ALL DIGITAL, a leading pan-European association representing over 25.000 digital competence centres, is supporting the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in the implementation of a European Digital Skills Certificate (EDSC) initiative.

Indeed, a European homogeneous procedure for the validation of digital competences is one of the five pillars of the ALL DIGITAL Manifesto for enhancing digital competences across Europe. In it, it is stated: “A common European validation process for awarding certifications should be defined. The process will be based on assessing learning outcomes. It will be well-described for each qualification and will be associated with the qualifications framework, but it will not depend on the process used by the trainee to acquire the digital competences. A process of consultation and engagement of stakeholders should be put in place.”

The Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) published last Sep 30 2020, proposed to “Develop a European Digital Skills Certificate that may be recognised and accepted by governments, employers and other stakeholders across Europe. This would allow Europeans to indicate their level of digital competences, corresponding to the Digital Competence Framework proficiency levels”.  

The first task towards that objective will be development of a Feasibility Study. The Feasibility Study will have the following objectives:

1. analysis of existing certification schemes and models in Europe;
2. identification of stakeholders for consultation;
3. gap analysis (what is the demand for an EDSC and what is lacking) to understand the role and value of an EU Digital Skills Certificate and how it could support recognition of digital skills in Europe;
4. validation of the operational concept;
5. technical feasibility;
6. costs and benefits analysis for different stakeholders;
7. limitations, risks and challenges;
8. propose the definition of the purpose, scope and steps of a pilot of the EDSC.

For the next 10 days ALL DIGITAL will manage a consultation on the focus of the feasibility study in the Digital Competence Certification Community of Practice, organised as a Basecamp group. All members of the CoP are encouraged to contribute your views and ideas. 

Adult education stakeholder and experts are invited to join the consultation via the following link.

ALL DIGITAL will be sharing updates and news on the feasibility study through the CoP going forward. Over the next few days, specific questions will be posted to gather input from stakeholders so to ensure the eventual feasibility study is developed with the needs of the digital competence community in mind. In particular, the EPALE community is invited to join and answer to the following questions:

1. What is important to know about existing digital skills certification schemes and models in the EU?
2. Which are the key stakeholders that need to be consulted for the EDSC feasibility study?
3. Which aspects of the EDSC definition should be included in the study?
4. Which aspects need to be included in the feasibility analysis?
5. Which aspects of the pilot need to be considered/defined?
6. Any other element that needs to be included in the Feasibility study?

You can join the consultation at the following link.