The creation of the Erasmus Programme in 1987 represented a milestone in international mobility in Higher Education. Its significant effects influenced the establishment of the European Higher Education Area through the Bologna Process and ensured the programme’s continuity. In 2014, following almost three decades of exclusive implementation in higher education, the programme expanded to other educational domains, notably Vocational Education and Training (VET), being renamed “Erasmus+” (E+). However, after a decade of its implementation on VET, the characteristics of international students and the effects of E+ mobility remain largely underexplored in this education field (Bronze et al., 2024; Popov et al., 2017).

At the same time, this decade has been marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated the “digital transformation” in education — one of the priorities of the Erasmus+ Programme. The “emergency remote teaching” approach adopted at schools forced adaptation to digital environments and tools regardless of schools’ levels of preparedness (Torres et al., 2021), allowing to question the level up to which such changes may overcome a simple “transition” to conform an effective “transformation”. “Digital transformation” requires robust levels of digital literacy, which is anchored in knowledge, attitudes, and values – soft skills - such as critical thinking, communication skills, character skills, curation, connectedness, creativity, collaboration, and citizenship values (Amin et al., 2021). Soft skills are claimed to be the essential “21st-century skills” to meet the labour market needs (Dean & East, 2019), thus assuming major relevance in VET, an education field closely articulated with such needs. However, their significance extends beyond this instrumentalisation as they contribute to transformative and emancipatory processes (Bronze et al., 2024; Biesta, 2017; Leite et al., 2022). In their intersection with digital literacy, soft skills play a crucial role in shaping the individual power of agency and the nature of human relationships in the era of the “digital society.” (Couldry & Hepp, 2018; Sá et al., 2021). From a pedagogical perspective, it is essential to consider the interplay of all these frameworks and various resources that shape the concept of digital literacy impacting the classroom (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). This includes the deliberate use or rejection of “digital technologies” in the classroom (Bronze & Januário, 2024) and the constraints (Prodani et al., 2022) and driving forces (Pardo-Baldoví et al., 2023) influencing the creation of digital learning environments able to reach “digital transformation”. Alongside the remaining Erasmus+ priorities - “inclusion and diversity”, “civic participation”, and “environmental sustainability” - “digital transformation” frames an emancipatory perspective of education, which is expected to expand in VET as an effect of the therein implementation of E+ Programme over time.

Given this context, it is important to determine the effects of Erasmus+ mobility in VET, an education field tendentially addressing technical skills and labour market concerns, questioning how, on the one hand, it stimulates digitalisation processes and, on the other hand, supports their interrelated, and other, emancipatory outcomes.

Following this objective, a study was conducted to assess the effects of Erasmus+ mobility on the development of digital literacy and soft skills in VET.

The methodology followed a qualitative approach. Data was collected through fifteen semi-structured interviews conducted in 2024 with nine teachers, three E+ project managers, and three headteachers from three Portuguese VET schools actively engaged in E+ Programme. The option for three schools was based on diversifying the institutional settings, the characteristics of international mobility projects and the VET courses and audiences to which the projects were applied. Schools were identified and selected by analysing the database of institutions with E+-approved projects published and available on the Portuguese National Agency for the E+ Programme in Education and Training website. The database was downloaded and analysed to identify schools that regularly implemented international mobility projects covering at least the previous years, 2023, 2022 and 2021. Three of them, which show a strong E+ activity and were based in different locations, were contacted and introduced to the research project. Participants were selected following the identification and contact with the VET schools. The interviews were made face-to-face and audio-recorded. The interviewing procedure followed ethical concerns, namely: signature of informed consent by the interviewees covering the overall information about the conditions of their participation; anonymity ensured during all stages of the research, including data analysis and publication of the research results; full rights of participants, including the right to withdraw from the research at any moment. The interview guidelines included questions reporting back to the interviewees’ own experiences with E+ mobility and their perception of the effects of mobility reporting back to the schools’ students and the school itself. Collected data were subjected to content analysis using the NVivo14 software. Although inductive processes were used and emerging categories considered, the analysis favoured a deductive approach based on previous categories relating to ‘digital literacy’ and ‘soft skills’ concepts.

The results indicate that E+ promotes, at different levels, digital literacy and soft skills of VET students and teachers participating in international mobility. Respondents recognise that participation in the Erasmus+ programme significantly impacts the development of students' soft skills, generating multiple positive effects for teachers and enhancing VET’s social value, prestige and distinctiveness. The most notable impact they recognise in E+ mobility on students is at personal growth and responsibility levels. Digital literacy, autonomy, social skills, foreign language proficiency, motivation, and teamwork are highlighted as the main key areas of improvement. Alongside soft skills, this development is underpinned by increased technical skills. In the teachers’ case, the primary benefits identified by participants include pedagogical innovation and the opportunity to explore and integrate new resources, leading to more diverse teaching practices. This aligns, to some extent, with an increased use of digital technologies, as "digitalisation" is perceived as both a pervasive and inevitable process—often emerging as an unintended consequence of participation in the programme. Other significant effects include personal growth, increased motivation, the development of extracurricular activities, and greater engagement in the broader life of the school. The multiplier effect and peer influence were also emphasised, demonstrating the importance of Erasmus+ participation in fostering a sense of commitment among teachers and students, encouraging them to inspire and motivate peers. In conclusion, Erasmus+ in VET enhances knowledge and use of digital resources while fostering and expanding soft skills and aligning, at variation levels, with the four priorities of the E+ Programme.

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