In the fast-changing world of technology, where wrong decisions can be costly, governments need to ensure that their policy decisions make the most of the opportunities of ICT while meeting the needs of learners, teachers, parents and employers. In the past contact between senior officials to share experiences has tended to be occasional and formal, yet all are facing similar challenges. How best can decision-makers find out what is going on in other countries and what are the emerging issues?

The P2P (Peer to Peer) project is partly funded by the European Commission eLearning programme and coordinated by the European Schoolnet aims to develop a closer dialogue between senior officials working on elearning policy and implementation in schools across Europe. Based on the concept of professionals reviewing each other's practice, the review team will provide feedback to the host Department, based on the sharing of insights by the review team members.

The review process involves prior reading of relevant papers (e.g. INSIGHT Country Report on Northern Ireland (2004), the Empowering Schools policy, providing examples of similar work in the other countries, sharing insights during the visit, follow up exchanges and a peer review report to be published in 2005.

Says John Anderson, Northern Ireland's Strategy Coordinator "The P2P visit is a great opportunity for us to showcase some of our successes and learn from others. It places Northern Ireland right at the forefront of innovation not only in providing schools with the best ICT solutions but also ensuring that future plans draw on experiences in other countries."

Ulf W Lundin, Executive Director of the European Schoolnet commented: "It is vital that European ministries work closer than in the past to ensure that schooling enables young Europeans to participate fully in the information society. There will be a lot of interest from elearning policy-makers."

P2P is not just about government policy-making. School leaders face similar problems, and in parallel with policy-maker visits the Northern Ireland Regional Training Unit will support exchange visits between school leaders in the three countries.

Tom Hesketh, Director of the Regional Training Unit says, "We are delighted to join this innovative European project, which will further extend the international exchange programme which RTU provides for school leaders. This added dimension of professional development broadens the perspective of our school leaders, which helps them to make better decisions."

Country Report on Northern Ireland (2004)

Empowering Schools policy