A Milestone for Education in the Digital Age: The Council of Europe Approves a Landmark AI Literacy Framework

by Giovanni Zorra, BASQUE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

Something significant happened in Strasbourg this spring — and every educator, school leader, and education policymaker in Europe should take note. At its 9th Plenary Session, the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee for Education (CDEDU) approved a draft Recommendation on AI Literacy: a framework designed to ensure that everyone — from students to citizens to professionals — can engage with artificial intelligence safely, critically, and responsibly. The draft will now be submitted to the Committee of Ministers for formal adoption in June 2026. This is not a technical document for engineers. It is a call to action for education systems across Europe — and it speaks directly to the work we are doing within the EduAId project.

Beyond “how AI works”: a three-dimensional model

At the heart of the Recommendation lies a three-dimensional model of AI literacy, developed by Council of Europe consultant Wayne Holmes. It is worth understanding what makes this framework genuinely different from most existing approaches.

Most courses and programmes on AI — whether produced by BigTech companies or independent initiatives — focus primarily on the technological dimension: algorithms, data, statistics, and increasingly, how to write prompts for generative AI tools. Some touch on the practical dimension: how to use AI systems effectively in real-world contexts. But the overwhelming majority stop there.

What the Council of Europe’s framework does — and what sets it apart — is to place the human dimension at the very centre of AI literacy. This means addressing the ethical, socio-political, and cultural implications of AI: its impact on human well-being, dignity, privacy, equity, and democratic participation; the risks of misinformation and surveillance; the environmental footprint of AI systems; and the broader implications for human rights and the rule of law.

These three dimensions are not separate silos. As the discussion paper underpinning the Recommendation makes clear, they are fundamentally interlinked: you cannot use AI effectively without understanding how it works, and you cannot use it responsibly without understanding its impact on people and society. All three lenses are necessary; none is sufficient alone.

Competences are not enough — awareness is for everyone

One of the most important conceptual contributions of the framework is its distinction between competences and awareness. Most existing approaches to AI literacy prioritise measurable competences — technical skills that can be tested and certified. But this focus, the paper argues, can be both limiting and misleading.

The reality is that very few people need to be able to write an AI algorithm. What everyone needs — students, teachers, parents, citizens, policymakers — is an informed awareness of how AI systems work in broad terms, what data they rely on, what biases they may carry, and how they affect the world around us. This awareness is what enables people to make responsible, critical decisions about when and how to engage with AI — and when to push back.

This distinction has profound implications for curriculum design, teacher training, and the kind of learning we prioritise in our schools and communities.

What member states are called to do

The Recommendation is addressed to the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, and it calls on them to take concrete steps:

• Integrate AI literacy into national curricula and learning frameworks, ensuring that the human dimension — not just technical skills — is given proper space at every level of education.
• Strengthen continuous professional development for educators, so that teachers are equipped not only to use AI tools, but to teach critically and responsibly about AI.
• Promote lifelong learning and inclusive access for all segments of society, including citizens, refugees, and people with protected characteristics — because AI literacy cannot be the privilege of the few.
• Safeguard human rights, democracy and the rule of law in AI-mediated environments, in line with the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI (2024) and the EU AI Act.

The message is clear: AI literacy is not simply about understanding technology. It is about ensuring that AI works for people — and that every individual retains their agency, judgement, and dignity in an increasingly automated world.

Why this matters for EduAId

The EduAId project was built on a conviction very close to the spirit of this Recommendation: that the professional educators who stand at the heart of our schools and learning communities need structured, recognised, and meaningful pathways to develop their AI literacy — not as passive users of new tools, but as informed, critical professionals.

Through our work on AI micro-credentials for teachers, school heads, and professional educators, we are addressing precisely the gap that the Council of Europe has now identified at policy level: the need to go beyond technical know-how and invest in the kind of deep, human-centred understanding that allows professional educators to guide their students through the challenges and opportunities that AI presents.

The CDEDU’s approval of this framework is, in many ways, a validation of the direction the EduAId project has been taking since its launch. It also raises the stakes: as the Recommendation moves towards formal adoption by the Committee of Ministers in June 2026, education systems across Europe will be expected to translate its principles into practice. That work starts in our classrooms, our training rooms, and our professional development programmes — today.

What comes next

The draft Recommendation will be submitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for adoption in June 2026. Once adopted, it will represent a formal policy commitment by member states to embed a human-centred, three-dimensional model of AI literacy across their education systems and lifelong learning frameworks.

At EduAId, we will continue to follow these developments closely — and to contribute, through our research, our training materials, and our micro-credentials platform, to the kind of AI literacy that this landmark framework envisions.