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The emergence of the DigCompEdu framework as a European initiative – as well as the results of the empirical study presented in this article – indicate that the digital competence of educators will continue to remain a significant concern and field of action within teacher education both globally and nationally. This tendency is mirrored, for example, in other documents such as the strategy paper Bildung in der digitalen Welt of the German KMK, or the Chinese Education Informatization 2.0 Action Plan. To bring the digital competence of educators to life effectively, several implications can be mapped out which are based on the introduction into the DigCompEdu framework and the empirical results of the study with pre-service teachers offered in this article.

life-long professionalization(1) The digital competence of educators is part and parcel of a life-long professional development. On one level, this is because digital learning and teaching is most likely not a “trend” that will disappear, but a dimension of education that will become increasingly integral to schools and classrooms. On another level, the digital world is constantly shifting and changing, with ever new developments. Not only do these shifts mark the need to stay up-to-date. More importantly, they stress the need for teachers to have a critical compass in their professional repertoire that helps them judge the value and usefulness of digital tools and resources (rather than embracing each new development in an instant and euphoric frenzy).

The COVID-19 pandemic has marked a drastic shift to education occurring digitally and online, which certainly was an urgent necessity that, over time, turned into a ‘new normal’ in many cases: To weather the crisis, teachers had to master the transition from their brick-and-mortar classroom teaching to remote teaching in synchronous or asynchronous formats. Suddenly, the digital competence of educators moved into focus as a must-have – rather than being an optional addition. And still, in less drastic times and contexts, the ongoing digitalization of lifeworlds at large and schools and classrooms in particular also indicates the centrality of educators’ digital competence.

preparing future teachers at university(2) The study has shown that pre-service EFL teachers, i.e. the teachers of the future, bring important initial stepping stones towards a more full-fledged digital competence into their professional development. Their generally high positive attitudes towards digital education, and their favorable command over digital tools based on their self-assessment, indicate a valuable professional trajectory that can be developed further with hands-on experience, critical reflection and a self-monitoring of one’s own progress. Certainly, this is also a call to action directed at teacher education programs at universities where the potentials of digital education can be discovered with student teachers.

future directions for EFL teaching and learning(3) Even though the DigCompEdu is in itself not an EFL-specific framework, the diversity of descriptors, articulations of sub-dimensions, and concrete examples are a good starting point for a more rigorous transfer into EFL education. Such a transfer must consider that digital competences are no stand-alone competences as if they were somehow unrelated to EFL education, neatly compartmentalized in a ‘separate box’. Instead, we argue that they must be seen as transversal, cutting across key concerns of EFL education such as language learning and communication, intercultural learning, working with texts and literature, or differentiated teaching. This means that digital dimensions should always be considered when teachers design learning processes and scenarios, for example, when

 speaking about current social developments in Anglophone contexts necessitates an exploration of how such developments unfold in social media and hashtags;

 becoming a fluent communicator today means to be fluent in digital and multimodal communication channels;

 developing into a reader today requires the capacity to read (and view) digital posts, newsfeeds, YouTube videos, digital games, or interactive fiction.

transforming schools(4) The fourth implication addresses the need to develop strategies for digital education in the school institution as a whole. Indeed, the DigCompEdu framework stresses the need to

 diversify the use of digital technologies and resources available at a school while putting them to meaningful use in classrooms,

 share experience of digital teaching, and exchange good examples of digital resources, within the professional communities of teachers,

 constantly reflect, critique and renew digital teaching and learning practices of the institution, especially where educators become innovating Pioneers (at the C2 level).

Ideally, such innovation and progress are not achieved by one teacher alone, but as a collaborative effort shared and developed by many. Depending on the digital challenge in question, some teachers might require guidance that other teachers can offer, and vice versa. Such supportive dialogue and exchange of expertise can also unfold across subjects and subject teachers. This way, the development of digital competence in educators and within schools can become embedded in a conscious give-and-take professional culture of mutual support.