Abstract:

eTwinning has been connecting teachers from all over Europe and neighbouring countries for more than 19 years. It enables teachers and pupils from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools to connect remotely, communicate in a safe virtual platform, form partnerships, work on projects, share ideas, learn from each other, and develop their digital and soft skills.

Since 2005, more than 14,000 Slovak teachers have participated in eTwinning. In autumn 2023, we conducted a survey involving almost 900 of them. The questions were focused on how they rate eTwinning - whether they were familiar with it; what was the main motivation for registering, and if they were involved in international projects. We were also interested about the main benefits of eTwinning for themselves, their students, and their school; also about teachers´ experience with international project cooperation, as well as barriers and support affecting their project work.

Respondents were asked about the impact of eTwinning on their professional development. As eTwinning Slovakia provides various forms of training (trainings, seminars, webinars, etc.) and prepares publications, we wanted to know whether they use these tools for their development.

Finally, we compared the results obtained within this survey with the results of a survey we conducted in 2011 in order to assess the development and identify positive and negative trends. Primary research methods (online survey), analysis, comparison, synthesis, and generalization methods were used in conducting the research and preparing the paper.

Keywords:

eTwinning, professional development, digital competences, school partnership.