The Challenge of Initial Training for Early Childhood Teachers. A Cross Sectional Study of Their Digital Competences

Abstract

The scarce presence of technologies at the early childhood education level today is a cause for worry. This study aims to provide information on the training of future early childhood education teachers and their relationship with technologies. The work is based on a pretest–posttest methodology through a cross sectional descriptive study. The sample is made up of 535 4th year students of the Degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Seville. Descriptive and contrast analyses were performed as well as contrast statistics and effect size. The results show that the training received by the students was a key element to improve self-perception of digital competence. There were statistically significant changes between before and after receiving the training. The changes produced always meant an improvement in the students’ self-perception. In the study of their profiles, relevant changes were also identified. Whereas before training subjects were grouped into newcomer and explorer categories, after training they were grouped into the highest profiles: integrator, expert, and pioneer. For this reason, it is necessary to manage training plans to allow future teachers to position themselves at an expert level.

Development of the Teacher Digital Competence Validation of DigCompEdu Check-In Questionnaire in the University Context of Andalusia (Spain)

“…With respect to the reliability and validity of the instrument "DigCompEdu", these allow us to create scientific knowledge with a useful degree of exactness and certainty for the improvement of the quality of education in the university institutions. At the same time, the results allow to establish, as a function of it, teaching and counseling plans [44,65], devising education systems that could cater to the demands of the Society of Knowledge [66,67]. These findings support the need for studies and research related to this topic.…”

Implications of COVID-19 on the Labor Market of Saudi Arabia: The Role of Universities for a Sustainable Workforce

“…As a result, the job markets are becoming polarized, and career plans are being primarily associated with job security instead of wages or future growth [10]. Under these situations, higher education institutions (HEIs) are placing more significance on developing the right kind of labor market skills [11] as well as improving their digital competencies [12]. This not only provides increased sustainability to the workforce but also strengthens the economic well-being of society in general [13].…”

Teaching Digital Competence and Eco-Responsible Use of Technologies: Development and Validation of a Scale

“…(a) Guarantee that the information obtained through the analysis and the different interpretations value the reality that is being measured. The first of the objectives (a) was achieved following a standardized procedure for the construction of this type of scales [6,19,[30][31][32][41][42][43]; which was included from developing preliminary versions (alpha versions), to obtaining a beta version that was subjected to a content analysis by a group of experts in educational technology. After applying the Likert-type scale of eight response options, the experts' report showed that almost all the items were written in a language appropriate to their recipients, that they met the objectives set out in their design and that they were assessed with the maximum score for its clarity of presentation.…”

“…To achieve the proposed objectives (b, c and d), different statistical tests were carried out as suggested by related studies [30][31][32]35]. The reliability, discriminant validity and convergent validity of the questionnaire were calculated using the coefficients: Cronbach's Alpha, McDonald's Omega, composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE).…”

“…Many studies have emphasized the measurement of teaching digital competence [6,19,[30][31][32], but no instruments have been developed that measure such a specific dimension of it. The need to know the self-perceived level of competence that teachers have to educate in eco-responsible use has led to the development and design of a scale of measurement of this competence that serves as a basis for teachers' self-reflection.…”