In 2025, 60% of EU citizens aged 16 to 74 had at least basic digital skills, up from 56% in 2023, with the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark and Finland already surpassing the EU's 2030 target of 80%. Initial vocational education and training (IVET), which channels hundreds of thousands of young Europeans directly towards the labour market, is one of the most critical levers for closing that gap. A new Cedefop working paper examines why that lever is not pulling equally for every learner.
Drawing on comparative evidence from curriculum policy and governance analysis in Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, the Netherlands and Finland, the paper shows that although digital skills are a shared European policy priority, their curricular integration remains uneven in scope, depth and consistency. These differences are not random, rather they reflect structural features of IVET systems, including governance arrangements, curriculum update processes, stakeholder involvement and implementation capacity.
The problem is not ambition
EU policy has been consistent. The European Skills Agenda, the Digital Education Action Plan 2021–2027 and the Herning Declaration of September 2025 have all placed digital skills at the centre of VET reform. How that commitment plays out varies considerably from one country to another.
The paper identifies three broad integration models:
- Centralised systems offer formal coherence and equal qualification standards, but curriculum revision tends to be slower, which can leave some pathways less responsive to technological change.
- Decentralised and partnership-based systems, where employers and social partners are directly involved in updating occupational standards, tend to adapt more continuously. Estonia's OSKA system is a clear example, where sectoral foresight analyses feed directly into curriculum revisions.
- Systems in transition combine ambitious legislative reform, such as a compulsory digitalisation module across VET programmes, with the challenge of uneven regional capacity. Differences in infrastructure and teacher readiness mean that reform on paper does not always reach the classroom evenly. Governance design and implementation capacity need to move together.
The equity dimension
Across all eight countries, the depth of digital skills integration depends heavily on where a learner happens to study. ICT and engineering programmes are significantly more digitally advanced than service-oriented or traditional sectors, and urban areas and large providers are generally better equipped than rural regions and small institutions. These disparities compound each other: a learner in a rural, service-oriented programme faces a double disadvantage that a learner in an urban, ICT-focused one does not.The paper cautions that without explicit equity-oriented measures, such as compulsory digital skills components for every learner regardless of sector, these gaps risk becoming structural rather than incidental.
What this means for policy
No single governance model fully resolves the tension between coherence and adaptability. The most effective approaches combine transversal digital skills requirements with sector-specific integration, supported by responsive updating mechanisms and strong stakeholder coordination. Targeted investment in implementation capacity and systematic professional development for teachers and trainers can help ensure that digitalisation in IVET delivers both responsiveness and equitable access for every learner.
This working paper is the first qualitative output of a broader Cedefop research project. Natural-language processing analysis of curriculum texts across the eight countries will follow, providing quantitative depth to these structural findings and a clearer picture of the gap between what curricula promise and what learners receive.
