Teachers’ digital competency level according to various variables: A study based on the European DigCompEdu framework in a large Turkish city

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this study is to determine teachers’ digital competency on the basis of European DigCompEdu framework and its relationships with some demographic and teacher characteristics. It was designed as a cross–sectional survey within the quantitative research paradigm. The sample consisted of 368 (199 male and 169 female) teachers working in a major city located in the Central Anatolia of Türkiye during the 2021–2022 academic year. Data were collected through a questionnaire including the Digital Competencies Scale for Educators and questions regarding teachers’ demographic and professional characteristics such as age, gender, subject taught, educational background, school level and location of employment. The findings reveal that participating teachers are at the integrator (B1) level of digital competency on average and those who are male, teach math and science related courses, have postgraduate degree, and work in metropolitan cities are more digitally competent than their counterparts. Teachers’ digital competency is independent of their age and type of school whereas it is positively and moderately associated with the number of digital devices teachers had. Furthermore, the regression analysis explains 25% of its variance through gender, educational background, subject and the number of information technology devices as being the significant predictors.