Digitale Grundbildung and Teacher Digital Competence: Safe, Competent Digital Teaching

Rationale

Austria made Digitale Grundbildung a compulsory subject in lower secondary from the 2022/23 school year, anchored in BGBl. II Nr. 267/2022, and embedded Informatische Bildung and Medienbildung as cross-cutting themes in the 2023 curricula. Teachers must develop their own digital competence against the national digi.kompP model, aligned to DigCompEdu and DigComp 2.2 AT. The Schulordnung 2024 child-protection duty additionally requires teachers to address online safety, cyberbullying, and data protection as safeguarding-adjacent responsibilities. This course equips teachers to deliver the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum competently, assess digital competence, and integrate online-safety teaching into the school Kinderschutzkonzept. It meets a live statutory and curricular need that Bildungsdirektionen and school leaders can recognise as substantive Fortbildung.

Part I: Foundations (Lessons 1-4)

Lesson 1. The compulsory digital subject

This lesson establishes why Digitale Grundbildung became mandatory across Sekundarstufe I and what the Lehrplan requires. Participants examine the legal basis in BGBl. II Nr. 267/2022, the subject's status as a compulsory area with allocated teaching hours, and the distinction between the subject and the cross-cutting themes of Informatische Bildung and Medienbildung in the 2023 curricula. The lesson traces the policy trajectory from the digital-education strategy to the binding curriculum, clarifying that the subject is not optional and that schools must provide it. Participants analyse the curriculum's preamble, which states the subject's aim to enable pupils to participate safely, responsibly, and competently in a digital society. They identify the implications for their own teaching: the need to plan lessons that address the five competence areas, the requirement to assess pupil progress, and the expectation that teachers develop their own digital competence. The lesson concludes with a mapping exercise in which participants locate their current teaching practice against the curriculum's requirements and identify gaps they will address in subsequent lessons.

Lesson 2. The Frankfurt Triangle

This lesson introduces the conceptual framework that structures the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum: the Frankfurt Triangle of Technology, Society, and Interaction. Participants learn that every digital-education topic must be examined through these three perspectives, ensuring that teaching moves beyond mere tool use to critical reflection. The Technology dimension covers how digital systems function, including hardware, software, networks, and algorithms. The Society dimension addresses the social, economic, legal, and ethical implications of digitalisation. The Interaction dimension focuses on how humans communicate, collaborate, and create with and through digital media. Participants apply the triangle to sample topics such as social media, artificial intelligence, and online gaming, analysing how each perspective generates different learning questions. They practise designing a short teaching sequence that integrates all three dimensions, ensuring that pupils do not learn only technical skills but also develop critical awareness of digital technologies' societal impact and the interaction patterns they enable. The lesson establishes the triangle as a recurring analytical tool for the course.

Lesson 3. The five competence areas

This lesson provides a detailed examination of the five competence areas that form the spine of the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum: Orientation, Information, Communication, Production, and Action. Participants study each area's definition, sub-competences, and progression expectations across the four years of lower secondary. Orientation covers understanding digitalisation's impact on personal life and society. Information addresses searching, evaluating, and organising digital information. Communication covers responsible interaction in digital environments. Production involves creating digital content and artefacts. Action focuses on using digital tools to solve problems and participate in society. Participants work through curriculum extracts that specify what pupils should be able to do at each stage, and they map these expectations to their own subject areas. They identify which competence areas they already address implicitly and which require explicit teaching. The lesson includes a self-audit exercise in which participants assess their own confidence in teaching each area, creating a personal development plan that connects to the digi.kompP model introduced in Lesson 6.

Lesson 4. Informatische Bildung from grade one

This lesson addresses the cross-cutting theme of Informatische Bildung (computer-science education), which the 2023 curricula require to be embedded from the first grade of primary school. Participants learn that Informatische Bildung is not a separate subject in primary but a theme that must be integrated across all subjects, including German, mathematics, and Sachunterricht. The lesson covers the core concepts: algorithms, data structures, automation, and computational thinking. Participants examine curriculum examples showing how teachers can introduce sequencing, pattern recognition, and debugging through unplugged activities and age-appropriate digital tools. They practise designing a primary-level activity that teaches a computer-science concept without requiring screen time, then adapt it for a digital environment. The lesson also addresses the transition from primary Informatische Bildung to the compulsory Digitale Grundbildung subject in lower secondary, ensuring curricular coherence. Participants leave with a repertoire of low-threshold activities they can implement immediately and a framework for planning progression across the primary years.

Part II: Core Practice (Lessons 5-10)

Lesson 5. Medienbildung across the curriculum

This lesson addresses Medienbildung (media literacy) as a cross-cutting theme that, like Informatische Bildung, must be embedded across all subjects in the 2023 curricula. Participants learn that Medienbildung covers the critical analysis of media content, understanding media production and distribution, and reflecting on one's own media use. The lesson distinguishes Medienbildung from the Digitale Grundbildung subject: the theme is broader, encompassing print, audio, and visual media alongside digital formats, and it applies to all teachers regardless of subject. Participants examine curriculum extracts showing how Medienbildung appears in German (analysing news texts), in geography (evaluating map sources), in art (understanding image manipulation), and in physical education (critiquing body-image messaging). They practise identifying Medienbildung opportunities in their own subject curricula and design a cross-curricular media-literacy activity that could be implemented with a colleague from another subject. The lesson also addresses the connection between Medienbildung and the child-protection duty, as media literacy is a key preventive measure against online harm.

Lesson 6. The teacher digital-competence model digi.kompP

This lesson introduces digi.kompP, Austria's national teacher digital-competence model, as a structured self-assessment and development-planning instrument. Participants learn that digi.kompP is aligned to the European DigCompEdu framework and DigComp 2.2 AT, and that it functions as a de facto reference for what teachers should know and be able to do with digital technologies. The model covers six competence areas: digital literacy and digital safety, digital teaching and learning, digital assessment, digital communication and collaboration, digital content creation, and digital school development. Participants complete a self-assessment using the digi.kompP rubric, identifying their current proficiency level for each area. They then create a personal development plan that prioritises the areas most relevant to their teaching context and the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum. The lesson emphasises that digi.kompP is a developmental tool, not a binding standard, and that its value lies in guiding targeted professional learning. Participants leave with a concrete plan for their own digital-competence growth and a framework they can use with colleagues for school-wide development.

Lesson 7. Alignment to DigCompEdu and DigComp 2.2 AT

This lesson situates digi.kompP within the European educator-competence framework DigCompEdu and the Austrian adaptation DigComp 2.2 AT. Participants learn that DigCompEdu describes six proficiency levels across six competence areas for educators, while DigComp 2.2 AT provides the citizen-level digital-competence framework that underpins the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum. The lesson maps digi.kompP's areas to DigCompEdu's areas, showing how the Austrian model is a contextualised version of the European framework. Participants examine the DigComp 2.2 AT competence descriptors for pupils and compare them with the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum's five competence areas, confirming alignment. They also explore how the European frameworks support cross-border recognition of digital competence and how Austrian teachers can use them to benchmark their development against international standards. The lesson includes a practical exercise in which participants use DigCompEdu's progression rubric to identify their next development step for one competence area, then translate that step into a specific learning activity they can undertake through a Paedagogische Hochschule course or SCHILF session.

Lesson 8. Online safety as a duty of care

This lesson connects online-safety teaching to the school child-protection duty under the Schulordnung 2024 and Paragraph 44 SchUG. Participants learn that the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum requires teaching safe conduct online, and that this teaching is now part of the school's Kinderschutzkonzept obligation. The lesson covers the types of online risk pupils face: exposure to harmful content, contact with adults who may pose a risk, conduct risks such as sharing personal information, and commercial risks such as in-app purchases. Participants examine the Schulordnung 2024 requirement that the child-protection concept address digital violence and online safety, and they learn how to integrate online-safety teaching into the school's risk analysis and code of conduct. They practise designing a lesson that teaches pupils to recognise and respond to online risks, using age-appropriate scenarios and the "report, block, tell" framework. The lesson also addresses the teacher's own duty to model safe online behaviour and to report concerns about online exploitation through the child-protection team.

Lesson 9. Cyberbullying prevention and response

This lesson addresses cyberbullying as a specific form of psychological violence that the Schulordnung 2024 requires the Kinderschutzkonzept to address. Participants learn the definition of cyberbullying, its prevalence in Austrian schools, and its distinctive features compared with traditional bullying: anonymity, permanence, and 24/7 reach. The lesson covers the legal framework, including the school's duty to act under Paragraph 44 SchUG and the reporting duty under Paragraph 37 B-KJHG 2013 when cyberbullying involves serious endangerment. Participants examine the gewaltinfo.at guidance on cyberbullying prevention and response, including the school's obligation to document incidents and to involve the child-protection team. They practise designing a classroom activity that teaches pupils to recognise cyberbullying, to support affected peers, and to report incidents safely. The lesson also addresses the teacher's role in responding to a cyberbullying report: how to take a statement, how to preserve digital evidence, and how to coordinate with school leadership and the child-protection team. Participants leave with a protocol for responding to cyberbullying incidents that aligns with the school's Kinderschutzkonzept.

Lesson 10. Data protection and pupils

This lesson addresses data protection as a core competence area in the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum and as a legal obligation for teachers under the DSGVO and DSG. Participants learn that pupils must understand what personal data is, how it is collected and used by digital services, and what rights they have over their data. The lesson covers the DSGVO principles relevant to the classroom: data minimisation, purpose limitation, and the right to erasure. Participants examine the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum's Information competence area, which requires pupils to evaluate the trustworthiness of digital services and to protect their own data. They practise designing a lesson that teaches pupils to read privacy policies critically, to adjust privacy settings, and to recognise data-collection practices such as tracking and profiling. The lesson also addresses the teacher's own data-protection obligations: not sharing pupil data through unapproved platforms, obtaining consent for digital tools that process personal data, and reporting data breaches to the school leadership. Participants leave with a checklist for evaluating digital tools against data-protection requirements and a lesson plan for teaching data-protection basics to their pupils.

Part III: Application and Mastery (Lessons 11-15)

Lesson 11. Information literacy and source evaluation

This lesson addresses the Information competence area of the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum, focusing on pupils' ability to search for, evaluate, and organise digital information critically. Participants learn that information literacy is a key preventive measure against disinformation and that the curriculum requires pupils to distinguish reliable from unreliable sources, to verify information across multiple sources, and to recognise bias and manipulation. The lesson covers practical strategies for teaching source evaluation, including the CRAAP test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) adapted for the Austrian context. Participants practise designing a lesson that teaches pupils to evaluate a news article, a social media post, and a website, using the curriculum's competence descriptors. They also learn how to integrate information literacy into their subject teaching, for example by asking pupils to evaluate historical sources in history class or scientific claims in biology class. The lesson addresses the connection between information literacy and the Medienbildung cross-cutting theme, and it provides participants with a toolkit of ready-to-use activities and assessment rubrics.

Lesson 12. Responsible digital communication and production

This lesson addresses the Communication and Production competence areas of the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum. Participants learn that pupils must be able to communicate responsibly in digital environments, respecting others, protecting their own privacy, and understanding the consequences of their digital footprint. The Communication area covers netiquette, online collaboration, and the ethical use of digital communication tools. The Production area covers creating digital content, including text, images, audio, and video, and understanding copyright and licensing. Participants practise designing a project that requires pupils to collaborate online to produce a digital artefact, such as a podcast, a video, or a website, while applying responsible communication practices. The lesson covers the legal framework for copyright in Austrian education, including the use of Creative Commons licences and the school's responsibility to teach pupils about intellectual property. Participants also learn how to assess pupils' communication and production competences using the curriculum's progression descriptors. They leave with a project plan they can implement in their own classroom and a rubric for assessing digital communication and production.

Lesson 13. Selecting and using digital tools soundly

This lesson addresses the pedagogical principle that digital tools should serve competence goals rather than drive instruction for their own sake. Participants learn a framework for evaluating digital tools against the Digitale Grundbildung curriculum's competence areas and the digi.kompP model. The framework considers the tool's alignment to learning objectives, its accessibility for all pupils, its data-protection compliance, its cost, and its ease of use. Participants apply the framework to a range of tools commonly used in Austrian schools, including learning management systems, collaboration platforms, content-creation tools, and assessment tools. They practise selecting the most appropriate tool for a given learning objective, justifying their choice against the framework criteria. The lesson also addresses the teacher's responsibility to model sound tool use, including demonstrating how to use tools ethically and safely. Participants leave with a personal toolkit of evaluated tools and a decision-making process they can use when new tools are introduced at their school.

Lesson 14. Assessing digital competence

This lesson addresses the challenge of making pupils' digital competences visible and gradeable within the Digitale Grundbildung subject. Participants learn that the curriculum requires assessment of all five competence areas and that assessment must be competence-oriented, focusing on what pupils can do in variable situations. The lesson covers the Leistungsbeurteilungsverordnung (grading regulation) and how it applies to digital competence assessment, including the use of formative and summative assessment methods. Participants examine sample assessment tasks that elicit evidence of competence in each area, such as a research task for Information, a collaborative project for Communication, and a content-creation task for Production. They practise designing an assessment rubric that aligns with the curriculum's progression descriptors and that provides meaningful feedback to pupils and parents. The lesson also addresses the assessment of pupils with special educational needs and extraordinary pupils, ensuring that digital competence assessment is inclusive. Participants leave with a set of assessment tasks and rubrics they can adapt for their own classrooms.

Lesson 15. Planning school-wide digital-competence development

This final lesson addresses the coordination of staff development against digi.kompP and the embedding of online safety school-wide. Participants learn that the Schulordnung 2024 requires the Kinderschutzkonzept to address digital violence and that the school's digital-competence development plan should align with the child-protection concept. The lesson covers the process of conducting a school-wide digital-competence audit using digi.kompP, identifying priority areas for staff development, and planning a sequence of SCHILF sessions or PH courses. Participants practise designing a school-wide digital-competence development plan that includes goals for staff, pupils, and the school as an organisation. They also learn how to integrate online-safety teaching into the school's curriculum plan, ensuring that every pupil receives age-appropriate digital-safety education. The lesson concludes with a reflection on the teacher's role as a digital-competence leader in the school community and a commitment to ongoing professional learning. Participants leave with a draft school-wide development plan they can take to their school leadership.

This syllabus was designed from primary-source research of this nation's official teacher requirements and passed independent verification. The full course, its lessons, assistant, and materials are live for enrolled educators.