Understand the starting point
It starts from a diagnosis (SELFIE, Check-In) that shows where the school stands and what needs improving.
PADDE guide
What to include in your PADDE: objectives, actions and metrics.
A guide for schools and school groups: what the Digital Development Action Plan for Schools is, what it is for, how to write it and real examples of objectives, actions and metrics, plus how Schoop helps meet them.
What is the PADDE
What the PADDE is and what it is for.
The PADDE (Plano de Ação para o Desenvolvimento Digital da Escola, the Digital Development Action Plan for Schools) is the strategic document in which each school or school group sets out how it will integrate digital technologies: the objectives it wants to reach, the actions it will carry out, how it will measure results and who is responsible. It sits within Portugal’s Digital Transition Action Plan (Council of Ministers Resolution no. 30/2020) and is based on the European DigCompOrg framework.
Schools are invited to draw it up from a diagnosis of their digital reality. The result is a concrete plan with objectives, actions, owners, deadlines and ways of measuring progress.
- Who writes it
- A team from the school itself, often called the Digital Transition Team, supported by Digital Ambassadors and teacher-training centres (CFAE).
- Duration
- Usually about two years, with monitoring and evaluation over time (for example, 2021/2023, 2023/2025 or 2024/2026).
- Approval
- In many school groups it is approved by the Pedagogical Council.
- Framework
- Digital Transition Action Plan (RCM no. 30/2020) and the European DigCompOrg and DigCompEdu frameworks.
What it is for
Set priorities
It turns the diagnosis into clear objectives for organisation, pedagogy and technology.
Plan actions with owners and deadlines
Each objective has activities, responsible teams and a timeline.
Measure and decide
Indicators let the school follow progress, evaluate results and support decision-making.
How to write one
How to write a PADDE in 5 steps.
- 1
Gather evidence
Run the diagnosis: SELFIE (school leaders, teachers and students) and Check-In (teachers’ digital skills), plus other school data.
- 2
Analyse the data
Understand strengths and weaknesses in each dimension and choose the priority areas.
- 3
Draw up the plan
Set objectives, activities, owners, metrics and a timeline for each dimension, and the plan for communicating with the community.
- 4
Implement
Put the actions into practice during the plan’s term, with the digital transition team coordinating.
- 5
Monitor and evaluate
Follow the indicators, evaluate what was achieved and adjust the plan.
The PADDE dimensions
The three PADDE dimensions and their areas.
A PADDE’s objectives are organised into three dimensions. These are the areas each one usually covers.
Organisational dimension
How the school organises, leads and collaborates digitally.
- Leadership and governance
- Collaboration and networking
- Continuous professional development
Pedagogical dimension
How the digital enters teaching, assessment and students’ skills.
- Digital resources
- Teaching and learning
- Assessment practices
- Students’ digital competence
Technological and digital dimension
The infrastructure, equipment and services that underpin the rest.
- Infrastructure and equipment
- Digital platforms and services
- Security and data protection
How to read a PADDE
Objective, activity, metric, owner and date.
A PADDE is, in practice, a table. Each objective has an activity, a metric to tell whether it was met, an owner and a timeline. This is the row Schoop helps fill in:
DimensionObjectiveActivityMetricOwnerTimeline
OrganisationalUse digital technologies to improve communication with the school communityMonthly newsletter and the school’s public agenda, on Schoop1 newsletter a month and number of viewsCommunication team, set by the school2024/2026
Objective by objective
The objectives schools write, and how to meet them.
The objectives below come from real PADDEs. For each one we show how Schoop helps, an action you can add and a possible metric.
- Meets directly
- Helps meet
Organisational dimension
Overall objective of the dimension: Use the digital to simplify processes, improve communication and share what the school does.
Meets directly
Use digital technologies to improve communication with the school community
How Schoop helps
Notices and events in the public agenda, news in the newspaper and a newsletter that reaches families’ inboxes. You publish once and the information goes to several channels.
Action to add
Communicate procedures, notices and events to students and parents through the agenda, the newspaper and the newsletter.
Possible metric
Number of notices and newsletters sent per period and their views.
Meets directly
Promote school projects and activities and act as a “window” to the outside
How Schoop helps
The newspaper site shows the school to outsiders. Each club or project (Erasmus+, Ciência Viva, the Library, Eco-Schools…) has its own Space, with no separate websites.
Action to add
Create a Space per project and publish activities as they happen.
Possible metric
Number of projects with an active Space and site views.
Meets directly
Promote the school’s heritage and memory
How Schoop helps
The Media archive keeps photos, audio and video with author, school year and licence. The archive carries over from one year to the next and can be reused in any content.
Action to add
Build the school’s digital archive and catalogue the existing material.
Possible metric
Number of items catalogued with author and licence.
Helps meet
Save time and paper in internal and external communication
How Schoop helps
Notices stop being printed and rewritten several times: they are written once and go to the site, the newsletter, the screens and social media.
Action to add
Replace paper notices with digital ones published in a single place.
Possible metric
Number of notices published in digital format.
Helps meet
Train teaching and non-teaching staff to use digital communication tools
How Schoop helps
The team learns to publish, review and organise content day to day, in a simple editor, with roles and permissions suited to each person and supporting documentation.
Action to add
Train a team of teaching and non-teaching staff to use the platform.
Possible metric
Number of staff with an active account publishing or reviewing.
Pedagogical dimension
Overall objective of the dimension: Ensure online resources and new teaching practices, and develop the school community’s digital skills.
Meets directly
Publish and promote digital work by students and teachers (the work “showcase”)
How Schoop helps
The Work Showcase displays students’ projects, work, art and prototypes, with author credit. The Newspaper gives them an editorial home.
Action to add
Create the school’s digital work showcase, with contributions from several departments.
Possible metric
Number of student works published per period and their views.
Meets directly
Encourage students to produce digital work and develop their digital skills
How Schoop helps
Students write, interview, record, edit and publish in a flow with clear rules: teacher review, approval, author credit and respect for copyright.
Action to add
Run the newspaper and the podcast as a digital and media literacy project.
Possible metric
Number of student authors and of classes with published content.
Helps meet
Foster multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary projects with digital technologies (Citizenship and Development, Curricular Autonomy)
How Schoop helps
A newspaper or a podcast brings several subjects together around a theme. Each project has its own Space, with teachers and students from different areas contributing.
Action to add
Launch one interdisciplinary project per term, published in the newspaper or the podcast.
Possible metric
Number of teachers involved in projects with publication (for example, 25% of teachers).
Helps meet
Diversify assessment formats and practices with digital technologies
How Schoop helps
Articles, reports, podcasts and videos become evidence of learning. Review with comments gives the student feedback before publication.
Action to add
Use published multimedia work as an assessment tool in at least one subject per term.
Possible metric
Number of multimedia assessment tools per term and class.
Helps meet
Encourage taking part in competitions and projects with students’ digital work
How Schoop helps
Work is published, organised and credited to its author, ready to be put forward for competitions and projects.
Action to add
Select published work for national competitions and projects.
Possible metric
Number of works submitted to competitions.
Technological dimension
Overall objective of the dimension: Ensure good digital working conditions for teachers and students.
Meets directly
Install an information panel in the school and keep it running
How Schoop helps
Any TV or monitor with a browser shows a playlist of news, notices, events, timetables and student work. It is paired with a code and managed from Schoop.
Action to add
Install information panels in the busiest areas.
Possible metric
Panel installed and running; number of items shown per month.
Meets directly
Access internal information faster and with better quality
How Schoop helps
Notices and news appear on the screens and in the agenda as soon as they are published, with no paper circulars and no messages lost in chat groups.
Action to add
Use the screens and the agenda as the main channel for internal notices.
Possible metric
Number of notices published per period.
Meets directly
Create multimedia display spaces for student work (video, photography, music)
How Schoop helps
A screen or projector connected to a computer with a browser shows videos, photos and Showcase work in the playground, the library or the lobby, with the playlist updated from Schoop.
Action to add
Create two display spaces for digital work, fed from the Showcase.
Possible metric
Number of active spaces and of works shown.
Helps meet
Make the most of the Escola Digital Programme equipment in teaching
How Schoop helps
Schoop works in the browser, on computers and tablets, with nothing to install. It makes use of the equipment the school already has.
Action to add
Use the school’s equipment to create and manage digital content.
Possible metric
Number of active users per month.
Communication plan
The plan for communicating with the community.
Many PADDEs include a communication plan: who the audiences are and through which channels they are reached. Schoop covers the school’s outgoing digital channels.
AudienceChannels on Schoop
StudentsNewspaper and podcasts, school screens, agenda
Teachers and non-teaching staffNotices and agenda, screens in work areas, newsletter
Parents and familiesNewsletter, public agenda, newspaper site, social media
Community and partnersNewspaper site, project Spaces, Work Showcase, social media
The school sets the owners and the timeline, as in any PADDE.
Monitoring and evaluation
Targets you can measure.
PADDEs ask for indicators such as the number of visits to the school portal or the number of people taking part in activities. Schoop Analytics shows views, most-read items, most-listened podcasts, change over time and newsletter performance, so you have numbers for your monitoring reports.
- Views
- Most read
- Most-listened podcasts
- Change over time
- Newsletters
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about the PADDE.
What is the PADDE?
The PADDE is the Digital Development Action Plan for Schools. It is the document in which each school or school group sets the objectives, actions, metrics and owners for integrating digital technologies, based on the European DigCompOrg framework and Portugal’s Digital Transition Action Plan.
What is the PADDE for?
It lets the school understand its digital starting point, set priorities, plan actions with owners and deadlines, and follow results with indicators. It is a tool that supports decision-making and the monitoring of the school’s digital work.
Who writes the PADDE?
A team from the school itself, often called the Digital Transition Team, supported by Digital Ambassadors and teacher-training centres (CFAE). In many school groups the plan is approved by the Pedagogical Council.
What should a PADDE contain?
It usually includes school data, the diagnosis (for example SELFIE and Check-In), objectives by dimension, activities with owners and a timeline, metrics or indicators, the plan for communicating with the community, and how it will be monitored and evaluated.
What are the PADDE dimensions?
Three: organisational (leadership, collaboration and professional development), pedagogical (digital resources, teaching and learning, assessment and students’ digital competence) and technological and digital (infrastructure, equipment, platforms and data protection).
How long does a PADDE last?
Usually about two years, with monitoring and evaluation over time. Plans for 2021/2023, 2023/2025 or 2024/2026 are common, later followed by a new version.
What are SELFIE and Check-In?
They are two diagnostic tools. SELFIE gathers school leaders’, teachers’ and students’ views on how technology is used in the school. Check-In is a questionnaire that places teachers on a scale of digital competence. The results help set the PADDE’s objectives.
What communication objectives can I put in the PADDE?
Common examples: using digital technologies to improve communication with the school community, promoting the school’s projects and activities, publishing students’ digital work, installing an information panel and creating a plan for communicating with the community. Below you will find each one with a suggested action and metric.
What metrics can I use in the PADDE?
Measurable ones, such as the number of visits to the school portal, the number of student works published, the number of active screens, the percentage of teachers using a digital tool each month or the number of people taking part in activities.
Does Schoop replace the PADDE?
No. The PADDE is the school’s plan. Schoop is a communication and publishing platform that helps meet several of its objectives, above all communication, showcasing student work and information on the school’s screens.
What Schoop does not do
To be clear with your team: Schoop handles communication and publishing. It does not replace:
- School management (timetables, attendance, grades, enrolment)
- The virtual classroom (Classroom, Moodle, Teams)
- The network, computers and other equipment
- Remote meetings and digital signatures
It complements these tools where they fall short: showing the community what the school does.
Schoop does not guarantee compliance with specific requirements. The objectives come from the PADDEs of Portuguese school groups and each school’s wording may vary. Actions and metrics are suggestions: each school sets its own objectives, actions and indicators.
Dimensions follow the European DigCompOrg framework and the Ministry of Education’s PADDE guidance.