Abstract
With the world going digital, the education sector has also seen a need to produce individuals, communities and systems that are ready to tackle and find solutions for the current global problems. Teachers are at the center of ensuring that schools produce learners that are equipped with relevant skills and knowledge. As a result, digital learning competence has become an imperative within the education sector. The adoption of the Department of Basic Education (DBE)’s Professional Development Framework for Digital Learning in 2018 reflects a commitment by the Department to develop the digital learning competence of teachers through continuing teacher professional development.
The aim of the research is to explore the perceptions of Limpopo Province Department of Education (LPDOE) Foundation Phase teachers of their level of digital competence in their role of professional development. The study had two research questions which were: a). What are the perceptions of the LPDOE Foundation Phase teachers of their current and future levels of digital learning competencies? and b). What are the LPDOE Foundation Phase teachers’ perceptions about the role of professional development to improve their digital learning competencies? The study adopted the Capability Approach by Sen (1993) and Nussbaum (2001) and competency approach as the conceptual framework of the study. The latter includes three digital learning competency frameworks named: European Commission Digital Competency Framework for Teachers (2022), UNESCO’s (2023) AI Competency Framework for Teachers and the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) (2018) Professional Development Framework for Digital Learning were used as theoretical framework of the study. Constructivism paradigm was adopted to frame the research methodology. The study adopted qualitative research methodology, with a qualitative case study research design. Data was collected using an online questionnaire and structured interviews. Twenty teachers in the LPDOE Foundation Phase sampled for the online questionnaire and five out of the 20 sampled FP teachers
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were for the structured interviews. Thematic method of data analysis was used by the case study.
The case study found that 1). In terms of digital learning competencies and capabilities of the LPDOE Foundation Phase teachers, they were aware of the term digital learning competency and that they believed they have certain skills and knowledge that they developed in terms of teaching, learning and assessment using digital technologies. The FP teachers were using technological devices in and outside their classroom. 2) As much as FP teachers showed competencies and capabilities of digital learning, in terms of application, sometimes they were hindered by challenges such as lack of digital resources. 3). The FP teachers believed that they were using the skills and knowledge that they had acquired through professional development programs. Usage of skills and knowledge included typing assessment tasks, capturing marks in SA-SAMS, printing out resources 4) They believed that professional development programs such as training and workshops for LPDOE FP teachers were essential because they can incorporate the skills in their personal and social capacities and in terms of curriculum delivery.
The findings of the research had the following implications and recommendations on the case study: 1) it was hoped that the case study of the perceptions of LPDOE FP teachers would deepen the perception of FP teachers through the assessment of FP teachers’ digital capabilities and competencies develop over time. 2) Exploring digital capabilities and competencies of FP teachers across LPDOE would open questions about the relationship between teaching context and developing capabilities and competencies. 3) Building the evidence base of South Africa (SA)’s Foundation Phase teachers and their pedagogical relationship with digital technologies is a limited contribution of this study in a FP LPDOE context.