Profiling Hungarian K12 teachers based on their techno-pedagogical skills: State of affairs and development possibilities amid COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract Covid-19-triggered emergency remote teaching shed light on the discrepancies of the long-desired digital transformation of education. To learn more about Hungarian K12 (primary and secondary) teachers' techno-pedagogical skills, this study aimed to measure how they rate the components of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The observed mean values gave grounds for clustering Hungarian K12 teachers based on their existing techno-pedagogical skills as well as proposing possible directions for development. It was found that among teachers who participated in the study (N = 216), 20% belong to the group of Beginners, 40% are Independent, and 40% are Advanced users of techno-pedagogical tools and methods. The groups are rather homogenous as gender, age, qualification and teaching experience are not predictors of techno-pedagogical knowledge. Beginners need help on the very operational levels of technology, Independent users transform traditional teaching methods in the online space, while Advanced users plan face-to-face and online classes differently but also include techno-pedagogy in their everyday classroom teaching practices. It was further observed that teachers in all groups are generally motivated in preparing for their online lessons, but the perceived motivation of their learners is much lower, and teachers do not generally consider online teaching effective.