Call to joint action

Call to joint action for DigComp at Work

The organizations and people who met on June 20th 2019 in Bilbao to attend the EC workshop on Developing digital competences for employability wish to:

Show our commitment complaint to the COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (Text with EEA relevance) when it defines that:

…in a rapidly changing and highly interconnected world, each person will need a wide range of skills and competences and to develop them continually throughout life …

…Individuals should be able to use digital technologies to support their active citizenship and social inclusion, collaboration with others, and creativity towards personal, social or commercial goals. Skills include the ability to use, access, filter, evaluate, create, program and share digital content. Individuals should be able to manage and protect information, content, data, and digital identities, as well as recognise and effectively engage with software, devices, artificial intelligence or robots. Engagement with digital technologies and content requires a reflective and critical, yet curious, open-minded and forward-looking attitude to their evolution. It also requires an ethical, safe and responsible approach to the use of these tools…
COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning

Present this call to joint action for digital competences with the purpose to foster the development of digital competences in every sector as a necessary step towards achieving digital transformation in Europe
Send this call to the European Commission and invite all stakeholders and people to share and disseminate it.

Bilbao, on 20th June of 2019

Background: Digital Competence development as a prerequisite for Digital Transformation in industry and employment

Technological advances in devices and applications, the expansion of fixed and mobile communications networks, the efficiency achieved in industry, services and almost every sector, as well as the proliferation of social networks and online media have created a new universal digital society offering plenty of opportunities for work, leisure, entertainment, consumption, personal development and learning. All that is required to be a member of this digital society seems to be the ability to use a connected device and its applications, which can provide access to this new world of digital opportunities. But is it really so?

In order to carry out the digital transformation of society, it is necessary to develop the required knowledge, skills and talent; no digital transformation can take place without digitally competent people! We are still focusing on digital development by extending infrastructures and building relevant skills in our human capital. Although digital skills development is more and more necessary in digital transformation, it is increasingly becoming a responsibility (and a financial burden) for the employee, who has to understand skilling, upskilling and re-skilling processes and select the best option at any given time. Achieving the digital maturity of society and organizations is a matter of digital culture and competence.

There is no doubt that digitalization impacts the job market. Effects of automation create inequality in sectors, social groups and territories. Many people lose their job due to unstoppable automation and the knowledge society must therefore improve the process of people’s adaptation. Companies must face the digital transformation of processes to approach new business models with new work methodologies using new tools and professional profiles, since the digital transformation must affect the whole organization in an integrated way.

It is necessary to carry out an analysis of the company’s digital competences, in order to measure the path that each employee must follow until he/she reaches the digital objectives of his/her department and of the whole organisation. It is necessary to know and manage the digital competences of professionals needed in order to design adequate and useful training in competences. The analysis of competences must deal with technical knowledge, the handling of tools, the skills and attitudes necessary to adapt to the digital environment, such as information management in digital environments, collaboration, team management that use technology to cooperate and work in a network, attention to clients immersed in the digital economy or cybersecurity.

Digital transformation is carried out with a combination of leadership and digitization initiatives, which span the entire value chain including information and project management, communication, training, personal organisation in digital environments and business management.
An adequate level of digital resolution involves mastering digital tools and social skills related to collaboration, creation of temporary and dispersed teams for specific projects, the use of agile methodologies and the culture of change and flexibility.

Three action lines to develop an open and sustained partnership over time

DigComp has already facilitated a broad consensus and the promotion of numerous activities and application experiences, thanks to the common language it represents and its role in the digital transformation of European organisations and society.

This Call to joint action proposes three action lines to develop an open and sustained partnership over time dedicated to enhancing the potential of the DigComp framework as the driver of digital transformation in industry and employment.

Those people adhering to this Call to Joint action for DigComp at Work, commit to the following:

a. Learning from each other and making others aware of what we have done so far

Organize awareness campaigns
Promote the adoption of the framework
Establish synergies

Organize awareness campaigns: We will promote and give visibility to the DigComp framework, addressing a wide audience (employees, employers and all stakeholders) through presentations. We will promote the development of communication support material.

Promote the adoption of the framework: We will support the adoption of the DigComp framework in every function of the employability path (for example, new projects, job advertisements, occupational profiles, career counselling etc.) and we propose to produce and disseminate multi-lingual versions of the framework and related supporting material.

Establish synergies: We will work towards identifying and establishing synergies between DigComp and other frameworks (e.g. EntreComp, e-CF), EU actions, projects, instruments and stakeholders.

b. Taking further steps to reach new goals

DigComp in enterprises
DigComp based professional digital profiles (PDPs)
DigComp compliance “stamp”
DigComp certification scheme

DigComp in enterprises: We will support the creation of a database of (learning outcomes?) examples of competences by area, levels and sectors to facilitate the adaptation of DigComp by companies, employment agencies and career counsellors.

DigComp based professional digital profiles (PDPs): We propose to establish new approaches for defining professional digital profiles (PDP) as a method for specifying digital competence requirements in jobs. We also propose to include these PDPs in national and European occupational frameworks such as ESCO.

DigComp compliance “stamp”: We are committed to spreading a DigComp compliance “stamp” as an identification that can distinguish organizations and experts offering digital services that use the DigComp framework.

DigComp certification scheme: We support a DigComp compliant certification scheme that has the aim to be widely accepted in the EU, to ensure the recognition of skills and mobility of workers/citizens across Europe.

c. Working together

Develop and sustain a DigComp Community of Practice (CoP)
Commit to sustain DigComp
Organize an Annual Event

Develop and sustain a DigComp Community of Practice (CoP): The DigComp CoP will bring together all stakeholders already using or interested in using DigComp. It will be moderated by a group of experts and will include several working groups on specific topics of interest. A virtual space will be provided for peer learning and interaction to reflect on the practice of applying DigComp in our projects and jointly build projects to improve the acquisition of digital skills in our societies. A repository of good practices and support material will be included.

Commit to sustain DigComp: We commit to implementing in synergy activities that will ensure sustainability of DigComp. These include clarifying and resolving ambiguities of the Framework, producing application guides, benchmarking , studies and research (e.g. to measure adoption, impact etc.), adaptation of DigComp to new sectors, evolution of the Framework to include technological developments, support for DigComp based products, etc.

Organize an Annual Event: Organize a European annual event for sharing and improving knowledge, promoting good practices, exchange ideas, ask questions and discuss common projects.