Teachers’ Professional Digital Competence

Definition

Teachers’ professional digital competence (PDC) refers to digital competence specific to the teaching profession. PDC serves a dual purpose: it encompasses a range of instrumental, professional, ethical, critical, and epistemic dimensions related to, on the one hand, teaching with digital tools and resources and, on the other hand, teaching pupils about digital technologies, digital skills, digital cultural expression, and broader digital and critical competences relevant to study, work, and everyday life. Teachers’ PDC is a dynamic concept that evolves in step with societal development and technological advancement.

1. Introduction

Teachers’ professional digital competence (PDC) refers to dimensions of digital competence that are specific to the teaching profession. The term PDC was introduced by the former Norwegian Centre for ICT in Education in 2012 and has since been employed in several Norwegian policy documents related to schools and education [1,2]. Over time, it has been adopted by other scholars, primarily by Scandinavian researchers (e.g., [3,4,5]) and more recently by international scholars (e.g., [6,7,8]).

The concept of teacher-specific digital competence dates back to the early 2000s through numerous models and conceptualizations developed by both scholars and policymakers. Since the concept of PDC is often perceived as fuzzy and complex by both researchers and teachers, there is a need to align global conceptualizations [9,10]. This challenge motivated the development of this study. The aim of this study is to illustrate how the conceptualization of PDC has evolved from an initial focus on teaching with digital tools to a broader understanding that includes pupils’ digital competences, as well as ethical, critical, and epistemic dimensions. Furthermore, we explore how various factors—including technological developments and access, educational discourse, research agendas, and policy trends—have interacted to shape the development of the concept.

2. Development of and Access to New Digital Technologies in Society and School

Technological developments and access, both in society and in schools, play a vital role in framing and expanding the concept of teachers’ PDC. Over the past 25 years, digital advancements and access to technology have accelerated rapidly in many countries. While computers were once limited to some homes, libraries, and dedicated computer labs, digital tools are now commonplace. The widespread adoption of smartphones has facilitated easy internet access and transformed social interaction through social media. More recently, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has become publicly available. Digital technologies have been seamlessly integrated into everyday life [11,12]. They also significantly reshape society and influence and transform how people think, learn, work, and behave, both in school and in their free time [13,14].

These societal and technological changes challenge traditional notions of schooling and curriculum, prompting critical reflection on what and how pupils are taught and calling for teachers’ PDC. Educators are expected to not only teach with digital tools and resources but also to teach pupils about digital technologies, digital skills, digital cultural expression, and broader digital and critical competences relevant to study, work, and everyday life.

3. The Need for PDC

In the following, we briefly explain why teachers’ PDC is important and which competencies are needed in today’s digitally infused societies and schools.

3.1. Teaching with Digital Tools and Resources

The handling of digitalization is a matter of quality in teaching. Several studies (e.g., [15,16,17]) have shown that teaching and assessing with digital tools contributes to pupils’ learning if the teacher knows how to employ them effectively. Moreover, teaching with digital technology offers numerous possibilities for inclusive education and the empowerment of pupils with diverse special needs (e.g., [18,19,20]).

However, schools have also become a market for the international technology sector, which promotes ever-changing digital tools for teaching and learning. This calls for critical aspects of teaching with technology, including knowing the limits of the technology and when not to use digital tools or when they may become a distraction [6,21,22].

Furthermore, teachers must consider pupils’ well-being within the educational context, safeguarding their privacy when employing digital tools for teaching and being aware of developments in youths’ digital culture. Neglecting data protection could lead to unauthorized access and misuse of pupils’ personal information (e.g., [23,24]). Several studies also indicate that understanding the influence of digital culture on roles and youths’ identities enables the establishment of a constructive and inclusive classroom environment and successful classroom management [25,26]. Understanding youths’ digital culture and fostering discussions about responsible social media use and digital citizenship are also effective strategies for preventing and addressing digital exclusion and bullying [27].

3.2. Teaching Pupils About Digital Technologies, Digital Skills, Digital Cultural Expression, and Broader Digital Competencies Related to Study, Work, and Everyday Life Is Essential

Teachers play a vital role in fostering digital competence among pupils, enabling their participation in a digitally infused society. Studies show that teachers who are not digitally competent may intensify existing social inequalities and divides stemming from disparities in practical skills and proficiency in using and understanding digital technology among their pupils [28,29,30]. If teachers do not provide opportunities for pupils to learn how to navigate, critically and creatively engage with, and utilize digital tools, there is a risk of the students being ill-prepared to fulfill contemporary job requirements, given the pervasive use of digital tools in almost every workplace [13,31]. Furthermore, teachers who engage pupils in discussions regarding responsible online behavior, ethical considerations, and data security contribute to empowering students to fully benefit from and enjoy the digitally infused world while understanding why certain information is presented on screens, evaluating its relevance, and avoiding offending others, falling for misinformation and deep fakes, or becoming victims of cybercrimes. These skills are considered crucial for active participation in society and democracy [32,33].

4. Educational Discourses

The reasons why teachers need PDC, as described above, are rooted in broader educational discourses that resonate in research, policy, and in society more generally. We identify four main educational discourses that interact in policy and research, starting with a focus on either teachers or pupils.

The quality discourse centers around teaching with digital technology to increase quality and efficiency in teaching and learning, with the teacher as the starting point. This discursive understanding focuses on the use of digital tools and resources to enhance the quality of teaching and further the inclusion of pupils with disabilities. Research within this discourse emphasizes innovative teaching methods enabled by digital technology, providing new opportunities for participation, collaboration, and improving learning efficiency. The goal of this discourse is to provide inclusive and efficient education for all pupils (e.g., [34,35]).

The relational discourse concerns the relational aspects of using digital tools and resources in school, teaching both with and about technology, taking the pupil as its starting point. On one hand, the focus is on teaching with technology as a way to value and utilize pupils’ own digital media experiences and personal expression in the classroom. On the other hand, it involves teaching about technology to foster and support pupils’ informed cultural identity development as part of local and global cultural communities through creative expressions that they find meaningful. The goals of this educational discourse are to foster a sense of self, cultural inclusion and emancipation, and meaningful societal participation for future citizens [33,36,37].

The critical discourse addresses critical aspects of teaching both with and about digital technologies, incorporating both teacher and pupil perspectives. On the one hand, it is concerned with teachers protecting their pupils from the negative impacts of digital technologies and media sources, focusing on establishing clear guidelines and age limits for using technology in teaching. On the other hand, it addresses teaching ethical and critical skills and self-regulation in technology use. The goal of this educational discourse is to protect pupils’ privacy and foster informed independence and critical thinking for future democratic participation and citizenship [22,38,39].

The 21st-century skills discourse focuses on teaching 21st-century skills from the pupil’s perspective, addressing the future competence needs of pupils, especially for the workforce. Integrating digital technologies into school is seen as both a goal in itself and a means of teaching pupils about productive ways to utilize digital technologies for future workforce participation [40,41].

These discourses, and their gradual integration, serve as a framework for the presentation of the main developments in the conceptualization of PDC.

5. Development of PDC Concept

Over the past 25 years, researchers and policymakers have made significant efforts to conceptualize and develop models to describe what teachers’ PDC entails. It is widely acknowledged that research interests and policy developments in PDC are interdependent, often shaping and reinforcing one another [4,42,43]. In tracing the development of the PDC concept, we observe that research and policy perspectives are frequently intertwined and reflect broader educational discourses across research, policy, and society, as discussed previously. In this section, however, we focus primarily on developments within academic research, referencing influential policy frameworks where relevant.

Several research fields, such as professional studies, educational studies, information technology studies, media literacy studies, cultural studies, psychology, and 21st-century skills, have contributed to the conceptualization of PDC, each emphasizing its own research interests and focus. For example, the field of information technology primarily addresses topics related to teaching with technology and technology-enhanced teaching, aligning with the quality discourse. In contrast, media literacy studies mainly concern teaching about digital technology and pupils’ digital competence, particularly with respect to relational and critical discourses, as well as the 21st-century discourse.

Figure 1 illustrates the interplay between PDC models developed by researchers and policymakers framed by technological advancements in society and school and influenced by broader educational discourse.

The following paragraphs outline the evolution of understanding teachers’ PDC from a narrow focus on teaching with digital tools in the early 2000s, when access to computers and the internet began to increase, to a broader conceptual understanding that integrates perspectives on pupils’ digital competence, including ethical, critical and epistemic aspects, that meet current needs for teachers’ PDC. This development in the conceptualization of teachers’ PDC can be described through four overlapping phases: (1) two distinct traditions—the teacher and the pupil; (2) toward an integrated conceptual understanding of teacher and pupil perspectives; (3) discourse integration in a more mature understanding of the concept; and, most recently, (4) a call for critical, epistemic perspectives.

5.1. Two Distinct Traditions—The Teacher and the Pupil

In the early 2000s, in technologically advanced countries, digital technologies were primarily integrated into education via designated computer labs or media rooms. Concurrently, children’s home access to computers, video games, and other media started to increase. Early models of teachers’ digital competence, developed mainly within information technology fields, focused on teaching with digital technology and its integration into teaching, drawing on discourses of quality and 21st-century skills. Prominent examples include the RAT model, Replacement, Amplification, Transformation [44,45]; SAMR, Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition [34]; and TIM, Technology Integration Matrix [46]. These models describe stages of increasing complexity in digital technology use but offer limited pedagogical guidance on how to progress through the stages [47].

A key development came with TPACK, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge [35], which built on Shulman’s [48] framework and conceptualized teachers’ digital competence as an intersection of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge. Despite critiques that TPACK is overly generic [49] or difficult to operationalize [50], it remains widely used (e.g., [51,52,53]), and many subsequent models draw on or adapt its core principles.

In parallel, media literacy research within educational and cultural studies emphasized pupils’ digital competence, particularly from relational and critical perspectives. Building on a divide between ‘tool literacies’ and ‘literacies of representation’ [54], scholars differentiated between functional digital skills and teaching with technology, with a focus on teaching about media and culture, creativity, and the broader societal impacts of digital technologies [55]. A distinct divide also emerged between Anglo-American traditions, which focused on self-protection and media effects [38,39], and British/Nordic traditions, which emphasized empowerment and creative engagement [37,56].

In the Nordic context that PDC originated from, Ola Erstad Erstad [57,58] played a crucial role in bridging these perspectives. He asserted that pupils’ digital competence includes the knowledge and practices they bring from digital cultures outside of school. Erstad advocated for an approach that incorporates teaching both with and about technologies, supporting subject-specific digital skills while fostering digital Bildung. This understanding, rooted in the media literacy tradition, contributed to a mantra of learning with, through, and about technology in school.

5.2. Toward an Integrated Conceptual Understanding of Teacher and Pupil Perspectives

Around 2010, advancements in technology, particularly following the introduction of smartphones and the broader societal use of social and networked media, led to a new understanding of schools as both part of and influenced by local and global societal networks. Schools began transitioning from the use of designated computer rooms to solutions with computers in multiple classrooms. Educational researchers started integrating the two traditions of focusing on teachers and pupils, drawing on several research fields. As a result, while all conceptualizations of teachers’ PDC include knowledge and skills in digital technologies and teaching, aligned with the quality discourse and the use of digital technology in instruction, they now extend beyond the TPACK framework by emphasizing additional dimensions.

For instance, both Erstad [57,58] and Johannesen [59] argued that teachers require digital competence in teaching “of, with and about ICT” (p. 308), in line with scholars within the tradition of promoting media literacy for pupils. Thus, the dual purpose of PDC—teaching both with and about digital technology—became increasingly visible in research. Lund [60] suggested that PDC involves an awareness of the relationship between digital technologies and learning, including how knowledge is acquired and problems are solved using digital tools, thereby integrating perspectives from both the quality and relational discourses. Krumsvik [61,62] builds on Erstad’s work in integrating elements from all four discourses, also framing PDC as encompassing both teaching with and about digital technology. He outlined a developmental model for PDC that progresses through stages, shifting from a teacher- to a pupil-centered perspective. The model begins with teachers’ technical proficiency and didactical competence and evolves toward teaching effective learning strategies, drawing on aspects of the quality and 21st-century skills discourses. The highest level of competence in Krumsvik’s model is termed digital Bildung, which includes teaching about ethics, the societal impact of digitalization, and reflexive digital citizenship—elements aligned with the relational and critical discourses. This integration is visible in his definition of teachers’ digital competence:

Digital competence is the teacher/TE [teacher educator]’s proficiency in using ICT in a professional context with good pedagogic-didactic judgement and his or her awareness of its implications for learning strategies and the digital Bildung of pupils and students.

(p. 45, [63])

The professional context was further emphasized by other researchers and models in this phase of the development of the PDC concept. Ottestad et al. [64] introduced profession-oriented digital competence, which encompassed aspects of the teaching profession not explicitly related to subject content, such as classroom leadership in digital environments, communication with parents via digital tools, and engagement in professional development. These professional aspects were combined with generic digital competence—the ability to use digital tools—and didactic digital competence, which concerns subject-specific teaching with digital tools. This model relates to teaching with technology, drawing primarily on the quality discourse, while the profession-oriented dimension integrates aspects of the relational discourse, particularly through understandings of children’s digital culture as they pertain to classroom leadership.

An additional facet of this professional focus is ongoing professional development. Several authors have highlighted that digitally competent teachers engage in reflective practice, participate in a culture of sharing, and utilize digital tools for professional growth, all with the aim of improving educational quality [65,66]. These practices have been increasingly facilitated by the rise of networked societies.

However, one important aspect is largely absent from these conceptualizations of PDC: how developments in pupils’ networked digital cultures affect both the perceived role of the teacher and pupils’ understanding of what is taught in school. Several studies and scholars within the media literacy tradition have emphasized that social media and networked society provide alternative learning arenas for pupils, influencing both how and what they learn in school. These perspectives draw on both the relational and critical discourses, adopting a pupil-centered view [67,68,69,70].

A review of media literacy research in 2013 [55] concluded that the included studies emphasized digital competence in three distinct areas of teaching both with and about technology in schools, with the aim of fostering savvy citizenship. First, pupils needed to develop functional, creative, and critical individual skills in using technology; second, they needed to build networked competences in relational and ethical areas; and third, they needed to gain knowledge of cultural and systemic perspectives on the influence of technology on society. The studies reviewed drew on all four discourses we address, emphasizing the broadening of conceptual understanding.

5.3. Discourse Integration in a Broader and More Mature Understanding of the Concept

From around 2015, children’s access to digital technology and media increased significantly, with platforms such as YouTube, online gaming, and other forms of social media becoming part of their daily lives. In many high-income countries during the same period, schools adopted one-to-one solutions, providing every student with their own digital device. Alongside these developments, researchers’ conceptualizations of PDC have demonstrated a “greater awareness of the broader questions at hand” (p. 380, [43]). Although various terms are used, PDC has emerged as a prevalent concept for describing teachers’ digital competence, with authors referencing and building upon existing conceptualizations of PDC while integrating aspects from all the discursive understandings.

Focusing on the dimension of teaching with digital technology across discourses, several models have been proposed that encompass basic or generic digital competence, subject-specific didactic digital competence, and profession-oriented competence [71,72,73,74,75]. An additional element discussed as part of PDC is the development of an open but critical attitude toward technology [76], drawing on studies of barriers to technology integration in schools [77] and the need for critical reflection on pedagogical relevance. Brevik [78] introduced the notion of transformative digital agency to existing PDC models, which refers to a deep understanding and awareness of how digital technologies affect individuals and society. This competence enables educators to make conscious, informed choices to transform their practice, rather than having their practice determined by technology. Transformative digital agency can be traced to the critical discourse but is also closely related to the quality discourse.

In a review of research on PDC from this period, Skantz-Åberg [4] identified seven recurring aspects of teachers’ professional digital competence across 18 international publications from 2010 to 2019: (1) technological competence, (2) content knowledge, (3) attitudes toward technology use, (4) pedagogical competence, (5) cultural awareness, (6) a critical approach, and (7) professional engagement, with technological and pedagogical competences being the most prominent. The review shows that the discourses are increasingly integrated, with the critical and relational discourses gaining more prominence than in earlier conceptualizations of PDC. For instance, cultural awareness is linked to teachers’ understanding of pupils’ digital cultures, thus integrating the pupil perspective, which was missing in the previous phase of conceptualization. Nonetheless, the focus remains primarily on teaching with digital tools, with pupils’ perspectives only clearly visible in this aspect of cultural awareness. Teaching about digital technology is not a recurring feature in these models and understanding of PDC.

In 2017, the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators, DigCompEdu [79], was published by the European Commission. This framework, developed by policymakers and researchers at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, builds on earlier PDC models but also addresses gaps by incorporating trajectories from media literacy research and particularly by foregrounding the pupils’ perspective. In addition to focusing on teaching with digital technology, the framework clearly emphasizes the importance of teaching about digital technology. For instance, the competence area “Facilitating Learners’ Digital Competence” includes components such as information and media literacy, digital communication and collaboration, digital content creation, responsible use, and digital problem-solving. Consequently, the framework aligns with the relational, critical, and 21st-century discourses, with a strong emphasis on pupils’ perspectives and competence development. Following DigCompEdu, the Norwegian Framework for Teachers’ Professional Digital Competence was published [1], which also explicitly highlights the dual purpose of teaching both with and about digital technology. Both of these policy frameworks have since been applied in further research on PDC (e.g., [80,81,82]).

5.4. A Call for Critical and Epistemic Perspectives

In 2020, 46% of households worldwide had a computer at home, with rates ranging from just 7% in low-income countries to 80% in high-income countries. The proportion of schools equipped with computers was 47% at the primary level, 62% at the lower secondary level, and 76% at the upper secondary level, with some high-income countries reaching up to 100% coverage [83]. Almost all mobile phones are now smartphones [84], and 80% of people aged 15 to 24 globally use the Internet regularly [85]. As a result, especially in high-income countries, both schools and societies can be described as digitally infused environments.

It appears that traditions from different research fields concerning teaching with and about digital technology have merged or at least visibly interact in this most recent phase of PDC concept development. The need for teachers to develop pupils’ digital skills and competencies, also considering their digital culture, is present in several international conceptualizations (e.g., [86,87]) and has been identified as a key focus in studies of teachers’ PDC [88]. Transformative digital agency in particular has been embraced and further emphasized by several authors around the world, including Falloon [47], Aagaard [80] and Nagel [86].

However, in light of technological developments and public access to GenAI, researchers are calling for the explicit inclusion of additional aspects in PDC. First, researchers emphasize the need for extensive critical analysis and heightened awareness as essential dimensions of PDC [89]. The critical discourse is becoming increasingly visible in recent discussions about what PDC entails. For example, Krutka et al. [90] advocate for critical techno-ethics, which involves considering the social implications of technology and evaluating not only the pros and cons of using digital tools but also their “embedded values” and “unintended consequences” (p. 557, [90]).

Further, researchers argue that teachers should reflect on epistemic questions, such as the nature of knowledge and how it is acquired when using digital tools [80,91]. In their 2024 study, Aagaard et al. [80] propose an epistemic dimension of PDC to articulate the critical and reflective competences required for “going beyond” the basic skills of using digital technologies for teaching and learning purposes (p. 654). This epistemic dimension emphasizes the interconnectedness of digitalization, society, and individual agents. It focuses on how digital technologies shape and are shaped by epistemic practices, beliefs, and cultures. Engaging with this dimension requires a professional stance characterized by openness, critical inquiry, and a sense of responsibility in using digital technologies for teaching.

These critical and epistemic perspectives are considered foundational for empowerment and human agency, steering away from technological determinism in teaching and everyday life [80,86,89,92].

5.5. Future Developments—PDC in a World with Generative AI

Looking to the future, the most plausible direction for the further development of the PDC concept will be in response to advancements in and the widespread availability of GenAI. With GenAI now publicly accessible, education is facing numerous challenges that raise important questions. These issues are linked not only to how we perceive and acquire knowledge—as outlined in the epistemic dimension discussed above—but also to two additional perspectives: the limits and affordances of emerging technologies and the unique nature of humans, human knowledge, and learning as distinct from technological processes. These phenomenological and ontological perspectives are tied to a broader fundamental question: What is the purpose of school and education? Is it to cultivate informed, empowered, and critical citizens, or is it to prepare technologically proficient participants for the workforce?

6. Concluding Remarks on Conceptual Understanding and Practical Applications in Teacher Education

Despite the emerging shape of the concept of PDC, described as a “complex concept that is still ‘in the making’” (p. 73, [93]) and a “notion in motion” (p. 300, [59]), it is continuously evolving in response to social and technological developments in society. It is a concept co-constructed through an ongoing, dynamic, interactive process among various actors and discourses. Beyond being a product of the interplay between policy and research, the concept also results from the interaction of different research fields. Thus, our understanding of teachers’ PDC relates to interconnected discourses regarding technology integration in schools, teaching with digital technology and resources, and developing pupils’ digital competence—addressing both how and what to teach about digital technologies.

A persistent challenge is determining how to equip pre- and in-service teachers with this complex and evolving competence in ways that are both practical and adaptable to ever-changing technological landscapes. In current teacher education practice, PDC is addressed either through stand-alone courses or integrated into existing subject courses, and in some cases, it is not addressed at all.

6.1. PDC and Pre-Service Teachers

While some teacher educators and teacher education programs successfully prepare students to teach with and about digital technology, research shows that pre-service teachers’ preparedness in PDC varies globally [94,95,96]. Many pre-service teachers still graduate insufficiently equipped to integrate technology effectively or to address the challenges of digitalization in schools. [72,93,94,97,98,99,100,101]. Teacher education programs in particular have limited emphasis on profession-oriented aspects, transformative practices, or epistemic reflections [80,95,102]. Facilitating pre-service teachers’ PDC is, as Aagaard et al. [80] put it, often “an instrumental endeavor”, focusing on teaching with technology. The reasons for this insufficient preparation are, among others, related to teacher educators’ own knowledge and often low levels of PDC, their limited sense of responsibility for integrating the topic into their own teaching practice, and the often vague curricula of teacher education programs [75,102,103,104,105].

In many countries, teacher education institutions offer dedicated courses on digital technology or digital literacy as a means of fostering student teachers’ PDC (e.g., [106,107,108,109]). However, research indicates that the most effective way to foster PDC is not through isolated content in dedicated courses but by integrating it across subject courses and embedding it within teaching practices in teacher education [110,111]. Common didactic strategies used by teacher educators to promote pre-service teachers’ PDC include collaboration and cooperative learning with and about digital tools; critical meta reflection on the usage, usefulness, and consequences of digital technologies for teaching practice and knowledge development; and modeling exemplary creative and critical digital practices. Teacher educators also engage students in active learning and leverage technology for feedback and assessment [112,113,114]. While serving as a digital role model has been shown to be the most effective single approach, integrated use of all these strategies is essential [94].

6.2. PDC and In-Service Teachers

Similarly, research examining and assessing in-service teachers’ PDC indicates that basic and advanced digital skills, including understanding AI and data privacy, are underdeveloped in a large proportion of teachers [10,115]. Concerning professional development for in-service teachers, a recent review highlighted approaches such as collaborative learning environments, hands-on digital training, ongoing mentorship, and institutional support as essential for fostering PDC development [116]. Masoumi and Noroozi [5], in their review of early-career teachers, also found that institutional culture, the accessibility and availability of resources, governance and leadership, insufficient technical and pedagogical support, and a heavy workload all influence the development—or lack thereof—of early-career teachers’ professional digital competence.

6.3. Collaborative Approaches and Future Research

There are a few case studies that illustrate and explore approaches beyond instrumental perspectives, highlighting a variety of collaborative strategies, including partnerships between schools and universities. These include teacher education programs that foster collaborative processes between student teachers, university faculty staff, and school-based mentor teachers, highlighting relational aspects of PDC [117]; research-practice partnerships in which teacher educators and in-service teachers collaborate to redesign curricula [118]; activities where students critically explore and evaluate digital tools in groups [89], lesson design projects emphasizing fair use, e-safety, or the evaluation of fake news [119]; the use of wikis to discuss human agency and techno-determinism [92]; and small private online courses integrating PDC with university seminars and school practice to develop transformative digital agency [78]. Such collaborative approaches show great potential for bridging pre-service and in-service practices in developing PDC, as well as for informing future research.

Several review studies emphasize the need to broaden the understanding of PDC and to conduct further research exploring practical approaches for fostering a nuanced understanding of PDC in pre- and in-service teachers that extends beyond merely instrumental perspectives of teaching with technology, as this remains an under-researched area [9,10,120].

By aligning conceptualizations and clarifying PDC, we hope to ignite further research into how this complex competence can be strengthened among pre- and in-service teachers and to reimagine teacher education as a space that extends beyond instrumental approaches toward fostering genuine, meaningful engagement with digital technology.