12.1.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 15/37 Wednesday 19 May 2021
34.
Recalls the fundamental and multifaceted role that teachers play in education and in making it inclusive, especially in early childhood, where skills are acquired that will enable students to progress throughout their lives, such as in personal relations, study skills, empathy and cooperative work; stresses, therefore, that AI technologies cannot be used to the detriment or at the expense of in-person education, as teachers must not be replaced by any AI or AI-related technologies;
35.
Stresses that the learning benefits of using AI in education will depend not only on AI itself, but on how teachers use AI in the digital learning environment to meet the needs of pupils, students and teachers; points out, therefore, the need for AI programmers to involve teaching communities in the development, deployment and use of AI technologies where possible, creating a nexus environment to form connections and cooperation between AI programmers, developers, companies, schools, teachers and other public and private stakeholders in order to create AI technologies that are suitable for real-life educational environments, reflect the age and developmental readiness of each learner and meet the highest ethical standards; highlights that educational institutions should only deploy trustworthy, ethical, human-centred technologies which are auditable at every stage of their lifecycle by public authorities and civil society; emphasises the advantages of free and open-source solutions in this regard; calls for schools and other educational establishments to be provided with the financial and logistical support as well as the expertise required to introduce solutions for the learning of the future;
36.
Highlights, moreover, the need to continuously train teachers so they can adapt to the realities of AI-powered education and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to use AI technologies in a pedagogical and meaningful way, enabling them to fully embrace the possibilities offered by AI and to understand its limitations; calls for digital teaching to be part of every teacher’s training in the future and calls for teachers and people working in education and training to be given the opportunity to continue their training in digital teaching throughout their lives; calls, therefore, for the development of training programmes in AI for teachers in all fields and across Europe; highlights, furthermore, the importance of reforming teaching programmes for new generations of teachers allowing them to adapt to the realities of AI-powered education, as well as the importance of drawing up and updating handbooks and guidelines on AI for teachers;
37.
Is concerned about the lack of specific higher education programmes for AI and the lack of public funding for AI across the Member States; believes that this is putting Europe’s future digital ambitions at risk;
38.
Is worried about the fact that few AI researchers are pursuing an academic career as tech firms can offer better pay and less bureaucracy for research; believes that part of the solution would be to direct more public money towards AI research at universities;
39.
Underlines the importance of equipping people with general digital skills from childhood onwards in order to close the qualifications gap and better integrate certain population groups into the digital labour market and digital society; points out that it will become more and more important to train highly skilled professionals from all backgrounds in the field of AI, ensure the mutual recognition of such qualifications throughout the Union, and upskill the existing and future workforce to enable it to cope with the future realities of the labour market; encourages the Member States, therefore, to assess their educational offer and to upgrade it with AI-related skills, where necessary, and to put in place specific curricula for AI developers, while also including AI in traditional curricula; highlights the need to ensure mutual recognition of professional qualifications in AI skills across the Union, as several Member States are upgrading their educational offer with AI-related skills and putting in place specific curricula for AI developers; welcomes the Commission’s efforts to include digital skills as one of the qualifications requirements for certain professions harmonised at Union level under the Professional Qualifications Directive (11); stresses the need for these to be in line with the assessment list of the ethical guidelines for trustworthy AI, and welcomes the Commission’s proposal to transform this list into an indicative curriculum for AI developers; recalls the special needs of vocational education and training (VET) with regard to AI and calls for a collaborative approach across Europe to enhance the potential offered by AI in VET; underlines the importance of training
(11)
Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (OJ L 255, 30.9.2005, p. 22).