SELFIE for Teachers: self-assessing against DigCompEdu

From framework to instrument

DigCompEdu describes 22 digital competences for educators. But a framework on its own does not tell an individual teacher where they stand. SELFIE for Teachers, developed by the Joint Research Centre, closes that gap: it is the self-reflection tool built directly on DigCompEdu's six areas.

It is free, online, available in many European languages, and completed in one sitting.

It is not a test, and that is the most important thing to grasp

SELFIE for Teachers produces no grade and certifies nothing. It produces a self-reflection profile: for each area, the level the teacher recognises in themselves on the Newcomer-to-Pioneer scale.

That choice has precise practical consequences:

• Nobody has an incentive to game it. A test with consequences pushes you to answer as you should; a reflection without consequences lets you answer as you are. The resulting data is more useful.
• It is not staff appraisal. A head teacher using SELFIE for Teachers to assess staff would destroy its function on first use.
• The value is in comparing yourself to yourself. The profile helps decide where to invest, and is worth redoing a year later to see what moved.

How to read the result

The profile returns a level per area. Three useful readings:

The shape, not the average. A profile high on "Digital resources" and low on "Assessment" says something; the average of the two says nothing. Training is designed around the troughs.

The last area as litmus test. If the level on "Facilitating learners' digital competence" is markedly lower than the others, digital tools are improving the teacher's own work without yet reaching students. It is the most frequent case, and the most important to correct.

The gap between perception and practice. Anyone placing high on every area deserves a second look: DigCompEdu at C1 and C2 requires sharing your practice with colleagues and questioning it, not just using tools well.

Use at institutional level

Aggregating profiles -- preserving individual anonymity, which is the condition for it to work -- produces the map of a school's uncovered areas. That is the basis for a training plan that is not simply a catalogue of available courses.

There is also SELFIE for schools, which assesses the organisation rather than the person: it involves leaders, teachers and students on the same set of dimensions. The two tools read well together.

Browse the 6 areas and 22 competences SELFIE for Teachers is built on, at the DigCompEdu portal on ExplorerHub.