Digital competence in the training of pre-service teachers: Perceptions of students in the degrees of early childhood education and primary education

Abstract

The objective of this work was to take a close look at the profile of the digital competence of pre-service early childhood and primary school teachers. To this end, 200 students from Education degrees participated in filling out the Perceptions Questionnaire on Digital Competence. The results show that future teachers present a medium level of digital competence and have some difficulties with the dimension related to the creation of content. Also, results show how over the years, and sometimes over the courses, the dimensions of teaching digital competence improve significantly. No significant differences were found regarding type of university and gender. These results have important implications for curriculum design and teacher training regarding digital competence development in pre-service teachers.

Keywords:

• teacher training
• competency-based teaching
• digital technology
• teacher digital competence
• higher education

Data availability statement

The database used for this research is available in authors’ DropBox repository located in the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d8wa1oyn9dk9qu8/BD%20en%20SPSS%20-%20Estudio%20CD.sav?dl=1

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Héctor Galindo-Domínguez

Héctor Galindo-Domínguez has a doctorate in Education from the University of Deusto, a master’s degree in Innovation and Research in Education from the National University of Distance Education, a master’s degree in prevention and treatment of bullying from the San Jorge University, and a graduate in primary education from the University of the Basque Country. He has worked as a university professor at the University of Deusto, but is currently an associate professor at the Francisco de Vitoria, Camilo José Cela, and UNIR universities, teaching various subjects in the university masters of early care, advanced teaching skills, and digital technology applied to teaching practice. This work is combined with the publication of research in high-impact scientific journals. His research topics address areas related mainly to new methodologies and technologies, critical thinking, leadership, guidance, and research methods in education. Finally, for several years he has worked as a Primary Education teacher, teaching subjects such as robotics, programming, Basque, and mathematics, as well as an educational disseminator, conducting educational talks in primary education centers, alerting students of this stage of potential risks of Internet and technologies.

María José Bezanilla

María José Bezanilla has a doctorate in Education from the Institute of Education of the University of London and Senior Lecturer at the University of Deusto in the Department of Innovation and Educational Organization. She is currently the coordinator of the PhD in Education at the Faculty of Psychology and Education. Team member eDucaR research participates in research projects and has numerous publications on the use of ICT in the university context and the development of competences in higher education. Share your teaching and research tasks with management and training tasks in the Teaching Innovation Unit of the University of Deusto, with particular emphasis on the Research and Pedagogy-ICT area. Currently, the author has two six-year research periods recognized by the CNEAI 1995-2006 and 2008-2014, dated 06/15/2015.