{"id":266,"date":"2026-03-17T10:39:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/?p=266"},"modified":"2026-03-17T10:39:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:39:41","slug":"teachers-enactment-of-digital-competence-in-primary-classrooms-professional-judgement-and-contextual-constraints-in-technology-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/teachers-enactment-of-digital-competence-in-primary-classrooms-professional-judgement-and-contextual-constraints-in-technology-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers\u2019 enactment of digital competence in primary classrooms: Professional judgement and contextual constraints in technology use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Digital competence has become an increasingly important expectation for teachers working in technology-rich learning\u00a0environments.\u00a0Over the past two decades, several frameworks have been developed to conceptualise the knowledge and capabilities teachers require to integrate digital technologies into\u00a0teaching.\u00a0Among these, Falloon\u2019s (2020) Teacher Digital\u00a0Competence (TDC) framework proposes a holistic model that includes technical, cognitive, social-emotional and pedagogical\u00a0dimensions.\u00a0While this framework\u00a0provides a comprehensive theoretical account of teachers\u2019 digital competence, questions remain regarding how these competencies are enacted in everyday classroom\u00a0practice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This study examines how primary school teachers in Taiwan interpret and enact elements of the TDC framework in their\u00a0teaching.\u00a0Rather than assuming that digital competence can be inferred simply from the frequency of technology use, the study focuses on how teachers exercise professional judgement when deciding whether, when and how to use digital technologies in specific classroom\u00a0situations.\u00a0This perspective also challenges the common assumption that the presence of digital technology automatically transforms learning\u00a0processes.\u00a0In practice, teachers frequently balance multiple pedagogical considerations, student needs and classroom conditions when determining the role of technology in learning\u00a0activities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The study adopts a qualitative research\u00a0design.\u00a0Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with practising primary school teachers to explore their experiences of using digital tools in teaching and their interpretations of digital competence in classroom\u00a0contexts.\u00a0Participants will be invited to describe recent teaching situations in which digital technologies were used or deliberately avoided, and to reflect on the pedagogical considerations and contextual conditions that informed these\u00a0decisions.\u00a0To provide additional contextual information, a short questionnaire will also be used to collect background data on teachers\u2019 professional experience, technology use and teaching\u00a0environment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By examining teachers\u2019 perspectives and classroom practices, the study aims to explore the extent to which elements of the TDC framework are visible in teachers\u2019 reported\u00a0practices.\u00a0It also investigates how contextual conditions\u2014including curriculum structures, parental expectations and school-level resource environments\u2014influence teachers\u2019 ability to enact these competencies in\u00a0practice.\u00a0In doing so, the study highlights the gap between theoretical models of digital competence and the practical realities of classroom\u00a0teaching.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The presentation will discuss how teachers\u2019 technology-related decisions are shaped not only by their individual competence but also by the institutional and social contexts in which they\u00a0work.\u00a0The findings contribute to ongoing discussions about teacher digital competence by suggesting that the development of students\u2019 digital competence should not be understood solely as a responsibility of individual\u00a0teachers.\u00a0Instead, it should be viewed as a shared educational challenge that requires coordination between curriculum design, school structures, families and educational technology\u00a0systems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By examining teachers\u2019 perspectives and classroom practices, the study aims to provide insights into how digital competence frameworks align with the realities of classroom\u00a0teaching.\u00a0The presentation will discuss how teachers exercise professional judgement when prioritising pedagogical goals and responding to contextual constraints that shape decisions about digital technology\u00a0use.\u00a0In doing so, the study contributes to ongoing discussions about how teachers interpret and enact digital competence in practice, highlighting the importance of situating digital competence within the everyday decision-making processes of classroom\u00a0teaching.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Digital competence has become an increasingly important expectation for teachers working in technology-rich learning\u00a0environments.\u00a0Over the past two decades, several frameworks have been developed to conceptualise the knowledge and capabilities teachers require to integrate digital technologies into\u00a0teaching.\u00a0Among these, Falloon\u2019s (2020) Teacher Digital\u00a0Competence (TDC) framework proposes a holistic model that includes technical, cognitive, social-emotional and pedagogical\u00a0dimensions.\u00a0While this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[145,140,142,144,141,143],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-classroom-practice","tag-digital-competence","tag-primary-education","tag-professional-judgement","tag-teachers","tag-technology-integration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/H890Conference\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}