New digital academy for parents

The Digital Academy for Parents (ADP) program is an initiative by E-REDES in partnership with the Directorate-General for Education in Portugal, which offers parents and guardians of primary school children the opportunity to attend training sessions to develop their digital skills. 

The third edition of the ADP program (running in 2022/2023) includes not only the already existing courses Basic digital skills, Digital security and citizenship, but also the new course  Digital consumer focusing on energy literacy. In this edition, 173 organisational units or schools’ clusters (UOs) of Priority Intervention Educational Territories participated, forming 291 classes which involved 3084 family members and 728 young volunteers. 

This initiative is open to all UOs offering primary education from cycle 1 to 3. They must appoint a coordinating teacher and, if possible, a social worker or other professional from the pupils and families’ office of the school group. In addition, two operational assistants should be available to provide logistical support for the training. UOs must also ensure the availability of suitably equipped rooms for the training, the possibility of conducting the training during after-work hours, the presence of volunteers to facilitate the training and the formation of at least one training class. 

The training sessions are eight hours long, take place after work, and up to two family members can attend. Each school determines the schedule and timing of the training sessions, preferably twice a week for a total of eight hours per course. Schools may adapt the schedule according to their conditions and room availability. 

For each edition/school year, applications are submitted using an online form provided by the Directorate-General for Education (DGE) and open to all UOs, together with the relevant regulations. The UOs propose the number of classes to be formed. Applications are ranked in order of receipt. Each participating school identifies and selects volunteer trainers, preferably students from its own UO, aged between 14 and 18. Volunteers can also be selected from the group of teachers, technicians and/or parents/guardians of the respective educational community to facilitate this training. 

The teacher/technician appointed as the coordinator in each UO coordinates the volunteer trainers and prepares them based on the training content provided by the DGE. The coordinator is also responsible for mentoring the volunteer students during the training sessions and coordinating with families. To support the schools, kits have been created containing support materials for the three training courses. The Digital Security and Citizenship course uses digital educational resources from the awareness centre, which is DGE's responsibility. 

In addition, DGE, with the support of CCTIC Aveiro, organises training sessions for the coordinating teachers of the initiative, training/capacity building sessions for the volunteers and a sharing of practices for the young volunteers. E-Redes - Electricity Distribution, S.A. provides financial support for the training and covers the costs related to the logistical support, as specified in the regulations for each edition. 

Watch the launch event for the third edition of the Digital Academy for Parents below. 

In addition, you can watch the promotional video for the third edition of the Academy, and read more about the Young Volunteers session here.