In Norway, as for the rest of the Scandinavian countries, a large percentage of school districts have 1:1 coverage of digital devices combined with a solid digital infrastructure (Munthe et al., 2022). These types of first-order barriers to technology adoption for teaching and learning have thus been overcome (Ertmer, 1999). However, less is known about other first-order barriers, such as organisational support and professional development initiatives to enhance teachers’ professional digital competence (Skants-Åberg et al, 2022). These barriers are equally important to overcome, and can be more challenging (Tømte & Smedsrud, 2023; Islam & Gronlund, 2016).

The specific skills, attitudes, and knowledge which constitute teacher professional digital competence has been defined by a growing number of frameworks and theories, contributing to a broad and inclusive, albeit ambiguous, understanding of the construct (Krantz-Åberg, Lantz-Andersson, Lundin & Williams, 2022). The TPACK-framework has obtained comprehensive research attention as a model for assessing teacher professional digital competence (Mishra & Koehler, 2008) and is frequently included as a pivotal second order barrier (Rosenberg & Koehler, 2015). Few studies have investigated the relationships between digital competence development initiatives, on school and school district levels, and teachers’ professional digital competence levels.

The present study took place in a school district with both 1:1 coverage and a systematic approach to school development including both school and district level digital competence development (DCD) activities. We aimed to explore how teachers use individual and collective strategies at their schools and within the school district to enhance their professional digital competence. We investigate the associations between the two first-order barriers that target organisational support and professional competence development, and their associations with the teachers’ sense of ability to integrate the use of digital resources with their pedagogical skills and content knowledge.  

In the present study, we aim to investigate 5 research questions: 1) Which DCD strategies are most frequently used among teachers? 2) Can we observe any patterns related to individual strategies and collaborative strategies at the school level and school district level? 3) Are there any differences among teachers in the frequency of DCDS use related to gender, age, teaching experience and position? 5) What are the associations between teachers’ DCD behaviour, their competence in the use of DR in teaching and their perceptions of organizational support and collaborative communities for the use of DR in teaching?

Cross-sectional survey data was collected from teachers (N=477) at schools (N=39) in the same school district in 2023. Additional register data was obtained on the number of schools participating in a DCD program provided by the school district over three years. The present study includes the following constructs: Technological-Pedagogical and Content Knowledge TPCK; Mishra & Koehler, 2008), Organizational Support and Collaborative Professional Communities (OSC; ICILS, 2019, Fjørtoft et al., 2019), and DCD activities (Pedersen et al., 2024). SEM was used to perform EFA and CFA, and to assess the associations between constructs. Further, structural equation modelling was applied using both weakly informative (i.e. with default priors) Bayes estimator and the WLSMV-estimator. With the latter, we also incorporated school-adjusted standard errors, which is unavailable for the Bayes estimator.

Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The most frequently used strategy for DCD was individual and auto-didactic activities such as trying out or searching for pedagogical advice online. In-school collegial help or collaboration was the second most common DCD strategy. This included seminars on pedagogical use of ICT from the local ICT resource teacher, but to a far lesser extent individual support from the ICT resource teacher. Both strategies are easily accessible, given the available time, to teachers on a regular basis and pertain to the informal and everyday activities at the local school. The third, and least used, DCD strategy was external support, and only 20% developed their PDC by collaboration or seeking help from teachers at other schools in the school district. Total use of DCD strategies was moderately positively correlated with OSC (.57), which supports the hypothesis that teachers who perceive their school manager and colleagues to be ICT supportive are more prone to engage in DCD activities. The weaker, yet non-zero, correlation between OSC and TPCK (.19) supports the hypothesis that teachers who perceive their school manager and colleagues to be ICT supportive also have a more favorable view of their competence to use digital resources in their teaching. The use of DCD strategies is also somewhat positively correlated to TPCK (.22). The study provides empirical support for Ertmer’s theory on first and second order barriers, and specifically the influence of school level support on teacher behavior related to DCD and sense of ability to integrate the use of digital resources with their pedagogical skills and content knowledge. The findings are relevant to school districts who aim to initiate DCD activities for teachers, both centrally and locally at the school level.

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