An analysis of the competency of primary school teachers in Tokat province in the digital transformation process

The purpose of this study is to discover to what extent the primary school teachers that will grow up individuals equipped with 21st century competencies in today's digital transformation, have the competency expected from them in the digital transformation process. The study was conducted in one of the qualitative research methods, in the case study pattern. The study group was determined by the maximum diversity sampling, one of the purposive sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 female and 9 male primary school teachers working in different fields and levels. The data of the research was obtained in the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was used as a data collection tool for the study. The data collected from the interviews was analysed with the content analysis method. The study revealed that general competency of the primary school teachers in the digital transformation process were not as well as it was anticipated. It was determined that primary school teachers mostly apply design and observation-based STEM activities in classroom practices within the scope of technology-oriented PBL approach, and they generally do not participate in national and international projects and competitions. It was concluded that primary school teachers frequently use interactive whiteboards and educational websites in the technology integration process, mostly use videos to increase the permanence of learning. Moreover, it was revealed that they generally find themselves competent in terms of technology and that they try to catch up with the current technologies by using social media more on. In addition, it was determined that primary school teachers ask open-ended questions, have group - work activities, promote brainstorming, product design activities, give research assignments, and have school trips in order to improve their students' 21st century skills. Furthermore, they stated that these activities improved their students' 21st century skills such as communication and cooperation, problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and self-direction, productivity and responsibility. On the other hand, it has been understood that primary school teachers do not know the characteristics of the new generation, thus they cannot use the learner characteristics of the new generation in the teaching process, they find themselves inadequate in understanding the new generation, but they try to learn the characteristics of the new generation by observing the behaviour of their students by following the games and conversations among themselves. It has been determined that primary school teachers make use of face-to-face or online in-service courses to ensure their technological professional development, and almost no primary school teachers voluntarily apply to these courses. Finally, it was understood that most of the primary school teachers have sufficient knowledge about digital ethics and security. Key Words: Primary School Teachers, Digital Transformation Process, Competency