On 23 December 2025, expert consultations dedicated to the development of digital education in the Republic of Serbia were held at the Mona Plaza Hotel in Belgrade, bringing together representatives of school administrations, principals of selected primary schools, as well as representatives of relevant institutions such as the Institute for the Improvement of Education and the British Council. The gathering was organized as the first in a series of events initiated by the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation (IEQE), with the aim of strengthening participatory dialogue to enhance students’ digital competencies in pre-university education.
The planned cycle of expert consultations will build on the results and recommendations of the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), national initiatives and strategic documents in the field of digital education, as well as the findings of the project “Building Key Computer Competencies – Towards the Workforce of the Future.” In this way, the dialogue will be grounded in relevant data and oriented toward practical and sustainable solutions within the education system.
The conference was opened by Prof. Dr Boris Stojkovski, Director of the IEQE, Dr Milan Gromović, Deputy Director of the IEQE, Dr Danijela Šćepanović from the Ministry of Education, and Stela Durutović from the British Council. In their opening remarks, they emphasized the importance of a systemic, coordinated, and data-driven approach to the development of digital education, as well as the value of cooperation between institutions, schools, and international partners.
Within the first thematic block, Katarina Aleksić presented the results of national studies conducted between 2022 and 2025, focusing on the development of students’ digital competencies at the end of the first cycle of primary education. Bratislav Bulajić from the Institute for the Improvement of Education briefly presented ongoing activities related to the revision of the Digital World curriculum. This was followed by a discussion on identified challenges and good practices, as well as consideration of the need for additional support to schools.
The second thematic block focused on presenting the achievements of eighth-grade students within the ICILS 2023 international assessment and linking these results to the national educational context. Dejan Stanković, researcher and IEQE associate, presented students’ and teachers’ digital practices, providing an introduction to the discussion of their implications for the quality of teaching and learning processes.
In the final part of the conference, a workshop was organized to explore the potential of digital aspects within school quality indicators.
Priority topics for future online or in-person meetings will include support for the implementation of the Education Development Strategy until 2030, linking school digital maturity self-evaluation results with development planning, creating conditions for the implementation of hybrid teaching, and addressing issues related to the use of artificial intelligence in education.
The conference represented an important initial step toward strengthening cooperation with schools and empowering educational practice through data-driven recommendations for the systematic improvement of students’ digital competencies.
