Abstract:

The evolution of literacies in the digital age demands to pass from the acquirement of ‘pencil and paper’ literacies to digital literacies. In 2006 Digital Literacy has been acknowledged by the European Parliament as a key skill for the 21st century and as one of the four foundational skills for learning, while in the European Commission’s 2010 Digital Agenda it was decided that the Digital Literacy is one of its seven pillars. However, most teachers lack sufficient Digital Competences that encompass not only ICT skills but also a list of abilities such as the ability to introduce in teaching practice technologies using creative ideas and innovative methodologies and also the ability to safely use information and communication technologies (ICT) respecting copyrights and licensing. The outcomes of the OECD 2009 report reflect this problem and underline the big need not only to integrate ICT into schools' curricula, but also to invest in teachers’ training in order to use technologies for teaching and for supporting students in their learning processes. Another survey (Survey of Schools:ICT in Education, EU, 2013, known as ESSIE), which aimed to benchmark progress in ICT in education in 31 countries, also found that most teachers have been familiar with ICT for teaching and learning for some years but still use it first and foremost to prepare only their teaching.

In order to address this need, a questionnaire (35 questions) was developed in the framework of the ISCH COST Action IS1404 ‘Evolution of reading in the age of digitisation’ (E-READ, www.ereadcost.eu), funded by the European Union. Its main aim was to investigate teachers’ confidence on their digital literacy and to explore their training needs in order to build their digital competences. It was inspired by the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu, 2017) and it was jointly developed by researchers from the University of Macedonia (Greece), University of Nicosia (Cyprus), Trnava University (Slovakia) and University of Barcelona (Spain). More than 300 responses from Primary and Secondary Education teachers from 4 different countries (Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Spain) were collected. First results revealed significant differences between countries, regarding teachers’ confidence in using digital resources in teaching practices and in the ways that they introduce technology in classroom. Research data analysis has also shown that the need for teachers’ training in digital literacy is quite high but different in each country. Furthermore, research results revealed that educational qualification and Continuous Professional Development level were both significant positive predictors of confidence in most cases (p < .05). This paper aims to present first the theoretical background on which it was based the creation of the questionnaire, then to describe the research methodology, and finally to analyse and discuss its first findings. In the second stage of this research, we aim to collect data from all European countries in order to better map the teachers’ Digital Literacy Training Needs across Europe.

Keywords:

Digital Literacy, Digital Competences, CPT.