This study examines a badge-driven professional learning process in which vocational education teachers developed sustainability competences through a constellation of competence-based digital open badges.

Teachers are increasingly expected to advance sustainability goals through their everyday pedagogical work (García-Gonzáles et al., 2020), yet sustainability competences are often experienced as abstract, multidimensional, and difficult to translate into actionable teaching practices (Vare et al., 2019). Moreover, there is a lack of professional learning opportunities that are both meaningful and feasible in teachers’ everyday work (Parry & Metzger, 2023). Workload pressures and competing responsibilities make lengthy training events difficult to attend and sustain (Krille, 2020; Guzman & Aguilar, 2025). Content delivery focused professional learning formats may lead to compliance-driven participation rather than reflective, practice-based development (Teräs, 2014). Sustainability competence development requires more than information: it demands agency and readiness to act, calling for more transformative approaches that translate knowledge into practice (Vukelić, 2022).

Continuous professional learning is a central policy and practice priority across Europe, as rapid technological, societal, and environmental change demands that professionals continuously update and demonstrate relevant competence throughout their careers. In the European Union’s strategic frameworks — including the European Skills Agenda and the 2022 Council Recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability — modular, flexible, and transparent learning pathways are emphasized as enablers of lifelong competence development across sectors and borders (The Council of the European Union, 2022). These strategies explicitly call for quality-assured micro-credentials to support inclusion, mobility, and labor market relevance in both formal and non-formal learning contexts. Digital open badges are electronic, standardized micro-credentials that can be awarded based on an application which includes evidence of the applicant’s competence in specific, clearly defined small competence areas (Brauer & Korhonen, 2022).

A central lens in the study is the tension between transformative learning and competence-based learning: sustainability learning requires shifts in values, agency, and professional identity, yet institutions need structured, assessable pathways. A key theoretical and practical tension in micro-credentialing and competence-based professional development concerns whether competence frameworks and assessment criteria can capture the depth and complexity of transformative learning (Fan et al., 2024; Voss et al., 2023). Sustainability competence development goes well beyond acquiring discrete skills: it involves changes in values, identity, agency, and the willingness to act in ways that challenge prevailing norms and practices (Dlouhá et al. 2019). In this sense, sustainability competences align with the “knowing, doing, and being” dimensions of professional growth, where learning is not only demonstrated through observable actions but also reflected in how practitioners interpret their role and responsibility within wider systems. At the same time, competence-based learning and micro-credentialing have been critiqued for potentially narrowing professional learning into procedural performance and measurable outputs, rather than supporting critical reflection and long-term transformation.

This study examines how digital open badges and associated microlearning processes can support vocational education teachers’ professional learning, with specific attention to sustainability competences and the European policy context.

Research Questions:

1. How do digital open badges and microlearning structures support transformative professional learning in the context of sustainability competence development among vocational education teachers?
2. What advantages and challenges emerge when these tools are used for professional learning?
3. Which factors contribute to the successful implementation of digital open badges as part of professional learning pathways in alignment with European lifelong learning objectives?

This study is a qualitative investigation of a badge-driven professional learning pilot designed to support vocational teachers’ sustainability competence development through competence-based digital open badges (DOBs). The study context was the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies project Academy for Sustainable Future Educators (EduSTA), in which a transnational partnership developed a “Sustainable Future Educator” badge constellation to operationalize key areas of teachers’ sustainability competences. In Finland, the constellation was piloted as a facilitated blended professional learning process for VET teachers and other educator groups. The empirical data consists of two semi-structured focus group interviews, complemented by observational notes from the pilot final seminar where participants presented their learning and discussed the program’s impact. Focus group methodology was selected to enable interaction, shared reflection, and collective sense-making, which is particularly relevant when exploring experiences of professional learning processes (Litosseliti 2003; Krueger 1994). The participant focus group included four pilot participants, and the facilitator focus group included five pilot facilitators. Both focus group sessions lasted approximately 90 minutes and were conducted in person, with one facilitator joining remotely. Both discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data analysis followed an inductive thematic analysis approach. Transcripts were read iteratively to support familiarization, after which meaningful segments were coded in relation to the research questions. Codes were then grouped into themes and refined through repeated comparison within and across the datasets. The analytical process focused on identifying patterns in how participants experienced the role of badges and micro-badges in their professional learning, how sustainability competences were interpreted and contextualized within vocational teaching practice, and which challenges and enabling conditions shaped engagement. In addition to participant accounts, facilitator perspectives contributed insights into scaffolding needs, assessment practices, and the support structures required for competence articulation and demonstration. Observational notes from the final seminar supported triangulation by capturing how participants publicly framed their learning outcomes and intended future actions. Together, the dataset provides a rich account of badge-driven professional learning as experienced by both learners and facilitators in a real-world vocational education context.

The findings indicate that competence-based digital open badges can support transformative professional learning when they are embedded in a structured, facilitated learning process rather than used merely as a technical credentialing system. Participants experienced the badge constellation as a scaffold for practice-based inquiry because the competence goals, assessment criteria, and evidence requirements directed them to interpret sustainability through their own vocational teaching practice and translate broad sustainability themes into concrete pedagogical decisions. In this sense, badge applications functioned as structured opportunities for reflection-on-action, enabling teachers to recognize, articulate, and make visible competence that had previously remained tacit. This structured reflection supported professional learning by making competence development visible, discussable, and applicable in authentic work contexts. From a transformative perspective, the most significant outcomes related to shifts in agency and professional positioning. Participants reported increased readiness to operationalise sustainability in their everyday work, advocate for sustainability competences in curriculum and programme development, and act as change agents within their organisation. Badge-driven competence demonstrations encouraged participants to move from general sustainability intentions toward concrete pedagogical decisions and workplace-relevant actions, thereby supporting the “knowing–doing–being” dimensions of sustainability competence development. However, the badge-driven process also comes with its challenges. Transformative learning requires time, dialogue, and iterative reflection, yet participants reported that articulating and evidencing competence was cognitively demanding and difficult to accomplish in isolation. The findings highlight key success factors for transformative badge-driven professional learning: (1) coherent badge design aligned with authentic practice and clear assessment criteria; (2) facilitation, feedback, and scaffolding that support competence articulation; (3) collaborative dialogue; and (4) organizational recognition and management support that legitimizes participation and enables sustained engagement. Overall, this study positions competence-based digital open badges as potentially transformative professional learning structures when embedded within supportive social and organizational conditions, rather than implemented as stand-alone micro-credentials.

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