DigCompEdu: The Digital Competences Every Educator Should Master

Why educators need a dedicated framework

DigComp describes the digital competences of all citizens, but educators have specific needs. It is not enough for a teacher to know how to use a digital platform: they have to be able to design learning experiences that exploit the potential of technology, assess students with digital tools and foster their digital autonomy.

The DigCompEdu framework, published in 2017 by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, addresses exactly that challenge. It covers the full spectrum of educators' professional digital competences, from continuing professional development to fostering students' digital competence.

The 6 competence areas

DigCompEdu is structured in 6 areas:

1. Professional engagement -- Using technology for communication, collaboration and continuous professional development. A digitally competent educator does not just use tools: they take part in online professional communities, share practice and reflect on their own practice.

1. Digital resources -- Selecting, creating, modifying and sharing digital educational resources. This includes understanding open licences and educational repositories, such as those promoted by the OpenEdu framework on open education.

1. Teaching and learning -- Managing and orchestrating the use of technology in teaching and learning. This is not about replacing traditional pedagogy, but enriching it with tools that support interaction, collaboration and personalisation.

1. Digital assessment -- Using digital tools to improve assessment strategies, both formative and summative. It includes analysing learning data to adapt teaching.

1. Empowering learners -- Using technology to support inclusion, personalisation and active student engagement. This is the ultimate goal: not technology for its own sake, but technology serving each learner's progress.

1. Facilitating learners' digital competence -- Helping students develop the DigComp competences: information literacy, communication, content creation, safety and problem solving. The educator is the bridge between the citizens' framework and classroom practice.

Connections with the other frameworks

DigCompEdu does not live in isolation. It rests on DigComp for student competences, on DigCompOrg for the digital maturity of educational institutions, and it benefits from the personal competences described in LifeComp for the relational dimension of teaching.

For those working in ICT vocational training, the e-CF and the ECSF offer complementary frameworks focused on advanced technical competences.

Discover the 22 DigCompEdu competences on the dedicated portal at ExplorerHub.