A better-skilled workforce for the digital transformation: What role for platform education?

The claim of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for a better and more skilled workforce points to an unmet demand of qualified workforce. Indeed, human capital indicators (e.g. Digital Economy and Society Index) highlight some weaknesses across EU member states with respect to digital skills and ICT-skilled workforce, which are considered key assets in the context of the digital transformation. How to tackle this issue? Educational platforms are often cited as an easy, flexible and convenient resources with which to address an increasing demand for reskilled or upskilled workers. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, these resources enjoyed even greater attention and expectations. However, research reports mixed evidence on the opportunities of access to and the benefits of online training. Free and flexible digital education could be seen as a substitute for training provided by employers, but not all individuals can fully benefit from these resources, with the risk that socio-economic gaps will widen. Moreover, relying on educational platforms for the lifelong learning of workers contributes to a shift of responsibility on workers, individualising risks and neglecting socio-economic structural barriers. By providing an overview of the use of online courses and online learning materials across the EU27 and across different social groups, this study contributes to shed light on the different arrangements that the diffusion of online lifelong learning can take in different institutional contexts, in different periods (before and during the pandemic) and whether and how educational platform may reproduce or widen inequalities.