**Acknowledgements**

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

of the latter is the use of edutubers in a school context.

their respective processes of pedagogical and didactic adaptation.

mitment, and autonomy.

**4. Conclusions**

(MOOC) have turned into a crucial tool in online learning, since it allows students to better organize their time, at the same time that they foster responsibility, com-

Likewise, widespread social networks and the emergence of new actors in the digital landscape such as influencers—who have become role models for many young students—represent new challenges for teachers. These new forms of expression and communication, as well as the acquisition of information and content require specific skills on the part of teachers so they may safely deal with them in class. Consequently, both curricula, particularly AlfaMed's, make reference to and propose activities that will aid teachers when facing these challenges—an example

Similarly, although the challenges can be rethought from the teaching point of view, without forgetting to emphasize the need for educational and political institutions to also support this development. Teacher training is part of the improvement of digital competences—school organizations, educations policies, and the publishing and technology industries must also get involved in the training and development process [16]. The updating of media teaching methods should continue to be promoted because, as stated in a study by Monteiro and Leite [17], students have highlighted the importance of implementing technologies in the class and have defended the need for an updated teacher training. It is essential to focus on the specialized training of teachers, detect their abilities and skills, and facilitate

As stated in this book chapter, one of the UNESCO's greatest challenges is to train teachers in the face of new realities and to enforce equity and quality in education. With regards to teaching needs in digital competences, the UNESCO has devised documents, such as the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (1966) or the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel (1997), which are updated every three years by an expert committee. Furthermore, taking into account the current media society, it also advocates for the implementation of media literacy programs that will address various elements such as production, representation, audience, and language—key aspects also defended by Buckingham [9]. The media training of the population, if conducted from a critical and responsible perspective and if carried out with the media, itself, in mind and using medium resources, will inevitably lead to reflections on how it may be updated and to how teacher training should be addressed within primary, secondary, and higher education [18, 19]. Following this line, this chapter also defend the need to respect the new Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027) proposed by the European Commission to promote high-quality digital education that is inclusive and accessible all over Europe—if there is something COVID-19 has taught us, it is that the use of technology in education grew dramatically and it has been vital to adapt all educational and training systems around it. This is an operation that should not stop. This plan includes two strategic priorities: the promotion of the development of a high-performance digital educational ecosystem and the improvement of digital skills and abilities to achieve true digital transformation. They both include the need to improve online infrastructure and connectivity, better planning for the development of digital skills under privacy and ethical standards, and the fostering of digital literacy at all ages. This represents an overhaul of the current program that will guide teachers to educate the citizens

**50**

of the future.

This work is framed under the development of the framework of Alfamed (Euro-American inter-university research network on media literacy for citizenship), with the support of the R+D Project: "Youtubers and Instagrammers: Media Competence in Emerging Prosumers" (RTI2018-093303-B- I00), financed by the State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Also, some results are derived from the project: The construction of digital identity in older adults. Designing personalised learning trajectories in blended learning scenarios. Reference: PIC2-2020-18, from the University of Salamanca.

#### **Conflict of interest**

The authors declare no conflict of interest.
