HOW DID THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK AFFECTED THE DIGITAL COMPETENCIES OF TEACHERS?

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to examine the changes in the professional skill status of teachers in digital competencies during the emergency distance education process before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is of great importance to measure the digital competencies of teachers, especially in the face of developing technology, and to make professional development plans according to their qualifications. In this direction, the effect of the pandemic process on teachers’ digital competencies has been reported. The sample of this research, which was designed in the repeated measures scanning model, consists of 6118 teachers from different branches, working in seven different geographical regions of Turkey. The Digital Competencies Scale for Educators, which was first applied to teachers in the 2019-2020 academic year before the pandemic process by the Ministry of National Education, was re-applied by the researchers a year later during the 2020-2021 academic year pandemic period. Quantitative data on repeated measurements were analysed comparatively with the SPSS 25 program, and the change in teachers’ digital competencies during the pandemic process was reported. At the end of the research, it was concluded that the digital competencies of the teachers improved significantly during the pandemic process compared to the pre-pandemic period, in other words, the emergency distance education activities during the pandemic process positively affected the digital competencies of the teachers. There was a significant difference on the digital proficiency scores of the teachers according to their branches (verbal, numerical, applied field). It was concluded that the digital competences of the verbal field teachers were significantly lower than the applied field (painting, music, vocational courses) teachers. © 2022. Milli Egitim.All Rights Reserved