Ján Figuel is the Member of the European Commission in charge of education, training, culture and youth and his main opening point at the eTwinning annual conference is this:

The internet is still used across Europe mostly for information gathering. Its power to allow individuals to publish their thoughts to the world remains largely untapped. The best single feature of eTwinning is to put back the ‘C’ in ICT, not just through its ’safe’ portal but also by encouraging the use of social media through the kind of workshops I have given and continue to give.

‘Without lifelong learning there will be far less lifelong earning.’

This applies as much to teachers as it does to those generally considered ‘learners’, the kids. Unless teachers make significant efforts to understand the new two-way web and help their students to harness this concept for their lifelong learning, then our economies on this side of the pond will suffer.

Are we pessimistic in Europe about the way we can harness ICT for international lifelong learning? Ján reminds us of the European Union’s founder father, Jean Monnet, when he said, ‘I am neither pessimist nor optimist, I am merely determined.’