Vision of Digital Competences of Primary School Students and Teachers in Bulgaria in Educational Documentation of All School Subjects

Abstract

The paper presents the second part of a more extensive study on the vision of digital competences of primary school students and teachers in Bulgaria according to the educational documentation. It explores the place and the approaches for developing digital competence in the curricula of all primary school subjects where this competence is integrated as transversal. The necessary competencies for primary school teachers to develop the digital competencies of students are also indicated. The research methods employed in the study are curriculum mapping and comparative analysis of educational documentation. Additionally, more than 70 students’ textbooks and their corresponding methodological guides for primary school teachers are reviewed for further clarification. The results of the study demonstrated a deficient consistency and balance among the curricula regarding the development of digital competence. There seems to be a lack of a shared vision for the digital competencies that students should acquire in primary school, and their development as a separate subject is not aligned with their development in other subjects. Moreover, the results implied a need for conceptualization of the integration of digital competences as transversal in the curricula, referencing appropriately the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens. There is also an emerging necessity to develop specific instructions for teachers on how to integrate the various key competences into the teaching of respective subjects.