European Commission launches new digital competence guidelines

Today, the Commission launches new guidelines to help educators, employers and recruiters ensure Europeans are equipped with the digital skills to thrive in the post-coronavirus world of work. The DigComp at Work report and its Implementation Guidelines include practical steps, key actions, tips and online resources to make best use of the EU’s digital competence framework (DigComp) along the ‘employability path’ – from education to sustainable employment and entrepreneurship.

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, added: “These past months, social distancing has transformed the way we connect, research and innovate at work – and we need to equip people with the right digital skills to continue working like this.” Support for managing the digital transition are at the heart of the European Skills Agenda.

The Commission will take this work forward in the autumn when it presents an updated Digital Education Action Plan alongside a communication on building the European Education Area. DigComp will play a role in supporting the work of countries, companies and social partners to support the development of digital competences. The case studies in the report showcase practical examples of the development of the digital competences, and the Implementation Guide offers specific guidelines, examples and useful resources for the use of DigComp.

El Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional publica en el BOE el ‘Marco de referencia para la competencia digital docente’ basado en DigComp

El Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (MEFP) ha desarrollado el ‘Marco de referencia para la competencia digital docente’ basado en el marco europeo DigComp. El documento, publicado en el BOE, es fruto del acuerdo alcanzado con las Comunidades Autónomas durante la Conferencia Sectorial de Educación celebrada el pasado 14 de mayo y permitirá el adecuado desarrollo de la competencia digital de los docentes y de los centros educativos.

Este marco de referencia sienta las bases para el diseño por parte de las diferentes Administraciones de aquellas políticas educativas encaminadas a mejorar el desempeño de los docentes en esta materia.

El marco divide las competencias en cinco áreas: Información y alfabetización Informacional, Comunicación y colaboración, Creación de contenidos digitales, Seguridad y Resolución de problemas. Cada competencia se divide en tres niveles (básico, intermedio, avanzado) y está definida por diferentes descriptores.

Alcanzar un adecuado grado de desarrollo de la competencia digital de los docentes y de los centros educativos es imprescindible para garantizar la adquisición y desarrollo de las competencias clave por parte de los estudiantes y, en último término, de todos los ciudadanos.

La competencia digital se considera una de las capacidades clave del aprendizaje y, por ello, una de las cuestiones a las que se debe prestar especial atención, según las Recomendaciones del Consejo Europeo. La competencia digital es, por un lado, un elemento indispensable de la alfabetización elemental del siglo XXI. Pero, además, la tecnología ofrece vías esenciales de acceso al conocimiento, de colaboración y construcción del saber, y amplía y potencia las estrategias pedagógicas para mejorar el aprendizaje y ofrecer recursos y herramientas personalizados.

En línea con estas recomendaciones europeas, la digitalización es uno de los pilares del Proyecto de Ley de Educación y un eje transversal de las reformas emprendidas por el MEFP, como el I Plan Estratégico de Formación Profesional o la reforma de la profesión docente.

Digital Economy and Society Index Report 2020 – Human Capital

In the past year, there was an improvement both in internet user skills (at least basic digital skills) and in advanced skills (ICT graduates and ICT specialists). In 2019, the percentage of people that have at least basic digital skills reached 58% (up from 55% in 2015). A large part of the EU population, however, still lacks basic digital skills, even though most jobs require such skills.

In 2018, some 9.1 million people worked as ICT specialists across the EU, 1.6 million more than 4 years earlier. Nevertheless, there remains a shortage of ICT specialists on the labour market: 64% of large enterprises and 56% of SMEs that recruited ICT specialists during 2018, reported that vacancies for ICT specialists are hard to fill. The problem is even more widespread in Romania and Czechia, where at least 80% of enterprises that either recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists reported such difficulties.

There is also a gender balance issue as only one in six ICT specialists are female. Overall, in the Human capital dimension of the DESI, Finland, Sweden and Estonia are the most advanced.

Download the report: Digital Economy and Society Index Report 2020 – Human Capital

Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook

The International Union of Workers (ITU) has published a guide to digital skills assessment, a practical and comprehensive tool for national assessment of these skills.

ITU’s Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook has been designed to serve as a comprehensive, practical step-by-step tool for national digital skills assessments. The guidebook can be used to determine the existing supply of a digitally skilled cohort at a national level, to assess skills demand from industry and other sectors, to identify skills gaps, and to develop policies to address future digital skills requirements. It is designed for use by policy-makers and other stakeholders, such as partners in the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and academia.

ITU’s Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook cites the ikanos initiative’s self-assessment tool as one of the most prominent examples of addressing the systematic assessment of digital skills.

This guidebook draws on, and complements, the ITU Digital Skills Toolkit, which is part of ITU’s commitment to the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth to tackle youth unemployment. Whereas the toolkit was designed to help policy-makers develop national digital skills strategies and roadmaps, this guidebook focuses on helping them identify national skills gaps and requirements, which can be addressed through targeted digital skills development policies and strategies. The results of a digital skills assessment exercise can serve as a concrete and necessary input into the national policy-making process.

Download ITU’s Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook