Digital competences of vocational lesson teachers and students in vocational high schools

In this study, it is aimed to determine the digital competence levels of the two groups by examining the digital competences of vocational course teachers in Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in Turkey and the students in the 9-12 grade range studying in these schools in terms of different variables. In this context, descriptive survey method, one of the quantitative research methods, was adopted in the research and convenience sampling method was used among the sampling methods. The research population consists of 330 vocational course teachers and 8342 students in 13 Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in Konya Province Selçuklu District in the 2022-2023 academic year. Within the scope of the research, the Digital Competence Scale developed by the European Commission and used in similar studies in the literature was used to determine the digital competences of teachers and students. The scale consists of 46 items under 6 factors. It is seen that the scale explains 54.99% of the total variance for students and 73.39% for teachers. The Cronbach's alpha reliability value for the whole scale was 0.961 for the students' scale and 0.974 for the teachers' scale with a total of 43 items after the removal of 3 items that reduced the reliability. The factors in this scale developed for teachers and students cover competences in the areas of security (1), data literacy (2), problem solving (3), digital content production (4), communication and collaboration (5) and ethics (6). With the developed Digital Competence Scale, digital competences of teachers and students were analysed in terms of different variables. According to the results of the research, it was observed that there was no significant difference between the digital competence perceptions of teachers and students. When the scale was examined in terms of students, a significant difference was observed in favour of males only in the data literacy sub-dimension according to gender. According to the grade level, it was seen that there was a significant difference in favour of 11th and 12th grade students in the sub-dimensions of the scale according to the lower grades. According to the departments of the students, it was seen that there were significant differences in the overall scale and its sub-dimensions in favour of those studying in technology-oriented departments. When the scale was examined in terms of teachers, it was seen that there were significant differences in the general perception of digital competence and its sub-dimensions in favour of young teachers according to age compared to older teachers. Again, according to the professional seniority of the teachers, it was seen that there were significant differences in the scale in favour of low seniority. If the frequency of teachers' participation in face-to-face digital content courses increases, there are positive significant differences in digital competence perception levels. When the teacher and student digital competence scales were examined comparatively, it was seen that there were significant differences in favour of teachers in the sub-dimensions of data literacy and security, and in favour of students in the sub-dimension of digital content production. When all the scale results were evaluated, it was seen that the digital competences of teachers and students were at a medium level. Accordingly, although teachers and students have medium level perceptions of digital competence, it is thought that their 21st century skill levels are insufficient and opportunities and possibilities should be provided for their development in this context. Suggestions were made to the literature within the framework of the findings of the study.