EU CodeWeek community meeting 16-17th March 2023

• March 22, 2023
• admin

On March 16 and 17, at the Albert Borschette Congress Centre in Brussels, the EU CodeWeek held its first in-person gathering after a two-year hiatus. This turned out to be a fantastic chance for the CodeWeek Community to come together and consider the initiatives and priorities for CodeWeek 2023. Ambassadors, Leading Teachers, and Edu Coordinators from all throughout Europe attended the summit, along with representatives from non-EU nations.

The meeting’s primary goals were to strengthen the community for expanding the project; share the activities planned for EU CodeWeek 2023 and collaborate on the subsequent workplan together with the opportunity of learning from one another by sharing activities and initiatives at the national and pan-European level.  Also, it provided everyone in attendance with the chance to consider the initiatives and priorities of other EU countries.

The gathering turned out to be a great place to catch up with members of the EU CodeWeek community and participate in workshops, speeches, and discussions about how to improve the EU CodeWeek programme. Small group talks where thoughts and suggestions were offered began the group discussions. Two significant themes were discussed namely what encourages nations to join the EU CodeWeek Community together with what aspects of previous EU CodeWeek iterations worked effectively or otherwise. The priorities of each country were also a topic of discussion. Another group conversation focused on how the community could help make CodeWeek as successful as possible as well as how each community group could help with the future CodeWeek activities. The topic centred on intergovernmental collaboration. How can leading teachers, education coordinators, and ambassadors work together to make this work? It has been noted that there are times when these players do not fully cooperate or communicate with one another.  It was decided that this matter must be addressed to enhance communication.
It was suggested that EU CodeWeek to be discussed at the ministry level, with the ministry issuing a notification about EU CodeWeek, and that the presence of EU CodeWeek will be increased on social media and in printed media. As a last exercise all countries were asked to list top three priorities of their country for EU CodeWeek. Malta’s listed three priorities namely to find and include more stakeholders, involve more educators, and raise awareness and visibility on EU CodeWeek.
It was a worthwhile two days filled with insightful conversations and beneficial networking among the participating countries!