Digitalization in teacher education: How professional digital competence is addressed in different subjects

Abstract

Research shows that the development of teacher students' professional digital com-petence (PDC) has been given little priority in Norwegian teacher education (for primary and lower secondary level). However, we need updated studies about how PDC is addressed in different subjects in TE. In this article, we use PDC in line with how it is presented in Professional Digital Competence: A Framework for Teachers, launched by the Directorate for Education and Training in 2017. We investigate differences between how teacher educators from various subject groups facilitate teacher students' development of PDC, and what characterizes the implementation of PDC in these groups. The study has a descriptive cross-sectional design based on self-reported data from five Norwegian teacher education institutions. Results reveal a clear association between subject group affiliation and how teacher educators work with PDC. In addition, we find that how teacher educators evaluate their own technology use, also affects how they implement PDC. Teacher educators in Pedagogy and in the mixed subject group named Other address PDC to the greatest extent. Teacher educators in Social Sciences score above average. Teacher educators in Language and in Practical-Aesthetic subjects score approximately on average, while teacher educators working with KRLE (Christianity, Religion, Philosophies of life and Ethics) and with the STEM subjects score below. Some PDC topics that have received attention in the teacher profession, are paid little attention to across all subject groups. Our results provide new insights relevant to national stakeholders and teacher educations in their effort to ensure that all teacher students develop PDC and become well prepared for their future work-life in a digital age. 2020