DIGITAL COMPETENCE AND REGULATIONS

1Author: Manuel Mateos García

Index

1. Origins and definition.2. At European level.3. In Spain.4. In the “Comunidad autónoma” of

Extremadura.5. Teacher´s role.6. Resources: for more detail

information.7. Bibliography.

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1. Origins and definition.

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the key competences for lifelong learning in September 2006, considering that each of them can contribute to a successful life in our knowledge society.

First of all, we need to define this term: key competences.

Key competences are a combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, attitudes and willingness to learn in addition to know how. They represent a transferable, multifunctional package of knowledge, skills and attitudes that all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, social inclusion and employment. These should have been developed at the end of compulsory education or training and should act as the basis for learning throughout life. 3

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At European level, they indicate what every European citizen should have acquired at the end of compulsory education. Childhood education, especially primary education and compulsory secondary education, should contribute to the achievement of the appropriate level for each stage.Let´s to enumerate them: 1. Communication in the mother

tongue.2. Communication in foreign

languages.3. Mathematical competence and

basic competences in science and technology.

4. Digital competence.5. Learning to learn.6. Social and civic competences.7. Sense of initiative and

entrepreneurship.8. Cultural awareness and expression.

2. At European level.

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From the proposals made by the European Union, the Spanish government adapted them to the characteristics of our educational system. The basic rules for all the country also establish several key competences which are mentioned in the two last educative laws: LOE (Order 2/2006, 3rd May in Education) and LOMCE (Order 8/2013, 9th December to improve educational quality).

For primary education, we have the enumeration of key competences in the Royal Decree 126/2014 where, the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council (Recommendation 2006/962/EC), are mentioned.

Every competence can be achieved through several subjects, being worked transversely, that is, each area will contribute to the development of different competences. Some of these are more related to an area; others are more transversal and go beyond the curricular area.

 

3. In Spain.

As we have seen, they are seven and not eight, as the Royal Decree 1513/2006 recommended for primary education:

1. Linguistic communication.2. Mathematical competence and basic

competences in science and technology.3. Digital competence.4. Learning to learn.5. Social and civic competences.6. Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.7. Cultural awareness and expression.

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We will focus on digital competence.  Definition: Abilities to seek, get, process and communicate information and transform it into knowledge. It also refers to critical, productive and responsible use of ICT as generation and transmission of knowledge and communication.

Ways of working this competence in our class:

As some techniques and strategies of search and information processing: analysing, synthesizing and making inferences and deductions to transform information into knowledge.  

As a regular use of technological resources in the classroom, computer classroom or at school to solve real problems efficiently.  

As a multimedia technology to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and exchange information, and to communicate and participate on networks via the Internet.

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Overall, we could note that this key competence has two major purposes:

Encourage the educational success of students.

Relating to the assessments of the education system.

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In Extremadura, “Consejería de Educación y Empleo” is responsible for educational management. The competences are a fundamental part of our curriculum and are defined in the article 5 of Decree 103/2014, 10th June which establishes the curriculum of primary education for the “Comunidad autónoma” of Extremadura.

  ”Key competences are one of the most important elements of the curriculum as they are considered essential for students, for personal fulfilment and development, as well as the active participation of the students as a citizen in our society and in the workplace (...) The development of linguistic communication competence, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology will be strengthened". 

4. In the “Comunidad autónoma” of Extremadura.

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Concretely, digital competence is seen as a substantial part of communicative competence. 

Competences appear in the curricula of primary and secondary education in two ways:  The definitions that explain each of the seven competences.

The introductions of each competence specify the contribution they make to the different subjects or areas of knowledge.

 We cannot forget that they are part of the evaluation

criteria which indicate what pupils have to make to get them. 

Related to teacher´s role, Pérez Gómez (2007) affirms:

“Teacher´s role for the development of digital competence can be conceived as supervised learning of students, which involves design, plan, organize, promote, monitor, evaluate and redirect their learning processes”.

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Teacher's role is critical in achieving digital literacy and the rest of competences. Related to this, it is important to remember that the teacher and technology are not interchangeable.

5. Teacher´s role.

Pete Sharma Associates affirms that, as teachers, we have to play different roles in the teaching practice and, for this we are going to consider some tips: o Be ready and prepared: check in advance what you are

going to do making sure the technology to use and organize your lessons according to the allotted time.

o Be patient: Connection may take some time to work correctly.

o Be critical: Internet contains lots of resources, thus it is necessary to bear in mind whether the digital information is useful and appropriate for our students (age, interests, previous knowledge and whatever).

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Sharma Associates concludes saying that our teaching practice must be driven by pedagogy and not by the big amount of ICT tools we use. Technology must be considered as a tool for the purpose to enhance and complement our teaching and methodology. Therefore, we will need to plan our lesson with ICT carefully. SUMMING UP: 

Classroom management issues: “Dos and don’ts”  Know your students and your limitations.

Play to the strengths to your class, the resources and access to ICT.

Make your expectations clearly.

Get to know the Internet.

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6. Resources: for more detail information. Practical website about LOMCE implementation. (Ministry of Education and Culture):http://www.mecd.gob.es/educacion-mecd/mc/lomce/inicio.html;jsessionid=5965E29EB0E9055685A4413E3EFDFEA5ç PDF with the recommendations of European Parliament and Council about key competences for lifelong learning: http://www.mcu.es/cine/docs/Novedades/Recomendacion_Parlamento_Europeo_Consejo_Aprendizaje_permanente.pdf Website of PSA (Pete Sharma Associates): www.psa.eu.com PDF about LOE law: https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2006/05/04/pdfs/A17158-17207.pdf PDF about LOMCE law: https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2013/12/10/pdfs/BOE-A-2013-12886.pdf 

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PDF about Royal Decree 1513/2006, 7th December which establishes the core curriculum of primary education. https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2006/12/08/pdfs/A43053-43102.pdf PDF about the Royal Decree 126/2014, 28th February which establishes the basic curriculum of primary education. https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2014/03/01/pdfs/BOE-A-2014-2222.pdf PDF about the Decree 103/2014, 10th June, which establishes the basic curriculum for primary education in Extremadura. http://doe.juntaex.es/pdfs/doe/2014/1140o/14040122.pdf Official website of the “Consejería de Educación y Empleo” in Extremadura. http://www.gobex.es/cons004/  Website about educational management and practical resources for teaching and learning in Extremadura. http://www.educarex.es/ 

Decreto 103/2014, de 10 de junio, por el que se establece el Currículo de Educación Primaria para la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura. DOE número 114, lunes, 16 de junio de 2014.

Ley Orgánica 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación. BOE núm. 106, de 4 de mayo de 2006.

Ley Orgánica 8/2013, de 9 de diciembre, para la mejora de la calidad educativa. BOE núm. 295, de 10 de diciembre de 2013.

Miles, P. (2001) ICT in English. Cambridge: Pearson Publishing.

Pérez Gómez, A.J. (2007) Las competencias básicas: su naturaleza e implicaciones pedagógicas. Cuaderno de Educación, nº 1. Santander: Consejería de Educación.

PSA (Pete Sharma Associates). Recuperado de http://www.psa.eu.com/

Real decreto 1513/2006, de 7 de diciembre, por el que se establecen las enseñanzas mínimas de la Educación primaria. BOE núm. 293, viernes 8 diciembre 2006.

Real Decreto 126/2014, de 28 de febrero, por el que se establece el currículo básico de la Educación Primaria. BOE núm. 52, de 1 de marzo de 2014.

Recomendación del Parlamento europeo y del Consejo, de 18 de diciembre de 2006 sobre las competencias clave para el aprendizaje permanente. (2006/962/CE). Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea.

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7. Bibliography.