The online training on planning and management of interventions financed by NOP funds for schools 2014-2020 has officially started. The initiative – promoted by the General Direction for school building interventions of the Ministry of education – for the governance of the structural funds for education and digital innovation is carried out in collaboration with Indire. The course is aimed at the acquisition and consolidation of competences useful for the use of the GPU 2014-2020 system to manage and document effectively the projects financed with the funds of the National operational programme (NOP) for schools.

The training can be undertaken online through the environment set up by Indire’s working group. After few days from the opening of the platform, there are already 9,600 registered users who have started the activities, with about 26,000 working sessions, and 50% of them have already taken the self-evaluation test. To date, about 5,000 hours of videos have been delivered. The course, in fact, includes a starting phase when users can access multimedia resources (in-depth videos and materials) based on the themes of the chosen modules followed by one dedicated to self-evaluation: the students asses with a test the knowledge acquired and successively the system suggests them the most appropriate webinars to follow on the basis of the answers given. A final test is then foreseen to assess the acquisition of contents granting a certificate of module completion. The training offer is organised into 5 modules of which 2 are compulsory and one is optional. The first module, recently activated, regards the management of projects through the tools provided by the GPU system and the pianification of effective and qualitative interventions in the framework of NOP for schools, while the others concern best practice presentations, Euro-planning, monitoring and data collection.

What is the NOP for schools – competences and learning environments?

It is a programme financed through the European structural funds containing the strategic priorities of the education sector for 7 years, from 2014 to 2020. The programme aims to promote a high quality effective and equal educational system, by offering schools the opportunity to access communitarian resources. The NOP for schools is addressed to structural and qualitative enhancement and improvement of schools of all types and levels on the entire national territory. Through digital technologies, the system for unified management of the programme (GPU) contributes to the realisation of activities for analysis, monitoring, implementation and control for the improvement of governance, at different levels, in all the phases of the planning of the programme. NOP for school is organised in 4 specific axes, each one with its own specific objectives. The training is part of Axes III of NOP “for schools – competences and learning environments” and foresees actions to improve the overall governance of the education sector.