Microsoft Recognises Europe’s Most Innovative Teachers

VIENNA, Austria 27 March, 2009

The 2009 European Innovative Teachers Forum Awards Thursday night recognised teachers across Europe for their outstanding contribution to education and the pioneering use of technology in the classroom. More than 150 education policymakers and teachers from 40 countries across Europe attended the event, hosted by Microsoft Corp, to share ideas, experiences and best practices on integrating technology and innovative teaching into the curriculum.

Now in its sixth year, the European Innovative Teachers Forum is designed to honour outstanding educators for their contributions and provide them with a forum in which to collaborate and share their expertise with peers from around the world. The forum also provides classroom learning and professional development resources for teachers. At the forum, a panel of distinguished education leaders from across Europe selected a handful of educators as Innovative Teachers of the Year in the following categories, for the solutions they created to improve the way students learn using technology:

Innovation in ICT Usage

• First place: UK, Ollie Bray, “Thinking out of the Xbox”
• Second place: Sweden, Anna Ljunqvist, “The Paperless Classroom”
• Third place: UK, Mandeep Atwal, “Young Voices”

Innovation in Community

• First place: Serbia, Slavica Juric, “The Story About Bread”
• Second place: Bulgaria, Krasimira Dimitrova, “Journey Through Bulgaria”
• Third place: Slovakia, Pallo Peter, “Nature Explorers”

Innovation in Content

• First place: Belgium, Isabel Schapdryver, “Secondhandshop”
• Second place: Northern Ireland, David Stinson, “Pupil E-portfolio”
• Third place: Greece, Diplaris Dimitriou, “From Newton to CERN”

Educator's Choice

• First place: Bulgaria, Krasimira Dimitrova, “Journey through Bulgaria”
• Second place: Belgium, Isabel Schapdryver, “Secondhandshop”
• Third place: Croatia, Helena Miljevic, “Industrial Revolution in Rijeka”
• Third place: Greece, Thodoris Andriopoulos, “Who Killed Mr X?”
• Third place: Northern Ireland, David Stinson, “Pupil E-portfolio”
• Third place: The Netherlands, Andrea Brauns, “Sound Lottery”

“A key theme at the European Innovative Teachers Forum was how technology has become a transformative tool and catalyst for improving education, evolving education systems towards a more student-centric approach,” said James Bernard, worldwide director of Microsoft’s Partners in Learning. “These awards celebrate the achievements of some of Europe’s most innovate teachers, and their passion and dedication towards finding new ways of using technology to engage and inspire their students. We have been so impressed with all of the projects showcased here, and we salute the teachers who give so much time and effort to making a difference in their students’ lives and education.”

Andrea Rittersberger, from the Konservatorium Wien University, who is acting as head judge at the European Innovative Teachers Forum, said, “Preparing students for life and work in the 21st century means that there has to be a fundamental change in how the teaching profession employs technology both as a learning tool and something to also be taught. The winning projects stood out as examples of best practice in addressing the changes and challenges with teaching today.”

The winners of the 1st places from the European Innovative Teachers Forum will go forward to the Worldwide Microsoft Innovative Teachers Conference, which will take place in November in Brazil.

Worldwide Investment in Education

At the beginning of the European event, Microsoft announced that it will invest a total of almost $500 million (US) worldwide over the course of 10 years in Partners in Learning, an initiative that provides technology access and training to teachers and administrators to help ensure that students have the essential skills they need to succeed. Partners in Learning has reached more than 130 million students and teachers in 110 countries. More than 1.6 million teachers from 80 countries participate in the Innovative Teachers Network. Earlier this year, Partners in Learning announced that it will expand its Innovative Schools program to reach more than 72,000 schools in 100 countries by 2013.

This forum is a part of Microsoft’s overall global commitment to teachers and education. This is one of many Innovative Teachers Forums that take place across the world.. Further information about the Innovative Teachers Forum and Partners in Learning can be found online at
http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/InnovativeTeachers%20VPR/default.mspx.

The white paper from Reflections Research and Consulting, “The Future of Education: Realizing Learners’ Potential Across Europe,” can be downloaded at http://reflections.at/education.

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