Vision Paper

European Digital
Education 2030
Content
I. Introduction 3

II. Key areas of Digital Education in Europe 2030 4

1. Digital Skills & Competencies 4

2. Educational Content & OERs 6

3. Digital Technologies for Learning 8

4. Learning Infrastructure 10

5. European Education Networks & Communities 11

III. References 12

2
I. Introduction
This paper was written by a working group, or “squad”, within the frame of the European
Digital Education Hub. The squad was running from May to October 2022 and included 20
participants from 12 European countries. All sectors of education were represented among
the participants. The overall theme of the squad was Mainstreaming lessons learned from
Covid-19.

The squad worked mostly online, but some of the members met physically in Tallinn in June
2022 for a workshop. This paper is a result of the discussions from the online conversations
as well as from the workshop.

During these discussions, many different themes were discussed. Several, but not all, of the
topics were part of the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027). The topic of Mainstreaming
lessons learned from Covid-19 is rather broad and the authors of this paper decided not
to write about “everything”, but rather to zoom in on the five themes that seemed most
relevant to them regarding the vision for digital education in Europe 2030: Digital Skills &
Competencies, Educational Content & Open Educational Resources, Digital Technologies for
Learning, Learning Infrastructure as well as European Education Networks & Communities.

Already in the very early discussions of the squad, it was clear that some challenges in the
above-mentioned topics were cross-sectoral by nature, while others were sector-specific.
It was therefore decided to break down the visions into sector-by-sector discussions, while
also including some aspects that were relevant for all sectors. The paper follows the same
structure in all of the sub-chapters: first a discussion on the current state of play, then a
vision for what should be in place by the year 2030.

3
II. Key areas of Digital
Education in Europe 2030
1. Digital Skills & Competences

What is the state of today? According to a recent Cedefop study, “As most EU+
adult workers use a computer device (a desktop com-
The need for updating people’s skills in Europe and puter, laptop or notebook, tablet or smartphone) in
to adopt it to modern times was acknowledged by their work, more than 8 in 10 EU+ jobs (87%) require
the European Commission already before the pan- at least basic digital skills” (Cedefop 2022: 11). In the
demic. In the Skills Agenda from 2016, it says “In a same study it is pointed out that the digital skills ac-
fast-changing global economy, skills will to a great quisitions are very unevenly spread in Europe and
extent determine competitiveness and the capacity that the number of adult workers who had to learn to
to drive innovation. They are a pull factor for invest- use new digital technologies to do their job range
ment and a catalyst in the virtuous circle of job crea- from around 30% in Cyprus and Italy, to almost 60%
tion and growth. They are key to social cohesion” (Eu- in Finland (ibid.: 12).
ropean Commission 2016: 2). In the 2018 Digital
Education Action Plan (which preceded the current Also, according to Eurostat (2022a) the level of inter-
one), “investing in one’s digital skills throughout life” net access varies from 75 % in Bosnia and Herzegovi-
was considered to be “of the utmost importance” (Eu- na to 99 % in Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands and
ropean Commission 2018: 2). Switzerland. This will have a big impact on the way
how digital skills and competencies training can be
More recently, and after the Covid-19 related lock- organized in each country.
downs which forced a lot of teaching and learning to
take place online, the European Education Area as In order to improve this situation, more and more
well as the Digital Education Action Plan mention the schools all over Europe have started to introduce
same topic, with even more emphasis on the digital computer science in school, albeit with big variations
skills. The latter, covering the years 2021-2027, reports between different countries. Sometimes this is done
that “90 % of jobs in all sectors in the future will re- in a cross-curricular theme, sometimes as a subject in
quire some form of digital skills, yet 35 % of Europe’s its own right and sometimes integrated into other
workers lack these skills (European Commission subjects (Bocconi et al, 2022).
2020a: 14). Furthermore, Eurostat (2022b) data con-
firms the fact that we have a great deal of up- and It is important to note that not only learners, but also
reskilling waiting for us in Europe. In 2021, the share teachers, need to be equipped with the necessary
of people aged 16 to 74 who had at least basic overall skills to teach online or to use digital technologies in
digital skills was highest in the Netherlands and Fin- their teaching (remote, blended, face to face). Digital
land (both 79%), followed by Ireland (70%). On the teaching requires specific competences and it is im-
other hand, the lowest share was recorded in Roma- portant to professionalise teachers in this new way of
nia (28%), followed by Bulgaria (31%) and Poland teaching. In the recent systematic review study of
(43%). Also, the Digital Education Action Plan reminds Grammens and colleagues (2022), roles and compe-
us that the use of digital technologies is important tences for teaching online through video conferenc-
and even crucial not only from a skills perspective, ing technology were investigated. The review study
but also if we wish to reach climate neutrality by 2050 analysed 30 studies and identified 24 competence
(European Commission 2020a: 1). clusters that were grouped into 5 teacher roles.

4
These were an instructional role, focusing on effective Basic digital skills are introduced in schools for learn-
instructions and pedagogical foundations; a manage- ers at a young age and then get progressively more
rial role focusing on the practical organisation of advanced throughout the learners’ journeys – which-
learning and establishing protocols and rules; a tech- ever journey they may take. Learners are trained to be
nical role geared towards handling the technical as- digitally literate people who recognize disinforma-
pects of synchronous online videoconferencing; a tion from academically qualified information; they
social role aiming to facilitate social interaction and know how to critically assess information, and they
developments of durable relations between the have necessary skills to manage the overload of infor-
learners and a communicational role cantered on facili- mation.
tation of clear and smooth communication. In order
for digital education to be successful, the teachers As more and more children have access to digital de-
need to be equipped with the necessary skills associ- vices from an early age, digital training of teachers
ated with all of these roles. starts already with early childcare or primary school.
Teachers are digitally competent, and they produce
By 2030, the following is in place and utilize accessible and inclusive high-quality mul-
tilingual online content. They are comfortable in their
Europe’s population has seen a great boost in digital teaching roles not only from a technical perspective,
skills. In all European countries, the workforce has suf- but in a holistic way.
ficient digital skills to handle the increasingly digital-
ised workplaces and further training to improve one’s
skills is widely available both in and outside of the
workplaces. Up- and re-skilling is a natural part of
working life.

5
2. Educational Content & OERs

What is the state of today? By 2030, the following is in place

There is a lot of interesting learning material “out There is a shift from traditional models of information
there” which, in theory, would be highly interesting delivery (e.g. books, manuals, paywall journals) to
for many educators and learners. However, much of open educational resources. This shift is not trivial
this is restricted, due to overly strict copyright rules, and requires a paradigm shift at all levels, from edu-
language barriers and other restrictions. cational policies to pedagogical strategies. As an ex-
ample, at a micro-level, the action also passes through
Disruptive changes in education lead to important the transition in the teacher’s role: from transmitter to
responses at different levels. During the Covid-19 curator and co-creator. To do so, the teacher strategi-
pandemic, sharing educational content, the access to cally uses the digital content to support the student’s
an open education and its resources were some of learning processes, as well as to guide and motivate,
the key challenges faced to some extent in every in order for the students to become protagonists of
country. Open education is a way to broaden the ac- their own learning path.
cess and promote participation in education, and
open educational resources (OER) are essential ele- Furthermore, languages should never be a barrier to
ments for its practice. UNESCO defines OER as open education and OER. While it should be acknowl-
edged that not all resources can or should be trans-
“learning, teaching and research materials lated to all European languages (that would be ineffi-
in any format and medium that reside in cient and costly), a well thought-through strategy
the public domain or are under copyright should be in place regarding translation. Automatic
that have been released under an open translation tools tend to get better and better and by
licence, that permit no-cost access, reuse, 2030 it is not completely unlikely that some educa-
tional content could be machine-translated quickly
re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by
and at a very low cost, while keeping a high quality
others.” (UNESCO 2019: 3 f.). and needing only minimal human quality control.
Stracke et al. (2022) report where open education
solutions were implemented to reduce the impacts
of the current pandemic worldwide. Most of the insti-
tutions analysed in the report did not delve into the
world of OER and open education. Mainly, they fo-
cused on the learning tools for distance education,
adapting them to the remote teaching, and persisted
on the traditional models of delivering information.
Moreover, according to the authors, governmental
agencies and academic consortia negotiated with
publishers for granting access to and dropping pay-
walls for their communities. In France, Spain and a
few other countries, open access and free textbooks
were provided. The development of open policies
and strategies focused on the opening of the educa-
tional systems were reported in Sweden and in the
Netherlands.

6
In addition, the following is in place: virtual and in loco physical environments for
them in the institutions (sadly, OER World Map
• Publicly funded resources are by default open was discontinued).
and accessible.
• Open pedagogy, open educational practices and
• Standards for open licenses are in place across open informational ecosystem are standard
Europe practices at the entire educational system in all
countries.
• Open education needs are enabled by assertive
educational policies, sufficient funding and ade- • OER platforms across Europe are linked and in-
quate infrastructure. terconnected in a common system.

• There is a strong R&D in open education, sustain- • Macro-, meso- and micro- bottlenecks are fre-
ability and ethics. quently evaluated and addressed.

• Open education practices are visible by creating

7
3. Digital Technologies for Learning

What is the state of today? Digital technologies and more specifically EdTech
products also contribute to the mobility of learning
The use of digital technologies for learning has ex- in an asynchronous way. Students and learners are
ploded in the 2,5 years since the start of the Covid-19 not bound by the physical spaces (such as cities or
lockdowns. The use of online tools is nowadays classrooms) or by a well-defined schedule, thus learn-
standard in many parts of Europe and both teachers ers can opt-in to take a course, practice, or study in
and learners are quick to adapt to new technologies. wherever place they might find themselves and at
At the same time, using digital technologies for learn- any given hour. This non-linear way of learning is
ing is not the same as having a fully digitalized learn- more seen in adults using Massive Open Online
ing experience. It is clear that given the pandemic Courses (MOOCs) in their spare time, but also applies
circumstances, teachers, learners and schools had to to children using educational apps as complementa-
use digital technologies not by choice but rather as ry tools of learning.
the only medium to continue their activity, which re-
sulted in a chaotic and unstructured learning experi- Nowadays we live in the era of information availabili-
ence. Most of the EdTech products available are fo- ty where “content is king”, and this also applies in ed-
cused on a specific topic or need in time, age and for ucational environments. Whether browsing YouTube
a particular target group, and they are not designed for educational content or searching courses on ded-
to follow a life-learning path or curricula that most icated MOOC platforms, downloading learning apps
teachers need in their activity. This results in teachers or educational games, there is content available for
having either too many options of products to use almost every need just a few clicks away. The ques-
(which can result in fatigue) or very few that need to tion here is how we can make use of this content in
be adapted to each need and be put together as more standardized environments such as schools
pieces of a learning puzzle. and universities? Now more than ever, if we are to ful-
ly adapt and adopt digital technologies for learning,
On the other side, digital technologies may be per- there is an imperative need for collaboration be-
ceived as more fun and engaging for the end user in tween the public educational system (teachers,
comparison with the traditional ways of learning, as schools, policy makers) and the private EdTech com-
digital tools can easily integrate game mechanics and panies.
are more likely to improve the overall experience of
the product. This can transform the learning experi- At the same time, there are indications that student
ence into a motivational activity and can enhance the wellbeing can suffer when too much of the teaching/
self-esteem of the learner. Moreover, as each learning learning is moved online. Recent experiments with
way is different from one person to another and no staff training micro-credentials and collection of re-
size fits all, digital tools are more accessible than the sources for students who are at risk (including links to
traditional ones and can easily satisfy different learn- study support services, links to open access therapy,
ing needs (one person can prefer audio, video or real guidance on nutrition and study habit, discipline-spe-
practising rather than reading). cific and qualification-specific guidance) suggest that
these interventions could have a positive impact on
student wellbeing (Lister et al. 2022) .1

¹The paper referred to several different types of interventions in

order to improve student wellbeing, from two different studies. The
two options mentioned here (staff training micro-credentials and
collection of resources for students) were the two interventions
most positively evaluated from the study that focused on wellbeing
with regards to digital learning. 8
There is also the topic of data privacy. As noted in a People who study while they are working are looking
recent position paper by the European EdTech Alli- to acquire new knowledge, competences and skills
ance (2022: 2), “As was seen during the periods of from Short Learning Programmes (SLP), Micro Cre-
pandemic-related emergency remote teaching, the dentials (MC) and/or MOOCs. Digital continuous edu-
increased use of ‘free’, otherwise unregulated apps cation is flexible and it can be utilized regardless of
often resulted in learners essentially paying with time and physical location. Employers and higher ed-
theirs own data and being targeted with inappropri- ucation institutions recognize skills and competence
ate commercials or even jeopardising student safety”. which are acquired from these SLP and MC courses.
This topic should not be taken lightly, as it can affect These study modules work as building blocks to a de-
learners substantially in the future if not regulated gree programme.
properly.
In addition:
Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, digital
technologies need to be accessible. The access to • Security measures are in place, covering issues
digital technologies for learning is massively uneven related to user data protection, cyberbullying
in Europe – not only between countries, but also and curation of content.
within them. Apart from the question of (lack of) ac-
cess due to costs, there is also the question of what is • Any outstanding data protection issues are
accessible in terms of learning needs. In one of the solved. Data sovereignty is guaranteed and the
consultations to the Digital Education Action Plan, it learners “own” their own data.
was pointed out that the “Covid lockdown has high-
lighted the social divide between the IT rich and the • Artificial Intelligence, virtual and augmented re-
IT poor. This has had a significant impact on children ality, voice and gesture control and the internet
who live without the IT infrastructure (wi-fi, laptops, of things is utilized widely in education.
tablets, desktops, supportive families, etc), especially
the 20% who are dyslexic. Too often these children • Measures of testing and validating the outcomes
struggle with normal schooling; however, having to and the efficacy of digital learning, using learn-
study from home has set back these students mas- ing analytics tools and techniques, have been
sively” (Dyslexia Institute UK 2020). The example of developed and implemented across all sectors.
children with dyslexia is only one out of many prob- Cooperation between learners and teachers in
lems that learners can face and learning platforms other countries is frequently done online, for ex-
must therefore be built in an accessible way. ample in “virtual mobility” courses, which by no
means have replaced the traditional learning
By 2030, the following is in place: mobility.

Digital technologies are widely used in all sectors of

education. High-speed internet connection covers
Europe. Computer programmes, applications and the
necessary hardware are accessible and available re-
gardless of physical location. There are rules in place
with regards to digital accessibility, meaning that all
new digital technologies are accessible for all learn-
ers, including those with different types of learning
difficulties. The European accessibility directive (Eu-
ropean Union 2016) is fully operational in all Europe-
an countries.

9
4. Learning Infrastructure

What is the state of today? telligence solutions are used on student guidance
broadly.
Many country-specific systems that cannot “talk to
each other”. That leads to problems of cross-border The integration of systems does not necessarily mean
collaboration. that there is one unified system which all schools,
learning centres and higher education institutions
In the field of higher education, some steps have (HEI) are part of. Rather, it means that there are open
been taken towards a unified system to manage, standards that make sure that different systems can
among other things, student mobility. Projects like be interoperable with each other.
Online Learning Agreements, Erasmus Without Paper
and, more recently, the European Student Card Initia- The interoperability, which has started within higher
tive have all synched various parts of the student mo- education, has started to spread to other sectors,
bility digital infrastructure together. The European which slowly use integrated solutions in order to fa-
Student Card Initiative in particular, will, according to cilitate school exchanges, VET mobility and other
the European Commission (2020b) “digitalise all the types of cooperation.
administrative steps and connecting universities’ var-
ious interoperable IT systems across the Erasmus+ Within higher education in particular, there exists
programme countries, eventually achieving a paper- something that is similar to a joint digital ecosystem for
less Erasmus+ mobility and in full respect of General all European HEIs, in which data can flow freely across
Data Protection Regulation”. This has potential to im- borders, but securely and with proper data protec-
prove the student mobility part of higher education tion mechanisms in place. Single authentication is
substantially. utilized in European University Alliances. Digital ser-
vices enable the compatibility of different HEIs digital
Some of the European University Alliances have al- infrastructure.
ready started to test and develop new digital infra-
structure. These Alliances are excellent places for Funding for improving the digital infrastructure is
testing out new solutions on a relatively small scale available, from European as well as national funding
and then, in the most successful cases, up-scale them schemes.
to beyond the Alliances.

By 2030, the following is in place:

Digital infrastructure and digital services are accessi-

ble and flexible. Continuous learning is based on Eu-
ropean wide digital cooperation. Diverse learning
environments are tailored for individual needs. Inter-
national knowledge clusters (including but not limit-
ed to European University Alliances) offer attractive
MCs, SLPs and MOOCs for adult learners. Artificial in-

10
5. European Education Networks & Communities

What is the state of today? and planned way as well as spontaneously without
any central planning needed.
There is still clearly a need for a space to cooperate
across country borders and across sectors in digital In higher education, the first rounds of the European
education. The need for more cooperation and ex- University Alliances have reached a very deep level of
change was clearly pointed out in the stakeholder cooperation. Most or all of them are firmly estab-
consultations leading up to the Digital Education Ac- lished and a natural part of the higher education eco-
tion Plan: “The need for reinforced cooperation and system in Europe. Within the alliances there is a vi-
dialogue between different stakeholders in the area brant community of experts, researchers, academic
of digital education was identified in all stakeholder staff, administrative staff, students and others who
consultations in different contexts. The Covid-19 cri- together form a community pushing integration fur-
sis also impacted this area, by underlining the frag- ther. This “core” community is gradually spreading
mentation of national policies and experience. Stake- beyond the Alliances themselves and now also in-
holders pointed out to the need for the new Action cludes other interested parties from other HEIs. Digi-
Plan to enhance cooperation as a key element to tal education is one of the core topics discussed with-
achieve systemic impact and identify sustainable in these communities and new innovative solutions
solutions, supporting education and training in the to new problems are constantly shared, discussed,
long term” (European Commission 2020c: 89). This evaluated and improved together.
was further highlighted by the German Presidency,
which pointed out that “cooperation would lay at the In lifelong learning, the needs of society and econo-
core of making Europe the global leader in digital ed- my, employees, employers, and companies have
ucation” (ibid.). been analysed in collaboration with different stake-
holders European wide. Curated lifelong learning
The European Digital Education Hub is an important course contents are produced in cooperation togeth-
first step towards a better network and cooperation. er with the European University Alliances and others.
At the same time, it is important to point out that this Experts routinely collaborate across borders and or-
is just one step out of many, and not a panacea that ganizations to create the best possible learning expe-
will solve all problems at once. rience for adult learners.

By 2030, the following is in place:

The European Digital Education Hub is still up and

running. It is ambitious in scope and is the place to be
for practitioners as well as policy makers in the field
of digital education. ractitioners from all sectors rou-
tinely get involved in working groups, webinars,
events, etc. There is a vibrant and dynamic communi-
ty of people which enthusiastically share resources
and exchange ideas with each other, in a structured

11
III. References

Cedefop (2022): Challenging digital myths. First findings European Commission (2020c): Staff Working Document
from Cedefop’s second European skills and jobs survey study, Accompanying the document Communication from the
Available at https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/ Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the
publications/9173. European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee
of the Regions. Digital Education action Plan 2021-2027
Dyslexia Institute UK (2020): Feedback on the Digital Resetting education and training for the digital age,
Education Action Plan. COM(2020)624 final.

European Commission (2016): A new skills agenda for European EdTech Alliance (2022): The results promised
Europe. Working together to strengthen human capital, by Open Educational Resources are yet to be proven.
employability and competitiveness, COM/2016/0381 final. Available at https://static1.squarespace.com
static/5fac2fdb0da84a28cc76b714/t/635fa1c266a227
European Commission (2018): Communication from the 24a462101e/1667211720763/
Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Open+Educational+Resources+EEA+2022.pdf.
European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee
of the Regions on the Digital Education Action Plan, Publications Office of the European Union (2022):
COM(2018)22 final Reviewing Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education,
Available at https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
European Commission (2020a): Communication from the repository/handle/JRC128347
Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the
European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee European Union (2016): Directive 2016/2102 of the
of the Regions. Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027. European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016
Resetting education and training for the digital age, on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of
COM(2020)624 final. public sector bodies.

European Commission (2020b): Communication from the

Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the
European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee
of the Regions on achieving the European Education Area by
2025, COM(2020) 625 final.

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households and individuals, Available at https://ec. Participatory digital approaches to embedding student
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