# Public Values and FOSS for Education > [! note]- > The content of this page is generated by audio/video transcription and text transformation from the content and links of this source. Source: [https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-6042-public-values-and-foss-for-education/](https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-6042-public-values-and-foss-for-education/) <video src="https://video.fosdem.org/2025/ud6215/fosdem-2025-6042-public-values-and-foss-for-education.av1.webm" controls></video> ## Summary & Highlights: The session 'Public values and FOSS for education' at FOSDEM 2025 addresses the dominance of tech giants in the digital educational system and the need for ethical open-source alternatives. It highlights the lack of privacy, freedom, and sovereignty in current educational technologies and proposes a movement toward free and sovereign alternatives. The speakers, Geert-Jan and Raoul Kramer, share strategies and initiatives from the Netherlands to promote public values in educational software. **Current Challenges in Educational Technology** The digital educational landscape is currently dominated by tech giants, leading to insufficient protection of fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom for students, parents, and educators. The prevalent use of closed-source, vendor-locked-in educational technology products results in overpriced solutions that often exploit user data. The need to replace these surveillance capitalist-based technologies with ethical open-source alternatives is emphasized. **Building a European Movement for FOSS in Education** The session outlines the vision of creating a European movement to develop a free and sovereign alternative to proprietary cloud solutions offered by Big Tech. The goal is to unify independent initiatives across Europe to build and improve educational tools, integrate existing FOSS tools, develop deployment methods, and take legal and lobbying actions at the EU level. **Practical Steps and Initiatives** The speakers discuss practical steps taken in the Netherlands, including building educational tools, integrating FOSS tools, and developing deployment methods. They highlight the importance of collaboration with international colleagues to make a significant impact. The session also explores the need for legal action and lobbying efforts to promote public values in educational software. **The Role of Open Source in Education** The presentation emphasizes the potential of open-source software in education, allowing schools to design IT environments based on public values. It addresses the risks associated with current tech monopolies and the lack of open-source schools, proposing a shift towards open-source solutions to align with public values and reduce dependency on proprietary technologies. ## Importance for an eco-social transformation This session is crucial for eco-social transformation as it addresses the ethical, social, and ecological issues in the current educational technology landscape. By advocating for open-source solutions, it promotes digital sovereignty, privacy, and freedom, aligning with sustainable and ethical practices. Eco-social designers can apply tools like NextCloud, Gibbon, and Matrix to create educational environments that prioritize public values. Challenges include overcoming vendor lock-in, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. Political hurdles involve lobbying for policy changes at the EU level to support open-source education. ## Links [Slidedeck of a longer talk about our project](#) [Slidedeck used during this talk in ODF](#) [Slidedeck used during this talk in PDF](#) [Video recording subtitle file (VTT)](#) [Video recording (AV1/WebM) - 87.0 MB](#) [Video recording (MP4) - 586.3 MB](#) [Chat room(web)](#) [Chat room(app)](#)