Activity about digital competence

1. DIGITAL COMPETENCE AND REGULATIONS
1Author: Manuel Mateos García

2. 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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3. 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

4. 4
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.

5. 5
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.

6. 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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7. 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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8. 8
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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.

9. 9
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.

10. 10
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”.

11. 11
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).

12. 12
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_Co
nsejo_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

14. 14
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/

15.  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.