Psychometric properties of the digital competences scale in regular basic education teachers

Abstract

Since the introduction of technology in the classroom, there has been a growing demand for digital competencies, which has driven the need for validated instruments to assess this concept more prominently. Therefore, this study determined the psychometric properties of a self-assessment scale of digital competencies for teachers of Regular Basic Education. The study was carried out in the Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local (UGEL)/District Education Management Unit of Barranca and Huaura located north of Lima, Peru. A cross-sectional and instrumental quantitative methodological strategy was used, in which exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques were used, and 534 teachers were surveyed. The results show an EFA with two factors and loadings greater than 0.4, a KMO equal to 0.957, and a cumulative variance of 51.30%. The CFA analysis validated three models, where model 2 with three factors, Evaluación y Promoción (EP)/Evaluation and Promotion; Recursos Digitales en la Enseñanza (RDE)/Digital Resources in Teaching; and Participación Profesional en el Aprendizaje (PPA)/Professional Participation in Learning, yielded high correlations and adequate goodness-of-fit indices close to unity (X2/df =1.476; RMSEA=0.042; TLI=0.97; and CFI=0.97). It can be observed that model 2, which includes three factors, presents more appropriate measures, which makes it the most suitable option for assessing digital competencies in teachers of Regular Basic Education.