallel workshops, the discussions focused on key topics, namely:
- media and information literacy with workshops on disinformation guidelines, constructive narratives in the digital environments, and on youth empowerment to build media responsibility;
- well-being online with workshops on digital habits, netiquette to promote democracy and human rights and on how to balance screen time and mental health;
- rights online with workshops on ethical and legal responsibilities of social platforms, active digital citizenship and consumer awareness.
The participants shared their success stories, good practices and resources; discussed innovative response measures; brainstormed on actions and reporting mechanisms, communication strategies, partners, resources and the future evaluation of the road map for the future of digital citizenship education (2027-2031).
The draft Digital Citizenship Education Road Map (2027-2031), including its goals and key features, was presented by Mr Villano Qiriazi, Head of the Education Department. The road map will support member states in mainstreaming digital citizenship education in all contexts. Inputs and feedback received during the conference will be taken into account in the final version of the road map which will be submitted for adoption by the Committee of Ministers in 2026.
The conference contributes to the objectives of the Council of Europe’s New Democratic Pact for Europe through discussions on ways to learn and practice democracy, foster democratic engagement and fight disinformation by promoting media and information literacy and critical thinking. The Pact unites partners to bring forth a collective response to strengthen the foundations of European democracies.
The European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025 is a milestone in terms of high-level political commitment and grass-root level action. The momentum built will help scale up a new phase of commitment to ensure that digital citizenship education is integrated into the school curriculum and promoted in and outside schools across Europe.
For more information:
European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025
The Way Forward” Closing Conference of the European Year 2025
