Vocational Education and Training (VET) demands specialized and workplace-applied skills, which require teachers to be trained in a variety of competences that are up to date with digital changes.
Based on the comparative analysis of general and specific VET digital competence frameworks for teachers, a new framework combining digital and social competences is proposed in the context of a need-based research from a European project. Based on the framework a flexible and adaptive training course involving 171 VET teachers from Spain is generated. The pre and post levels of knowledge and application of the 8 competences areas (5 digital and 3 socio-professional competences for digitality) are analyzed, together with the evaluation of the usefulness and time spent on the course.
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The results indicate that in social competences, knowledge increased (Collaborative intelligence and Creativity) and the greatest application was linked to Digital assessment, Digital teaching and Working with hidden talents. The perception of usefulness was high in all competences, with gaps depending on the age of the participating teachers.
The discussion in line with other studies leads to emphasize flexibility and scalability in digital literacy competency frameworks. The conclusion is that there is a need to integrate social and digital competences and to create more flexible frameworks that allow for training adapted to the diverse socio-professional needs of this level of education.
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How to cite: Hernández-Serrano, M. J., Morales Romo, N., Gago Rivas, V., & García-Gutiérrez, C. (2025). Connecting digital and social competences in a flexible and adaptive framework for VET teachers. [Conectando competencias digitales y sociales en un marco flexible y adaptativo para docentes de Formación Profesional]. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.28.1.41470
