Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the fact that distance learning became a reality and the traditional school began to transform into an online and virtual school. The introduction of distance learning further raised the issue of the need for teachers to continuously improve their digital competences. In Latvia, digitization processes in general education are under development. A modern vision is a pupil, who is able to identify reliable information, cite sources, protect his/her intellectual property, express attitudes and ethical values, create his/her digital resources, and reflect on his/her learning and development. Digital transformation in education is an important process of change, which is based on the change of content, organizational forms, methods, teaching aids for work in the digital educational environment. Both the teacher's knowledge and skills and a positive attitude are important in the implementation of changes. Continuous professional development is important for teachers' digital growth, which includes the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the use of digital technologies in the initial study process, practice, starting professional activities, improving professionalism in the workplace in cooperation with colleagues, participation in competitiveness and personal development activities, as well as acquiring professional competence development programs.

The paper analyzes the content of teachers' digital competence and describes a conceptual model for the development of teachers' digital competence in the cultural environment of Latvia.

Keywords:

Conceptual model, digital competence, digital technologies, improvement of professional competence, further education.