InDiCo Final Conference ‘From Skills to Inclusion: Rethinking Digital Participation in Europe’ 

InDiCo Final Conference ‘From Skills to Inclusion: Rethinking Digital Participation in Europe’ 

Booking a medical appointment, buying a train ticket or applying for a job increasingly means navigating a digital service. For people with learning difficulties, an unclear instruction or an inaccessible interface can turn an everyday task into a barrier to independence. As more of life moves online, opportunities to participate digitally increasingly shape opportunities to participate in society itself.

This ‘background’ was at the centre of the final InDiCo project Conference ‘From Skills to Inclusion: Rethinking Digital Participation in Europe‘, held on 25 September 2026 at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels. Organised by EPR, in collaboration with project partners, the event explored how basic digital skills can become accessible to people too often excluded from digital learning, and presented the project’s resources for supporting and recognising their progress.

Digital participation depends on removing barriers

In her opening remarks, Marie-Pierre Le Breton, President of the EESC Permanent Group on Disability, emphasised that digital participation depends not only on individual abilities, but on accessibility, opportunities and, above all, society’s willingness to remove barriers. Digital competence has implications well beyond using technology: it affects access to education, quality employment, independent living and active citizenship.

David Mekkaoui, CEO of ALL DIGITAL, brought this challenge into focus through the figures. In 2025, around 60% of people aged 16–74 in the EU had at least basic digital skills, against the EU’s target of 80% by 2030. He drew attention to the other side of that statistic: the roughly 40% who have not yet reached that level, and whose needs must shape efforts to close the gap.

He also emphasised recognising learning at every level. Learning to access an online banking service, for example, is a meaningful achievement. Making that progress visible can encourage further learning and help others recognise a person’s abilities. This focus on basic skills and recognition connects directly with InDiCo’s work.

Moving beyond whether someone can or cannot

The panel discussion Beyond ‘can or can’t’: Rethinking digital competence for inclusive societies, developed this argument further. Across the perspectives of disability organisations, adult education and service providers, one message kept returning: we cannot put all the responsibility for digital inclusion on the person learning.

For someone who needs more time, clearer explanations or repeated practice, the organisation of training can determine whether learning becomes possible. Greta Pelucco, from the European Association for the Education of Adults, stressed that education should adapt to the learner, rather than expecting the learner to adapt to the training. Ana Juviño, from Fundación ONCE, showed what this means in practice: accessible materials, well-prepared trainers, activities tailored to everyday needs and familiar environments where people feel comfortable seeking support.

That support depends on the professionals providing it. Drawing on the Care4Skills project, Orazio Fiorini from EASPD highlighted the connection between learners’ digital participation and the skills of those accompanying them. Staff need opportunities to develop their own competences, including how to explain tools clearly and support learners’ autonomy and choices.

Even suitable training, however, cannot resolve an inaccessible digital service. Ana Juviño and Mari Paz Jiménez Varona, from the European Down Syndrome Association, emphasised involving persons with disabilities from the beginning in designing the technologies they will use. Clear language and cognitive accessibility can make everyday tasks easier for a wider public. Haydn Hammersley from the European Disability Forum connected these needs with investment and the enforcement of existing accessibility legislation.

Together, the contributions described the conditions for meaningful inclusion: training that responds to the learner, professionals able to provide appropriate support, and accessible technology developed with its users. Done well, technology can expand autonomy, choice and participation. Developed without the people most at risk of exclusion, it can create another barrier.

This led directly to the question at the heart of InDiCo: how can we make basic digital competence accessible to people with learning difficulties?

Connecting learning support with recognition

For people with intellectual disabilities, mainstream digital training may assume prior knowledge, move too quickly or use language that is difficult to follow. Assessment can introduce further barriers when it fails to accommodate different ways of learning and demonstrating skills. People may consequently miss opportunities to develop their competences, while abilities they already have remain unrecognised.

InDiCo addresses these connected gaps through a competence-based approach to learning, assessment and validation. The project uses the broader term “persons with learning difficulties”, encompassing people with intellectual disabilities and others who face challenges in learning. Its focus is on basic digital competences relevant to their participation in everyday life.

Led by Chance B, the Erasmus+ partnership brought together seven organisations across six countries. Elli Natassa Xanthopoulou, from Theotokos Foundation, described how research, professional expertise and learners’ perspectives shaped an approach that was tested and refined in practice. The resources form a connected pathway: identifying relevant skills, understanding a person’s starting point, planning suitable support and recognising progress.

Starting with skills that matter in everyday life

Michael Backhaus presented the catalogue underpinning this pathway. Based on DigComp, the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, and informed by experts and focus groups with people with learning difficulties, it translates relevant basic competences into clear learning outcomes and observable assessment criteria.

The InDiCo framework covers 25 learning outcomes across six competence areas. Alongside information management, communication, content creation, safety and problem solving, it explicitly includes foundations, access and digital understanding. Using a device or understanding its functions may be the first step towards communicating online or accessing a service. Giving these foundations a place in the framework ensures they are recognised as part of learning.

Using assessment to plan the next step

Dr Monika Kastner, from the University of Klagenfurt, explained how the methodology and assessment and validation tool make competences visible. The starting point is what someone already knows, understands and can do. Learner self-assessment and educators’ observations provide the basis for a conversation about existing strengths, support needs and learning goals.

Aligned with DigComp levels 1 and 2, the approach recognises different degrees of guidance and autonomy. It moves beyond a simple yes or no to describe how someone carries out a task and the support they need. Educators can use this information to tailor learning and recognise gradual progress.

The tool captures responses through icons and generates reports to support dialogue. Assessment can be revisited throughout learning to agree next steps. Where learners choose certification, it also supports issuing a certificate and supplement documenting achievements against the InDiCo standard. Recognition is linked to demonstrated learning, while certification remains voluntary.

Helping educators guide the learning journey

Edite Sobrinho, from Fundação AFID Diferença, presented the Train-the-Trainer Manual. While the Methodology Handbook explains the principles behind the approach, the manual helps educators apply them in everyday practice.

This means agreeing goals with learners, using clear language and visual materials, practising tasks connected to their lives and allowing time to consolidate skills. The modular framework supports work towards manageable milestones. Educators accompany this process, combining a common reference framework with support adapted to each person.

Learning from the pilots

he importance of flexibility emerged in Eva Lumbreras Bustos’s presentation of Fundación Rey Ardid’s pilot. Six participants worked from different starting points, and all received certification. Some needed to begin with device use and basic navigation; others could work on more varied activities.

Tasks such as using a browser correctly or creating a secure password sometimes required more practice than expected. Fear of mistakes and limited confidence also shaped learning. Progress depended on identifying individual needs, using practical activities and allowing skills to consolidate step by step. The testimonial video presented at the conference brought learners’ and educators’ experiences into the discussion.

Making inclusive digital learning sustainable

These lessons also informed the policy discussion. Clara Beser Ramada, EPR Policy Officer, presented recommendations addressing the conditions organisations need to sustain inclusive digital learning beyond a project’s lifetime.

They call for concrete measures for persons with learning difficulties in national policies, sufficient funding, professional support and accessible assessment and validation. At EU level, priorities include considering a DigComp implementation strategy and monitoring accessibility legislation. For service providers, they emphasise personalised pathways, involving learners in developing training and assessment, and exchanging practice.

The conference showed how these questions connect. Basic digital skills can open opportunities, but people need accessible ways to learn them, support suited to their needs and recognition of their achievements. InDiCo gives educators and service providers resources to begin that work with learners and continue it at their pace.

The conference brought these policy and practice perspectives together around a clear purpose: enabling people to use digital skills in ways that matter to their own lives. InDiCo offers educators and organisations a practical starting point for that work, with resources to identify existing abilities, support further learning and recognise progress.

Explore and use the InDiCo resources

The Methodology Handbook, Train-the-Trainer Manual and Policy Recommendations are available on the project webpage, together with European and national research reports. The handbook explains the validation framework and tool, while the manual provides practical guidance for supporting learning. The conference webpage provides the six published presentations and the learner and educator testimonial video.

InDiCo project resources

Conference presentations and testimonial video