Across Europe and beyond, teacher digital competence (TDC) is seen as a central task of teacher training (e.g., Fütterer et al., 2023) yet is confronted with a persistent challenge: despite significant investment, the impact of training frequently dissipates before it can be put into classroom practice or influence pupils’ learning (Fernández-Batanero et al., 2021; Pannatier et al., 2024). The metaphor of the leaky pipeline captures this phenomenon (Scheiter, EARLI Graz Keynote, 2025). Substantial losses occur at each stage: teacher availability, participation in TPD, access to high-quality training, classroom application and eventual impact on pupils. Teachers drop out, knowledge fails to translate into practice, and the envisaged improvements in learning outcomes remain modest or difficult to verify.

This problem fuels a central controversy in contemporary educational research: Are TDC programmes insufficiently effective, or do we lack robust systems to monitor, sustain and validate their impact over time? While there is a solid evidence base for effective TDC interventions, the challenge appears to lie not only in what teachers are taught, but also in how we evaluate, support and accompany them throughout the entire process. Current evaluation cultures often rely on satisfaction surveys or logistical feedback, leaving deeper layers such as competence growth, behavioural change, contextual conditions for sustainability and measurable pupil learning gains insufficiently explored (Guskey, 2002). Consequently, the pipeline continues to leak.

This discussion forum aims to examine this controversy through dialogue among researchers, practitioners and policy stakeholders. The main question will be: How can evaluation models, frameworks and tools be designed to reduce leakage throughout the TDC training pipeline and ensure a meaningful transfer from teacher learning to pupil outcomes?

To initiate the debate, the forum will present the leaky-pipeline problem (5’), followed by an introduction to the Digital Training Companion (DTC) and its Digital Competency Training Assessment Model (DTCAM) (10’). Developed in the context of a major curriculum reform in digital education, the DTC web-based and AI-enhanced application offers a data-informed approach to monitoring TDC training. It integrates process-based formative assessment, enables trainers and pre-service teachers to visualize learning progress, and connects actors across the pipeline through shared indicators and feedback loops. A case study from a teacher-training university involving 10 teachers and 158 pupils will illustrate how such an approach can foster stronger transfer of digital teaching competencies, raise teacher motivation, and contribute to positive learning outcomes in secondary classrooms (15’).

However, the purpose of the forum is not to promote a specific tool, but rather to reflect on the broader implications of structured, data-rich evaluation. Several questions will guide the open discussion with the audience (25’):

• To what extent can comprehensive, process-based evaluation models address structural weaknesses in TDC training?
• What risks arise from overloading teachers or institutions with measurement demands?
• How can evaluation strengthen rather than constrain teacher autonomy, competence, motivation and well-being?
• What forms of evidence are required to persuade educational leaders to shift their approach to evaluation?
• Can sustainable, research-informed evaluation practices finally transform TDC training from a leaky pipeline into a robust system of professional growth and sustain behavioural change towards meaningful and stressless technology integration?

The session will conclude with a summary of key insights (5’).

By focusing the debate on the leakages that weaken TDC training and on the potential and limits of data-informed evaluation models, this forum invites participants to reimagine how digital teacher training can be supported, monitored, assessed and connected to pupils' success in more sustainable ways.