Introduction

Education Today for Tomorrow's Energy Users brought together key actors involved in bringing quality education on energy to the decision-makers and energy users of tomorrow - including educators, researchers, national education authorities and local energy agencies. For the first time at a ManagEnergy Annual Conference teachers from several secondary schools and pupils from two primary schools were on the programme.

Education is an area in which Member States have exclusive competence. However, the European Commission recognizes that educational initiatives are a vital part of raising awareness on sustainable energy issues, and it has a role in developing activities in this area that enable dissemination of existing information and programmes, and promoting best practices.

Priority number eight of the Commission's recently adopted Energy Efficiency Action Plan calls for awareness-raising on energy efficiency. Thus, education and training are key elements in the implementation of the energy action plan and the achievement of energy policy goals.

Education, with particular focus on secondary schools, is also expected to be a key priority area within the 2007 Intelligent Energy - Europe II Work Programme. Proposals will be expected to build on the seven ongoing education projects making the best use of existing didactic materials.

Realizing the importance of sharing experiences and working together to achieve common objectives in this area, the speakers were invited to address exactly this issue - how do they work together to achieve results in their schools and communities?

The key question that the conference attempted to address was: "What does it really take to make quality energy education happen?" Answering the question is a tall order but the recommendations from the conference to the Member States and the Commission provided below are a first attempt at responding to it. The recommendations are based on a synthesis of the presentations, the round-table discussions and the contributions made by the conference participants.

Recommendations

Education on energy should be integrated into national curricula with coordination, rather than harmonization, at the EU level.

1. A thematic education on energy network drawing upon existing EU and national networks and actors should be established to facilitate learning and cross-fertilization of ideas.
2. Coordination across ministries and agencies regarding development and implementation of education on energy should be improved (energy, education, environment, etc).
3. ManagEnergy's KidsCorner should be recognized as a central tool for dissemination of material and experiences within this area at the EU level.
4. Teacher training on energy issues, including in-service training, should be strengthened and improved.
5. EU funded projects were seen as an important contribution to increase the abilities of education institutions in venturing into energy subjects. Funding to improve the level and quality of education on energy should be further increased.

The conference agreed that the following measures could be incorporated into EU programmes to facilitate the achievement of the above:

1. To learn from past and ongoing initiatives, an in-depth study on the status of education on energy in the Member States should be carried out. A call for tender should be launched to this effect.
2. KidsCorner should be improved, particularly by focusing on enhancing the added value of the teachers' section.
3. An award competition for the most energy efficient school (under the ManagEnergy or Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign) should be launched.
4. Quality of education should be a major concern in all energy education projects by strongly involving the education sector. Carefully chosen evaluation methodologies should ensure proper assessment of the education effectiveness.
5. EU programmes should allow for successful projects and initiatives to be replicated in other countries and regions so as to achieve synergies and complementarity.

Through contact with national educational authorities and administrations, the Commission should encourage Member States to:

• Improve and increase their awareness-raising initiatives, by developing strong campaigns targeting the general public and coordinating these campaigns with other more targeted programmes and initiatives so as to offer a coherent approach.
• Organise an EU conference for national education authorities with the support of the Intelligent Energy Executive Agency, DG Education and Culture and the involvement from a wide range of actors in energy field.
• Launch platforms (or build on existing ones).
• Develop models and strategies for cooperation between actors at local and regional level.

"Europeans face many challenges in the coming decades. Our children, and their children, will have to live with the effects of climate change. At the same time, Europe will need to import ever increasing amounts of energy as fossil fuel reserves diminish fast and prices grow higher than ever.

Many people feel they cannot respond to these challenges. They believe that there is nothing they can do, as individuals, which will change things. But everyone can do something, and collectively make a real difference: be more efficient in our own energy use.

You might ask why we should involve children when these actions are the responsibilities of us adults, but educational initiatives are a vital part of raising awareness on this issue. As a former teacher, headmaster and Education Minister in Latvia, I know the impact that such initiatives can have on young people - and also the influence which inspired children can have on their families and the adult population in general."

Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Energy, 2006
in Education on Energy - Teaching tomorrow's energy consumers

Education Today for Tomorrow's Energy Users brings together key actors involved in bringing quality energy education to the decision-makers and energy users of tomorrow - from educators to national education authorities and local energy agencies. This is the first event in the Sixth ManagEnergy Annual Conference, which this year is part of the EUSEW.

The European Commission recognizes that educational initiatives are a vital part of raising awareness on sustainable energy issues. Its recently adopted Energy Efficiency Action Plan takes this into account. Energy education is also expected to be a key priority area within the Intelligent Energy - Europe II 2007 Work Programme. Realizing the importance of sharing experiences and working together to achieve common objectives in this area, we have invited our speakers to address exactly this issue - how do they work together to achieve results in their schools and communities?

Energy education is the theme of a number of Intelligent Energy - Europe projects - past and present. At this conference we of course heared from ongoing projects. These demonstrated how Europe through the education of young people is trying to take advantage of the influence that children can have on their families, as well as to prepare them for the future challenges presented by climate change and diminishing fossil fuel reserves. To get an idea of the impact of past projects, we invited teachers involved in one of them. These teachers shared with us how knowledge and experience has been transferred and used in their schools and administrations after the project has come to an end.

The event ended with a round table that aimed to provide perspectives on the way forward for energy education by addressing the following question: What does it really take to make quality energy education happen? The round table was organized as a two way dialogue where both panellists and those attending the conference had ample opportunity to participate.

In addition, the event featured a musical performance by children from a Brussels school, the launch of the 2007 ManagEnergy KidsCorner Competition, and a mini-exhibition presenting EU-funded education projects.

	Welcome and Introduction to the Conference Alfonso González Finat, Director of New and renewable sources of energy, Energy Efficiency and Innovation, European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport Daniela Mormile, Conference Chair, European Commission Download Presentation (725 KB PDF)
	Integration of energy issues in the core curriculum: The Finnish implementation Marja Montonen, Counsellor of Education, National Board of Education, Finland Download Presentation (679 KB PDF)
	Building capacity through education for sustainable development - Experiences from the ENSI network Olaug Vetti Kvam, Schools' Centre for Science Education, University of Bergen, Norway Download Presentation (1640 KB PDF)
	Questions & Answers
L'énergie c'est notre vie (Energy is our life) Musical performance by children from L'Ecole 7 du Bois de la Cambre and Ecole Les Jardins D'Elise, Brussels, Belgium See the Photo Gallery for more images
	Introduction Daniela Mormile, Conference Chair, European Commission
	Launch of the 2007 ManagEnergy KidsCorner Photo and Drawing Competition Roger Coombs, ManagEnergy Download Presentation (775 KB PDF)
The Rainmakers and the Energy Survival: A successful interaction between reality TV, education and web in Norway and the Netherlands
	Turid Helle, Enova SF, Norway Download Presentation (414 KB PDF)
	Arild Halvorsen, TV Producer, Fabelaktiv AS, Norway Download Presentation (1866 KB PDF)
	Henk van Elburg, SenterNovem, the Netherlands Download Presentation (635 KB PDF)
The afterlife of Intelligent Energy - Europe projects: How are tools and acquired knowledge used and passed on at the end of a project's life? The experiences from secondary school teachers participating in the FEE project.
	Sven Moens, Teacher, Primary School "St-Joost aan Zee", Brussels, Belgium Download Presentation (726 KB PDF)
	Rino Polidori, Teacher, Secondary School "G. Bartolena", Livorno, Italy Download Presentation (1916 KB PDF)
Making it happen together! Actors in cooperation for energy in education
	The 'whole-school approach' and energy education in the community David Dixon, Head Teacher, Bowbridge Primary School, Newark and Management Board Member of Newark & Sherwood Energy Agency, UK Download Presentation (2189 KB PDF)
	Integration of energy education in regional policy Nikolaos Zografakis, Director, Regional Energy Agency of Crete, Heraklion, Greece Download Presentation (1188 KB PDF)
Stakeholders' Round Table - Making quality energy education happen: What does it really take? Perspectives on the way forward for energy education in primary and secondary education.
	The round table panel was designed to ensure that a wide range of both organisational and geographical perspectives are represented. The panel included the European Commission/IEEA, a National Education Authority, a National Energy Agency, a Headteacher, a Classroom teacher and a coordinator from a European energy project. All speakers and conference participants were encouraged to take an active part in the round table discussion.
	Moderator: Petra Pinzler, Die Zeit
	Daniela Mormile, Conference Chair, European Commission
	Bernd Decker, Intelligent Energy Executive Agency (IEEA)
	Marja Montonen, National Board of Education, Finland
	Turid Helle, Enova SF, Norway
	Nikolaos Zografakis, Regional Energy Agency of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
	David Dixon, Bowbridge Primary School and Newark & Sherwood Energy Agency, UK
	Rino Polidori, Livorno, Italy, The FEE project
	Yolanda Cherrail, IEE Project Coordinator, Energy Path Project
Concluding remarks
	Daniela Mormile, Conference Chair, European Commission Conclusions and recommendations from the conference will be available soon.

The mini-exhibition was organised in parallel with the energy education event,  Education Today for Tomorrow's Energy Users. At the stands, participants could find additional information and material about ManagEnergy KidsCorner, IEE projects and other initiatives undertaken to promote energy education across Europe. Participants also had the opportunity to follow up on issues raised during the conference and speak with project coordinators - among others from Active Learning, Kids4Future, FEEDU, Energy Path, KITH and Youth - as well as staff from the Intelligent Energy Executive Agency and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy and Transport.