Pre-Service and in-Service Teacher Training to Tackle Disinformation and Promote Critical Digital Literacy

This paper will present a large-scale transnational project with partners from seven European countries, funded by the European Commission (EU) under the 'Forward Looking' call included in the 3rd EU priority on 'Digital literacy / tackling disinformation'. The project which started in December 2023 and is expected to be completed in November 2026 brings together 15 partners (educational institutions, ministries and universities) from Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Poland and Belgium.

The project titled "Teachers 4.0 Digital Age: Tackling Disinformation and Promoting Digital Literacy through Education and Training in European Classrooms" aims to provide the framework, tools and means to ensure that teachers across Europe are adequately supported in tackling disinformation issues and in promoting critical digital literacy and is implemented at three (3) levels:

- initial teacher training, through education departments at six (6) European universities,

- continuous professional development of in-service teachers, through adult / teacher training institutions,

- policy making, involving ministries of education and civic authorities.

Within the framework of the project, training will be offered to a total of two thousand and one hundred (2,100) teachers (pre-service and in-service) on digital disinformation issues so that they can collectively contribute to the education of young people to think critically, to make informed online choices and to stay safe from misinformation circulating freely in the digital world. The paper will demonstrate the curriculum and the educational material that has been produced, the methodology of offering training both in a face-to-face mode and in an e-learning mode, as well as preliminary findings on teachers’ evaluation and feedback.