About the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025

The digital environment and technologies provide unprecedented means and opportunities for people to express themselves in different ways, to discover, learn and create, and to communicate and socialise. But they also bring new challenges.

Amidst the challenges exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the advent of disruptive technologies like ChatGPT, the challenging issues that Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) seeks to address such as disinformation, cyberbullying, online hate speech and the misuse of personal data have become more prominent. This underlines the urgent need for increased efforts and investment in DCE to empower learners of all ages to face the challenges created or amplified by digital technologies and harness the benefits to thrive.

The Council of Europe is launching the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025 (European Year 2025) to give a new impetus to the development and promotion of digital citizenship education in all member States.

The European Year 2025 stands as a unique opportunity to enhance the visibility and impact of digital citizenship education and reaffirm its value. This designated year should provide a strategic platform for key stakeholders from the public, private and civil sectors to work together, set common goals and share sense-making practices. It will provide a concise yet impactful space for measuring achievements and collectively defining a road map for the future of digital citizenship education. Through streamlined efforts, this initiative is expected to propel DCE forward, ensuring its resilience and effectiveness in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Launch conference

The conference will launch the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025 and present the Council of Europe’s work and achievements since the launching of the intergovernmental project in 2016. It will also discuss the value of digital citizenship education in empowering learners of all ages to overcome the challenges that have emerged or been amplified by digital technologies and harness the benefits to thrive in a digitally enriched world.

The main objectives of the launch conference are:

• to promote the take-up of the European Year 2025 by all member states of the Council of Europe and other relevant stakeholders, and
• to set the scene for the development of a roadmap for the future of digital citizenship education.

The working languages of the conference will be English and French.

Download the Concept note.

Download the Programme.