Evaluation of education scenarios for acquiring digital competences of secondary school students in Slovenia

Abstract

Digital competences are among the most important competences in modern society, with the education system playing a key role in the acquisition of digital competences by youths. As a rule, digital competences of students in general secondary schools in the EU are not optimal and vary considerably. As EU states are autonomous regarding secondary schools, their education organisation varies. Therefore, attempts are being made to implement certain standards of learning outcomes to be attained by secondary school students. Such standards are being prepared, and systematic implementation of the acquisition of digital competences in schools will begin as soon as there are enough trained teachers, for who in 2017 in the framework of DigCompEdu, a European framework of digital competences of educators was developed, with concrete advice for their work in the education process. We have prepared several education scenarios that can be used to enhance digital competences of students in general secondary schools where there are no professional subjects in which the students could acquire digital competences. Since the education scenarios are described by a large number of parameters, we prepared a hierarchical multi-attribute decision model for their evaluation and grading. Experts from the ministry, from professional services and secondary schools, cooperated in the preparation and validation of the model. The model is an aid to decision-makers who are looking for best scenarios, and also allows schools to evaluate their status and recognise what has to be done to attain a certain level of digital competences of students.