- 2016Design
- 2017Implementation
- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
Following input from the Ministry of National Education and Youth (MENJ), the free online platform PIX was initially developed as a State start-up before being established as a public interest group. This free online platform offers assessment and online training resources that lead to the PIX certification, dedicated to the digital skills linked to the DigComp 2 European skills reference framework.
Description
In 2017, the PIX platform was established as a free online public service used to assess, develop, and certify digital competences, intended for secondary and university students in initial education and training as well as workers.
Based on the DigComp 2, European skills reference framework, PIX offers all users the chance to determine their level of proficiency in 16 different skills/areas of competence.
These skills/areas of competence are: conducting research and information monitoring, managing data, processing data Interacting, sharing and publishing, collaborating, navigating the digital world, creating textual documents, creating multimedia documents, adapting documents for their purpose, programming, securing the digital environment, protecting personal data and privacy, safeguarding health, well-being, and the environment, troubleshooting technical problems, building a digital environment.
The PIX certification is recorded in the national register of professional qualifications (registre national des certifications professionnelles, RNCP).
The platform can also be used by employers or trainers to map the various levels of digital proficiency in a company or group and implement training actions accordingly. Active workers can use PIX certification to leverage their digital competences throughout life, whether gained on their own, in a professional environment or through training. At regular intervals, and particularly...
In 2017, the PIX platform was established as a free online public service used to assess, develop, and certify digital competences, intended for secondary and university students in initial education and training as well as workers.
Based on the DigComp 2, European skills reference framework, PIX offers all users the chance to determine their level of proficiency in 16 different skills/areas of competence.
These skills/areas of competence are: conducting research and information monitoring, managing data, processing data Interacting, sharing and publishing, collaborating, navigating the digital world, creating textual documents, creating multimedia documents, adapting documents for their purpose, programming, securing the digital environment, protecting personal data and privacy, safeguarding health, well-being, and the environment, troubleshooting technical problems, building a digital environment.
The PIX certification is recorded in the national register of professional qualifications (registre national des certifications professionnelles, RNCP).
The platform can also be used by employers or trainers to map the various levels of digital proficiency in a company or group and implement training actions accordingly. Active workers can use PIX certification to leverage their digital competences throughout life, whether gained on their own, in a professional environment or through training. At regular intervals, and particularly when planning a career development change, individuals can have their digital competences evaluated in light of the most recent technological developments and demonstrate their new capabilities.
Moreover, the PIX platform enables an individualised approach. Learners can adapt their pathway depending on their needs, using a very detailed assessment framework.
PIX is supported by a team of 30 people with varied experience: experts in education and digital mediation, teachers, researchers, web developers, experts in design, communication, partnerships.
The Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (Article D. 121-1 of the Education Act) have set up a reference framework for digital skills (Cadre de référence des compétences numériques, CRCN), which is in line with Digcomp 2. It is applicable from primary school to university and is organised into five fields (information and data; communication and collaboration; content creation; protection and security and digital environment) and 16 digital skills/ areas of competence. It is intended to serve as regular student self-assessment during and after compulsory schooling.
Between September 2017 and July 2019, 300 000 individual Pix accounts were created and 50 000 certifications were issued.
From the 2020/21 school year, the PIX Certification is compulsory in France for pupils in the last year of middle school and high school.
Since 2017, 1 000 000 individual PIX accounts have been created and more than 80 000 certifications have been issued.
At the request of the Labour ministry, the PIX Group has developed PIX-emploi, a tool with two tests: an initial diagnosis and a more complete test to assess one's proficiency in basic digital skills. These tests are carried out by the counsellors of the public employment service.
Key public education statistics for 2021 include:
- nearly 34 000 certification sessions were scheduled in May and June 2021, enabling the certification of more than 480 000 pupils (including more than 420 000 pupils in the last year of lower secondary school - 10th grade);
- 9 378 public and private schools under contract were active on Pix-Orga, the pedagogical monitoring tool;
- 2 620 082 pupils used Pix;
- 635 000 certifications have been issued;
- there were 7 million Pix users in France and abroad.
In December 2021, a multi-year partnership agreement was reached by the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports to deploy the PIX platform widely among French-speaking citizens, administrations and the education system of the French-speaking community of Belgium.
From 2022, this policy development is part of the NIP: 'Measure Contributing to equal opportunities in all areas', Action: 'Measures to support entry into training'.
The assessment and certification rounds based on the PIX platform run once per year. Before that, the pupils are assessed during the first quarter of the school year. During the school year teaching teams support the pupils in acquiring new skills. They can offer them additional Pix tests to support their teaching activities, to monitor progress and prepare them for the certification. The schedule for the assessment and certification in initial education and training of digital skills with PIX platform in 2021-2022 is published online. The official bulletin of 3 January 2022 defines the modalities of training, evaluation and certification of digital competences for pupils.
The PIX platform remains very successful and well visited. In 2022, more than 12 000 employees in the public and private sectors, as well as 50,000 jobseekers, took a Pix digital skills assessment test each month.
On 30 November 2022, the French National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties ('Commission nationale informatique et libertés', CNIL) and Pix platform signed a partnership agreement to help develop the skills of citizens, both young and old, in protecting their personal data online. This has been an initiative in field 'protection and security' of the French Reference framework for digital skills.
Aiming at enhancing students' digital skills and helping them use digital tools in order to attain career goals, on 27 January 2023 the Minister of National Education and Youth presented its digital strategy for the period 2023-27. This strategy is based on discussions held among educational stakeholders (including the State and its operators, local authorities, publishers and EdTech businesses, as well as associations) since March 2022.
The announced measures about digital education are intended to achieve the following objectives:
- strengthen national and local cooperation among educational stakeholders through educational projects involving also digital technology, where relevant;
-
implement an approach to digital education that fosters students' civic awareness and digital skills;
-
offer teachers a wide range of digital tools and resources, as well as training and support, which they can access easily;
-
enhance the robustness, security, accessibility, quality and eco-responsibility of the ministry's IT tools.
Following a preliminary framework agreement established in 2019 to combat digital illiteracy, Pix and the National Agency for the Fight Against Illiteracy (ANLCI) renewed in June 2024 their commitment through a partnership agreement. This collaboration aims to enhance the understanding and response to digital illiteracy, acknowledging that figures can vary based on the sources and definitions used. One of the key objectives of the partnership is to establish shared benchmarks to improve the detection of difficulties and needs among individuals affected by digital illiteracy. By doing so, the initiative seeks to better orient individuals and equip professionals responsible for their support. The collaboration between ANLCI and Pix is expected to enhance the identification of situations related to digital illiteracy, particularly when intertwined with challenges in reading and writing.
The Pix certification serves as a recognised credential for digital skills, validated by the state and the professional world. It is an asset for learners applying for an internship, a higher education programme or a job offer. In the education sector, the Pix certification is mandatory for learners at the end of their lower secondary education and at the end of their upper secondary education in general, technological or vocational upper secondary school pathways. To support educators, a Pix+ Edu online course has been developed for teachers and educational staff. This course is accessible via the Magistère space that allows for self-enrolment in online training courses. As of now, there are 4.1 million school users of Pix, with 1.5 million lower secondary and upper secondary learners passing the Pix certification during the 2023/24 academic year. Additionally, 14 680 teachers are participating in Pix-focused professional development pathways, further enhancing the integration of digital skills within educational settings.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research
- Public non-profit organisation PIX
- Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation
- Ministry of National Education and Youth (until 2024)
- Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports (from 2020 till 2022)
Target groups
Learners
- Young people (15-29 years old)
- Adult learners
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
This thematic sub-category refers to acquisition of key competences and basic skills for all, from an early age and throughout their life, including those acquired as part of qualifications and curricula. Key competences include knowledge, skills and attitudes needed by all for personal fulfilment and development, employability and lifelong learning, social inclusion, active citizenship and sustainable awareness. Key competences include literacy; multilingual; science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM); digital; personal, social and learning to learn; active citizenship, entrepreneurship, cultural awareness and expression (Council of the European Union, 2018).
This thematic sub-category refers to updating VET curricula and programmes to incorporate skills related and needed for the digital transition, including sector- and occupation-specific ones identified in cooperation with stakeholders.
Transparency and portability of VET skills and qualifications
European principles and tools, such as EQF, ESCO, ECTS, Europass and ECVET, provide a strong basis for transparency and portability of national and sectoral qualifications across Europe, including the issuing of digital diplomas and certificates.
This thematic category looks at how individuals are supported in transferring, accumulating, and validating skills and competences acquired in formal, non-formal and informal settings – including learning on the job – and in having their learning recognised towards a qualification at any point of their lives. This is only possible if qualifications are transparent and comparable and are part of comprehensive national qualifications frameworks. Availability of qualifications smaller than full and acquirable in shorter periods of time is necessary; some countries have recently worked on developing partial qualifications, microcredentials, etc.
This thematic sub-category concerns all developments related to national qualification frameworks (NQFs). As in most countries NQFs are in place and referenced to the European qualifications framework (EQF), the thematic sub-category covers updating and expanding the frameworks, developing new qualifications and using NQFs as catalysts for other reforms.
This thematic sub-category refers to validation mechanisms allowing individuals to accumulate, transfer, and recognise learning outcomes acquired non-formally and informally, including on-the-job learning, or in another formal system. In case they are not automatically recognised, a learner can have these learning outcomes validated and recognised through a particular process with a view to obtaining a partial or full qualification. This thematic sub-category covers such provisions and mechanisms.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to providing the possibility for individuals who are already in the labour market/in employment to reskill and/or acquire higher levels of skills, and to ensuring targeted information resources on the benefits of CVET and lifelong learning. It also covers the availability of CVET programmes adaptable to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and reskilling needs. The sub-category includes working with respective stakeholders to develop digital learning solutions supporting access to CVET opportunities and awarding CVET credentials and certificates.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET as a driver for innovation and growth preparing for digital and green transitions and occupations in high demand
- VET promoting equality of opportunities
Osnabrück Declaration
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Free online public service (PIX) for developing, assessing and certifying digital competences: France. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28241