The Self-Perceived Digital Competence of Social Educators in Spain: Influence of Demographic and Professional Variables

Abstract

In 21st-century society, Information and Communication Technologies establish the ways of communication and socialization. The way we live, study, work, entertain ourselves, etc. have changed, and the patterns of social and economic development demand new skills from citizens. In Spain, the scientific and professional career called Social Education and their social educators, are responsible for promoting and facilitating the adaptation of people to society. Nowadays, these professionals must be aware that one of the fundamental competencies, along with others, is digital competence, and its development is a requirement to agree with contemporary society. This article presents the findings of a research that aims to be a pioneer in the field of study of Social Education in Spain and whose objective is to analyze the self-perceived digital competence of 452 working social educators and determine if demographic variables and professionals influence it. A quantitative, non-experimental, and descriptive method was used, with an ex-post-facto methodology, of a descriptive type in which no kind of treatment was applied to the object of study. The electronic survey technique was used to collect the information. For the analysis of the data, descriptive, inferential and regression tests were carried out. The main results obtained allow us to conclude that neither gender, nor age, nor the Autonomous Community influence the dimensions of management and attitude towards Information and Communication Technologies. On the contrary, professional variables do have an influence on the self-assessment of digital competence.