The modern economy is in a state of continuous and rapid change, driven by the introduction of new technologies and by a growingly interconnected and global knowledge economy which requires suitable competences for such a dynamic and unpredictable social and economic context (Dumont et al.,2010; Levy & Murnane, 2004).
Thus, there is a dire need of innovation and optimization of the learning systems, through the employment of innovative technologies which deeply transforms the way we learn (Dede, 2010; Griffin et al., 2012).
Many scholars and professionals of this sector are working on finding ways to identify and conceptualize a set of needed competences to incorporate in the students' educational standards (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009, p. 5).
At present, competences that appears as fundamentals seems to be the ones of problem solving, critical thinking and creative thinking, which are perceived as critical for a lifelong learning and for innovation (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).
The education system has the important objective of emphasizing and developing these competences in an explicit and intentional way through the introduction of changes in the curriculum design and in the teaching practices.
Only few researches have been conducted trying to find ways to improve our comprehension on how learning context may effectively support the development of soft and transversal competences such the ones that appears to be needed nowadays.
Thus, this research has the twofold aim to: a) properly define and describe these competences, and identify the best approaches for their teaching, acquisition and recognition; b) identify the needed resources and strategies to employ in order to support these new approaches and to ensure an efficient use of the digital tools and resources for a better learning in Italian public schools and universities.
In this digital era, characterized by a restless introduction of innovations and by the increasing presence of new technologies in everyone's life, the need for developing new transversal competences for both workers and students is becoming more and more evident, in order to keep the pace with these continuous and rapid changes of our economy (Dumont et al.,2010; Levy & Murnane, 2004).
Given these evidences, this research has the twofold aim to properly define and describe the newly needed competences, and identify the best approaches for their teaching, acquisition and recognition and to identify the needed resources and strategies to employ to support these new approaches and to ensure an efficient use of the digital tools and resources for a better learning in Italian public schools and universities.
Furthermore, the empirical analysis that will be conducted on the selected organizations will help define their state of the art, highlight the main gaps or discrepancies in their organizational structure and consequently, it will be possible to identify and share propositions for the improvement and development of their organizational model and model of competences, thanks to the identification and comparison of an ideal one.
Thus, thanks to this research, it could be possible to help stimulating the development of a teaching system which will be able to provide students with the competences requested by the labour market by employing the framework of competences developed in this work together with the newly identified and effective ways of teaching.
Hence, a list of suggested teaching techniques will be provided contemplating the use of digital technologies and promoting team working and cooperation between students and teachers.
This is hopefully going to inspire an organizational change in scholastic institutes and universities, focused on elements such as individual and team decisional processes optimization and on the promotion of an organizational culture aiming at developing the ability to adapt to external changes.