The digital competence framework is becoming more comprehensive — except when it comes to equity

DigComp 3.0 raises more questions than it answers. It’s the new update to the European Digital Competence Framework, which hasn’t yet been published. It’s expected by the end of 2025. But in this article, I want to preview some of the main changes and explain the following claim: the proposed changes in DigComp 3.0 are insufficient to advance digital equity. Before that, a question arises: What is a digital competence framework, and why do we need it?

DigComp has become the reference tool for determining the competences everyone should have in order to live, participate, and thrive actively in society. From communicating in digital spaces to detecting fake news, protecting data privacy, or critically reflecting on how we use devices. In different countries the current framework — DigComp 2.2 — has had a major influence in defining the digital competences children and adolescents must develop throughout different educational stages.

"DigComp 3.0 should include an explicit equity dimension, serving as a guide for fair development of digital competences"

But since the release of DigComp 2.2 in March 2022, the digital environment has changed significantly. For instance, OpenAI launched ChatGPT just months later — in November 2022 — and it now has over 300 million weekly users. Or consider the evolving debate around digital education, which isn’t the same today as it was in 2022. That’s why the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) will publish a new version before the end of 2025 to respond to these digital challenges. Except when it comes to equity.

Why not? Proposing a standardized competence framework for everyone does not guarantee those competences will be developed equitably. And in an age where digital permeates every part of life, it's essential to put on the equity lenses. It’s not just about ensuring everyone acquires digital competences, but that everyone is able to make the most of them and seize the opportunities they offer. Today, achieving that depends more on educational agents than on the European Union’s upskilling policies. Let’s ground this in two lesser-known, non-Catalan examples:

• Primanima, a municipal initiative in Hungary, promotes digital animation content creation with a focus on social reflection (competence 3.1 of DigComp 2.2) through free, out-of-school learning spaces led by animation-educated facilitators.
• Medialepfade, a German program offering open workshops to foster critical thinking in digital environments (competence 1.2 of DigComp 2.2), reaching vulnerable children and teens — for example, by dismantling anti-feminist narratives on TikTok.
• In Catalonia, we’re developing initiatives too: at the Bofill Foundation, we launched Code Club, a free extracurricular program to develop computational thinking — an element that will be explicitly included in DigComp 3.0 — in schools of high and maximum complexity.

What will this new DigComp look like? In recent days, I attended the All Digital Alliance assembly, where the DigComp Hub previewed some of the changes coming in DigComp 3.0. It’s clear that substantial updates are on the way: a comprehensive treatment of artificial intelligence within digital competence; the integration of computational thinking as an essential part of programming competence; and a simplification of achievement levels (reduced from 8 to 4). But this is still not enough.

Why? Because discussions around DigComp 3.0 have mostly focused on labor market needs and specific thematic concerns. This contrasts with the original vision of the framework: a competence-based proposal clearly aligned with social justice. Moreover, the challenges we face in Catalonia — language, inclusion, equity — are not the same as those in Germany or Finland. Therefore, we should adapt this European framework to our local reality, as Austria has already done with DigComp 2.3 AT.

Still, I believe that everything around these competences — the how, for whom, why, and with what resources — can become the conditions that make equity possible. Right now, DigComp 3.0 appears as a catalogue of competences detached from its real-world impact. So, I ask: how can we move forward with digital equity in Catalonia using a framework like this?

"DigComp 3.0 can be a good starting point — but it can’t be the final destination. We need a digital education grounded in rights and opportunities"

DigComp 3.0 should include an explicit equity dimension, serving as a guide for fair development of digital competences — with tools, resources, and practical knowledge for educational and social actors working with children and youth: teachers, municipalities, youth workers, community organizations, and extracurricular professionals.

With one essential guiding question: How do we guarantee equity in the development of digital competences?

Here are four ideas — and four questions — to move forward (and yes, the number is just a coincidence):

• Identify the least accessible competences. We know many digital skills are developed outside of school, often depending on a child’s neighborhood or their family’s socioeconomic background. Incorporating equity indicators into competence development can help us determine which skills to prioritize in vulnerable environments. This can be done using disaggregated data by gender, age, origin, socioeconomical level, and territory, as seen in international studies like PISA or ICILS.
• Less digital, more society. Digital competences should be connected to the social challenges that deepen inequality. Being digitally competent must also include skills for resisting anti-feminist or anti-immigration narratives, designing accessible digital environments, or identifying cybersecurity threats. It’s not just about knowing how to use tools — it’s about becoming active agents for a more just digital society.
• Enable contextualized, personalized pathways. We need a flexible reading of competences that adapts easily to diverse needs and potential. This means enabling personalized competence development pathways — with an open, adaptive mindset grounded in real needs.
• Unplugged digital competence. In a world where many children and teens lack support and where digital exposure during childhood is being seriously questioned, we must also promote device-free pedagogies for digital competences — especially at younger ages.

But still...

• How can we recognize digital learning that takes place outside the schools — in non-formal, extracurricular, or community spaces?
• What role should universities and education faculties play? Can we empower future teachers not only with digital skills, but also with an ethical and equity-driven lens for applying them with children?
• How do we reconcile the need to develop digital competences with the growing concerns about digital exposure in childhood?
• Should competence frameworks be localized? How do we include municipalities and local ecosystems to ensure that digital equity is truly grounded in place?

DigComp 3.0 can be a good starting point — but it can’t be the final destination. We have the knowledge, experiences, and actors to build a new generation that is more critical, more contextualized, and above all, more equitable. As things stand, we can’t expect European competence frameworks to drive digital equity on their own. We need a digital education grounded in rights and opportunities. And that — as is always the case in education — depends on all of us.