Beyond functionality - Building critical digital teaching competence among future primary education teachers

Oct 15, 2026

Digital literacy moves beyond instrumental skills toward critical perspectives shaping technology and education. The paper addresses the challenge of finding concrete pedagogical strategies that cultivate this emerging critical lens. It reports a case study using learning experiences integrated into a compulsory first-year education sciences module for future primary teachers in Spain. Results emphasize creating opportunities enabling educators to support emancipation in the post-digital world through transferable critical digital competence, not only tool operation for skill enhancement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background

OPEN ACCESS Research Article Contemporary Educational Technology, 2023, 15(1), ep397 ISSN: 1309-517X (Online) Beyond functionality: Building critical digital teaching competence among future primary education teachers Linda Castañeda 1* 0000-0002-1055-9241 Daniel Villar-Onrubia 2,3 0000-0001-5908-0701 1 Faculty of Education, University of Murcia, Murcia, SPAIN 2 Disruptive Media Learning Lab, Coventry University, Coventry, UK 3 Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Cádiz, Puerto Real, SPAIN * Corresponding author: [lindacq@um.es](lindacq@um.es) Citation: Castañeda, L., & Villar-Onrubia, D. (2023) . Beyond functionality: Building critical digital teaching competence among future primary education teachers. Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(1), ep397 . [https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/12599](https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/12599) ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT | Received: 30 May 2022
Accepted: 21 Oct 2022 | Digital literacy has moved away from its traditional instrumental conception, to be nourished by critical perspectives that have been increasingly adopted in all areas of the analysis of technology and education. The importance of generating educational models that contribute to the emancipation of people in a post-digital and highly complex world is an increasingly evident challenge. However, it is still difficult to find concrete examples of pedagogical strategies specifically devised to foster digital literacy in line with this much needed emerging critical lens. This paper presents a case study of a set of learning experiences integrated into a compulsory module for students in the 1st year of a degree in education sciences, which leads to the qualification required to teach at primary schools in Spain. The results highlight the importance of providing students with learning opportunities conceived to help them become future teachers ready to have a transversal impact on education for the emancipation of people in the post-digital world, rather than simply training them as operators who use technology to enhance skills.
Keywords: digital literacy, digital competence, teachers’ education, critical digital literacy, digital education | | --- | --- | | INTRODUCTION | | In a society where the pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has been catalyzed by a global pandemic, the word ‘digital’ has ceased to be a meaningful qualifier. Most, if not all, realms of everyday life are somehow infused by the production, storage, and circulation of bits, meaning that prefixes such as ‘digital’, ‘cyber’ or ‘e-’ have become increasingly redundant. In less than twenty years, perspectives on the educational uses of technology have transcended the classic visions of the three paradigms (Pavlik, 2015), as defined by dimensions such as interactivity, media uses or direction. In this complex scenario it is more important than ever to ideate and embrace approaches that are socially engaged, holistic and ethical and take education beyond the pedagogy-technology dichotomy (Fawns, 2022) . Looking at technology through a critical lens is no longer a possibility, but a necessity for our educational systems (Marín & Castañeda, 2022) . Our concerns regarding education have become more profound and digital literacy has gone from being understood primarily as mere instrumental training to being increasingly recognized as a key to the social emancipation of citizens (Solmaz, 2018) . While critical digital competence and pedagogies are increasingly present in both the academic literature and the policy making arena, it is still difficult to find them deeply embedded into the day-to-day of educators’ professional practice and the overall fabric of educational institutions (Sendag et al., 2015) . Bringing critical approaches to educational technology at all levels of education is essential, for instance by fostering among students a socially engaged perspective of post-digital li

FAQs

What problem does the paper target regarding digital literacy education?

It highlights the difficulty of finding concrete pedagogical strategies that foster digital literacy through a critical lens rather than only instrumental training.

How was the teaching approach implemented for future primary teachers?

The authors designed learning experiences embedded in a mandatory first-year education sciences module, guiding students to evaluate technologies using criteria beyond purely functional aspects.

What do the results emphasize for teacher development in a post-digital society?

They stress the importance of learning opportunities that prepare future teachers to have a transversal educational impact for emancipation in the post-digital world, centered on ethical and social responsibilities.

Oct 15, 2026

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