The Learning of E-Sustainability Competences: A Comparative Study between Future Early Childhood and Primary School Teachers

Abstract

Digital technologies play a key role in the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda. However, their contribution to this goal depends on the digital culture of society. In this context, future teachers’ knowledge of e-sustainability is of paramount importance, as the responsible and sustainable behaviour of future generations largely depends on their skills in this area. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the existence of possible differences in digital competences in sustainability among trainee teachers. The study involved the participation of 348 students in the 2nd year of their Bachelor’s Degrees in Early Childhood and Primary Education at the University of Alicante (Alicante, Spain), who filled out a questionnaire on this topic. The SPSS v. 25 statistical programme, with which a comparative analysis was carried out, was used to process the data. On the basis of the results, the students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education generally presented a higher level of e-sustainable competences, especially with regard to general competences and the economic dimension of digital sustainability. Despite this, and given the small size of the differences, we conclude that there is a need to design didactic proposals to favour the acquisition of these competences among future teachers at both stages.

Preliminary Results from Norway, Slovenia, Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine, and Jordan: Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Expected Use of Digital Technology When Becoming Teachers

“…We can observe in most responses to variables that implicit neutrality reflects part of the pre-service teachers completely agreeing, disagreeing, or completely disagreeing with the statement. The survey's results are in line with the findings of several authors that teacher education still depicts an overall lack of skills and knowledge among pre-service teachers and teacher educators regarding how to utilise DT in a pedagogical and didactical manner [13] (p. 253) [14]. The results show that future teachers present a somehow medium level of digital competence and have some difficulties with adjusting DT and content [76].…”

“…Studies by Alarcón et al [37], Instefjord and Munthe [10], Urrea-Solano et al [14], Voogt et al [8], Thorvaldsen and Madsen [30], and Gudmundsdottir and Hatlevik [28] showed the internal consistency of the instruments for measuring knowledge and skills about DT and attitudes towards DT, i.e., digital competence. The latter is measured and, in that context, 'comparable' to the instrument used in the present research (Table 3).…”

“…Teachers need to be skilled in using digital technologies (DT) for educational purposes, and their main challenge is to foster the productive and relevant use of DT among students at all levels of education [10][11][12]. Findings of several authors emphasise that teacher education still depicts an overall lack of skills and knowledge among pre-service teachers and teacher educators regarding how to utilise DT in a pedagogical and didactical manner [13] (p. 253), [14]. Therefore, we conducted an international study to investigate the differences and similarities between countries in relation to this highly relevant topic.…”

Citizen Science in the Promotion of Sustainability: The Importance of Smart Education for Smart Societies

“…Computerization, digitalization and the transition to sustainable development (SD) are at the heart of these shifts, the main purpose of which is to ensure that the way in which the contemporary generation is developed does not hamper the wellbeing of future generations [12]. The training of digital competences within the sustainability paradigm entails four fundamental dimensions: (i) the contextualization of knowledge, which regards the teaching of critical thinking skills that allow students to learn to reflect on the social, cultural and disciplinary conditions in which knowledge is produced; (ii) the sustainable use of technological resources, which implies the use of technologies in an eco-responsible way; (iii) collaborative processes that favor digital sustainability; and (iv) the respect for ethical principles [41,42] (Figure 2). Thus, one of the main purposes and goals of sustainable digital education is to prepare today's individuals to commit themselves to be part of a responsible and sustainable social transformation and, in this way, to pave the way of sustainability for future generations [3,43,44].…”

Level of Digital Teaching Competence on the Verge of the Post Pandemic

“…When working with primary and secondary level teachers in the area of history, their teaching was valued with higher scores because they used more active resources in their teaching methodologies (artistic productions, heritages and museums); but there are also those that were valued with lower scores in these times of digitalization (video games, books with text and mobile devices or tablets with historical content), concluding that educational historical heritages are the best perception in traditional teaching [13]; also the education most affected by technology was higher education, but whose development in their approaches were successfully developing teaching-learning with low level results in digital competencies in their teachers as in pedagogical and technological areas [14], so the rise of ICT and educational applications should have a progressive development in university teachers, since they are at an intermediate level within digital competencies, with the difference of the group of young teachers (millennials) whose digital level is advanced. This adaptation is the effect of the rapid response of universities and their adoption of ICT with educational policies to promote digital competence in university teachers [15], these ICT and digital competencies have an important role for the 2030 agenda in Spain, since its fulfillment will depend on society in its "digital" culture, sustainability and responsibility for the future is in the training of those students at the initial and primary level [16].…”