The concept of Education by Competence has recently left the fence of vocational education and training, getting a wider adoption in society. The European Union proposed a framework of “key competences for all”, and member states responded in different ways, according to their different traditions in education. The accent on competence drives a number of opportunities, but also challenges teachers who have to modify their teaching practice. Here we describe the overall framework, as seen from the Italian perspective. We examine the Italian case, and attempt to identify how to help teachers responding to the challenges, and how to guide them in the maze of norms and practices. We describe the vision of the on-going eSchooling project, which uses ICT to help the transition from traditional teaching to competence-based schooling.