The Digital Competences Necessary for the Successful Pedagogical Practice of Teachers in the Digital Age

Abstract

The digital transformation of society is a reality. Technology is becoming integral to people’s daily lives and children are growing up in the digital age. The education systems have to reflect and adapt to the new digital reality to effectively engage and prepare students for the future. Teachers have to possess digital competences at a high level, meaning that they are successfully able to use digital tools and technologies in their teaching practices. Digital competences include digital literacy, experience using educational software and platforms, and the ability to seamlessly integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) into the organization of educational activities. The current paper aims to study the opinion of teachers in Bulgarian schools regarding the possibilities of using digital technologies to achieve educational goals and the extent to which teachers integrate digital tools in their teaching activities. Teachers’ opinions about the need for specific digital competences are important. The results of the survey show that teachers in Bulgaria actively use digital technologies in their daily teaching activities (84.8%) in order to create and provide learning content to students and to provoke their active participation, and is a convenient tool for evaluating their students’ knowledge and skills and for providing effective feedback. The conducted research also identifies the necessary competences that teachers of the digital generation of learners need—skills and competences for developing authored electronic resources in various formats for students with different learning styles, as well as for working in online environments—individually and collaboratively with other teachers.