ABSTRACT

This study aims to identify strengths and areas for improvement in early childhood teachers' perceived digital competence through importance-performance analysis (IPA) and suggest effective support measures and directions for strengthening their digital competence. To achieve this, the study surveyed 223 early childhood teachers in South Korea and analyzed the importance and performance of digital competence among them. The results showed that in all sub-areas and items of early childhood teachers’ digital competence, importance was rated higher than performance, with statistically significant differences across areas. Notably, relatively large gaps were identified in the areas of implementing digital education and creating content, operating a digital education environment, and developing digital expertise. According to the IPA, the distribution of quadrants varied depending on the teachers’ digital competence. Acquiring digital information and literacy and cultivating digital citizenship were identified as strengths, while understanding digital education policies and the curriculum emerged as an area requiring priority improvement. The areas of implementing digital education and creating content, operating a digital education environment, and developing digital expertise were identified as requiring long-term improvement, while promoting digital communication and collaboration showed relatively high performance compared to its importance. In other words, teachers recognize digital competence as necessary but feel they have not yet sufficiently developed it. These findings are expected to contribute to the development of efficient and effective teacher training programs and policy directions by suggesting priorities based on the importance and performance of digital competence among early childhood teachers.

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