Our world is rapidly changing, humans becoming the dominant force behind many irreversible changes. Unfortunately, key actors, such as schools and teachers, are not always confident or trained enough to pass on the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate such transitions (Voogt, Erstad, Dede & Mishra, 2013). Digitalization is such a change, with a positive potential for humanity, however perceived by many learning stakeholders as a burden. Many schools, teachers and students did not benefit from the best possible digital education and support (Rafaeli, 2019), being implicitly unprepared for the demands of the 21st century and its core skills. Digital competences are key, and students and teachers are expected to perform successfully in complex digital environments. Recently, the COVID pandemic spreading across the world shows just another example of distant learning becoming essential in the future. ICT skills are crucial to enable students and teachers to effectively participate in and provide remote and distant learning.

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a well-known model that features teachers’ expertise regarding the educational use of digital technologies (Koehler & Mishra, 2005). The TPACK framework comprises teacher knowledge of technology (TK), as the knowledge of how to use ICT and software, and of pedagogy (PK) and content (CK). Their intersection compiles the necessary teacher knowledge for technology integration into teaching. More specific, Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) recaps the representation of content knowledge with technology, Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) summarizes the integration of teaching methodology with technology, and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) comprise the application of teaching methods into subject-matter content, without the contribution of technology (Koehler & Mishra, 2005; Koh, Chai, & Tsai, 2013). Koh et al. (2013) tested a path TPACK model in which TCK and TPK showed the strongest direct effects on TPACK, followed by TK and PK with some weak direct effects as well. With no significant direct effect of PCK on TPACK found, the authors raise the attention towards TCK, TPK, and implicitly TK, as the core TPACK determinants and skills that should be covered in teacher ICT development programs.

The TPACK framework has been employed to assess the pre- and in-service teachers’ competence in teaching with technology (e.g., Archambault & Crippen, 2009; Schmid, Brianza & Petko, 2020). The transition to online teaching with the Covid-19 pandemic raised the acute question of teachers’ readiness to teach online and the importance of establishing teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy. Howard and colleagues (2020) measured the readiness of online teaching on the basis of teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy beliefs, while accounting for the individual and institutional support in secondary education.

Recently, Schmid and colleagues (2021) found indication that teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy and its relationships might differ per subject-domain. Moreover, they identified teachers’ previous experience with ICT and the institutional/school-support as significant factors for their self-perceived readiness and self-efficacy. Teachers’ attitude towards applying computer-supported education and their level of commitment towards ICT use proved also important for teachers’ self-efficacy levels (Hatlevik, 2017).

In our paper, we will build on the TPACK framework to investigate determinants of teachers’ self-efficacy in using ICT for teaching. We will use data from four European countries (Denmark, Finland, Italy, and Portugal) that participated in the IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018.

Research questions

• What are the determinants of teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy across subject-domains and across countries?
• What is the effect of TK, TCK and TPK for teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy? Are these effects different per subject-domains and countries?
• How important are TK, TCK and TPK for teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy when considering the teacher- and school-support factors for ICT?

Data collected from 8th grade teachers in countries or education systems participating in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018 will be used to investigate the research questions mentioned above. ICILS 2018 was administered in 13 countries with 15 teachers randomly selected in 150 schools in each country. In this study, we will focus on the four European countries that met the quality standards required for the teacher data, namely Denmark, Finland, Italy and Portugal. In ICILS 2018, a scale of « teachers’ ICT self-efficacy » was built using 9 items, measuring teachers’ self-rated ability to perform a series of tasks on a computer (3-point Lickert scale, from “I do not think I could do this” to “I know how to do this”), using IRT modeling with the Rasch partial credit model (see Fraillon et al, 2020). Items in the scale measure basic operational skills, advanced operational skills and collaborative skills in using computers for instructional purposes (Scherer & Siddiq, 2015). We used this scale as an indicator of teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy. In terms of the TPACK latent concept, the TK, TCK and TPK were measured each with two items, while TPACK as a whole was measured with three items (Archambault & Crippen, 2009; Howard et al., 2020; Schmid et al., 2021). Tests for measurement invariance of the latent concept across the four countries indicate a satisfactory measurement model fit using the Alignment Optimization approach and the traditional (partial) multi-group confirmatory factor analysis approach. Several linear regression models are tested to answer the research questions using the IEA IDB Analyzer to account for the study design. Teachers are allocated to different subject groups. The first model include teacher characteristics (age, gender, previous experience with ICT, initial teacher training with ICT) only. With the second and main model, we test the effect of TK, TCK and TPK on TPACK self-efficacy. In the third model, we control these key relationships for teachers’ attitude towards ICT use and participation in ICT-based teacher training, while the last model controls also for the school-support context, mainly ICT resources, collaboration between teachers around ICT and school’s vision on ICT as a priority. This final model allows us to elaborate on which factors determine teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy, and on how important TK, TCK and TPK are when accounting for teacher and school-support factors, across the four European countries.

We found that teachers’ self-efficacy in using ICT for learning in general is strongly related to teachers’ age in all four countries. As expected, younger teachers show more confidence in their abilities to use ICT for teaching than their older colleagues. There are differences between countries and the different teachers’ subject groups regarding the relation of the variables we used to indicate TK, TCK and TPK and their TPACK self-efficacy. Technical knowledge (TK) shows as a significant predictor in most groups, whereas technical content knowledge (TCK) seems to be important only for STEM teachers in Denmark and language teachers in Finland. Technical pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and TPACK self-efficacy are only related in Italy for STEM and language teachers. Teacher participation in reciprocal learning professional development related to ICT shows up as the second most prominent predictor – after teachers’ age – of teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy. The relation is significant in all teacher groups in Finland, Italy and Portugal. Only in Denmark, the relation does only show for the group of language teachers. Our findings suggest needs for ongoing and on-the-job teacher development regarding the use of ICT for teaching. While regular courses on ICT use still show a relation to teachers’ self-efficacy, more emphasis on fostering exchange between teachers seem to benefit teachers even more. In Italy (all subject groups) and Portugal (except for STEM teachers), long time experience with ICT use during lessons makes a difference regarding teachers’ self-efficacy. In Italy, it is even the most important predictor, suggesting that teachers should start using ICT as early as possible in order to become confident in its use and meet the challenges of digitalization.

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