Factors affecting the development of teachers' digital competencies. A literature review

Factores que inciden en el desarrollo de las competencias digitales docentes. Una revisión de literatura

Jonathan Gregori García Bonilla

Magíster en Educación, Centro Escolar Presidente Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Puebla. joubonilla@cepgdo.edu.mx, Orcid: https://orcid.org/ 0009-0007-3087-5800

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SUMMAR

This article is based on a selection and literature review of various research studies whose objectives were aimed at analyzing the development of digital competencies in teachers and how these have come to be integrated into the quality indicators for the competent profile of the 21st century. It was directed towards a common objective based on a literature review protocol, its theoretical-methodological conceptions and results were analyzed, which allowed clarifying the panorama in which the teacher finds himself before the appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in his professional praxis. The summary of the review made it possible to identify those factors that affect the development of teachers' digital competences, concluding that they possess knowledge referring to technical-operational knowledge of how to use ICT, however, in the pedagogical treatment the level of performance is lower than expected, being limited to the use of ICT in an expository-transmissive way, so it is insisted on an education and training for teachers in the digital field. Likewise, evaluations are based on the self-perception of the participants about their digital competencies and not directly on how much they know and how much they are able to do.

Keywords: Impact factor; continuous teacher training; information and communication technologies; digital competencies.

RESUMEN

El presente artículo parte de una selección y revisión de literatura de diversas investigaciones cuyos objetivos se dirigieron a analizar el desarrollo de competencias digitales en los docentes y cómo estas han llegado a integrarse en los indicadores de calidad para el perfil competente del siglo XXI. Se encaminó hacia un objetivo en común a partir de un protocolo de revisión de la literatura, se analizaron sus concepciones teórico-metodológicas y resultados que permitieron esclarecer el panorama en el que se encuentra el docente ante la apropiación de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en su praxis profesional. El sumario de la revisión permitió identificar aquellos factores que inciden en el desarrollo de las competencias digitales del profesorado, concluyendo que poseen saberes referentes a conocimientos técnicos-operativos de cómo usar las TIC, sin embargo, en el tratamiento pedagógico el nivel de desempeño es menor a lo esperado, limitándose al uso de las TIC de forma expositiva-transmitiva, por lo que se insiste en una formación y capacitación al docente en el ámbito digital. Así mismo, se vislumbran evaluaciones basadas en la autopercepción que tienen los participantes sobre sus competencias digitales y no directamente cuánto saben y qué tanto son capaces de hacer.

Palabras clave: Factor de impacto; formación continua de profesores; tecnologías de la información y la comunicación; competencias digitales.

Introduction

Education throughout history has met social demands in different contexts; in the 21st century, new needs arise in a society based on information and knowledge production, supported by technological support. Faced with this situation, educational institutions need to transform the traditional educational paradigm that still prevails within their teaching schemes, including the way in which they use ICT.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions had to implement actions from virtual media, with technology acting as a key element for students to take their classes. With such actions, the digital gap that exists between the teacher and the student was evidenced, where the educational environment presented serious deficiencies in the limited access to ICT and training to use them as pedagogical tools (Chim and Zapata, 2022). Therefore, educational institutions have the need for new challenges regarding the ways of acquiring and building knowledge, through technological tools.

From the perspective of Cruz (2018), new teaching methods are responsible for providing strategies that include virtual networks, however, the educational context has lacked to offer the necessary competencies to teachers to cope with these changes of the 21st century. Forming citizens with competencies and tools mediated by technological knowledge processes requires teachers trained in the use and management of these tools.

Developing digital competencies requires training processes that allow generating links, so the teacher is responsible for promoting meaningful educational spaces that raise the quality of education. This is the importance of technological appropriation that teachers need in the current century (García, Varcárcel, and Arévalo, 2022). According to the National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (Intef, 2022), the National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (Intef, 2022), recognizes that the digital competence of teachers in the Reference Framework for Digital Competence of Teachers (MRCDD) defines it as: Integration of knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes that must be simultaneously brought into play to perform their functions, implementing digital technologies and to solve problems and contingencies that may arise in a specific unique situation as education professionals (p. 12).

The figure of the teacher since 2008 has faced questions regarding the acquisition of digital skills, in the publication of ICT Competency Standards for Teachers by UNESCO, which highlights the need for the creation of training programs. In 2010, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) presents a global assessment of the digital tools and skills that teachers have (Anaya and Mulford, 2021).

Indeed, it is important to emphasize the role of teachers in their current performance with the implementation of technological tools versus what the educational system offers in relation to the management of digital technologies. Likewise, the literature review shows how ICTs become a fundamental part of the teaching and learning process (García et al., 2022).

Educating through the use of technological tools requires reflecting on the strategies and the development of the established actions of teachers in those fields that are still unknown. It is in this context that it is considered important to carry out a case study, in which it is necessary to answer: What are the technological competences in ICT that educators possess?

The current world is mainly focused on the technological equipment of the institutions and teacher training is focused only on the operational knowledge of ICT, without enhancing a pedagogical support based on learning methodologies based on different currents. With the analysis of the literature, it is recurrently observed that the implementation of ICT in the classroom continues to reproduce transmissive-expositive models of traditional teaching methodologies with little student participation and interaction.

Given this educational scenario, the purpose of this article is to show an analysis of current researches in charge of studying the theoretical conceptualizations and parameters necessary to validate the acquisition of digital competencies in teachers. Likewise, through the theoretical review we seek to find and categorize those extrinsic and intrinsic factors that affect the mastery and appropriation of technological competencies required in teachers, so that it serves as a reference framework for future research to assess their digital training needs and design proposals for action.

By identifying and analyzing these factors, it is possible to better understand the development of digital competence, the actions and thinking of teachers in the field of educational technologies and to answer the following questions: How is digital teacher training going and where is it headed, not only in instructional training, but also in the pedagogical treatment that teachers make of ICT.

Background

According to Sandí and Sanz (2018), they conduct a review and analysis of digital teaching competencies in Ibero-America, where they distinguish that in order to achieve the integration of ICT in the teacher training processes, a "training of technological, pedagogical and disciplinary knowledge specific to the context" (p. 23) is needed (p. 23).

From the different disciplines, it is essential for teachers to acquire educational processes in accordance with their role and area of training. According to Padilla and Ayala (2022) in Ibero-America, the use of ICTs in the teaching-learning process requires new strategies that enable teachers to generate pedagogical plans that have an impact on students' academic achievement.

On the other hand, Cabero, Barroso, Llorente and Palacios (2021) point out, in the European Framework for Digital Competence in Teaching (DigCompEdu), a series of key digital competencies are established for teaching-learning processes in teachers, which are categorized into professional, pedagogical and student competencies, through which teachers acquire skills necessary to work with technologies in a critical and reflective way (Kullaslahti, Ruhalahti, and Brauer, 2019).

From 2019 to 2021, it has been evidenced that teachers do not have developed skills and competencies necessary in the use of ICT, this action prevents their interaction communication with students to be efficient, in the United States from the sixties began to require technological mastery, raising five digital areas (Luque and Jimenez, 2021): 1) Information and technological literacy, 2) Communication and community collaboration in digital environments, 3) Creation of digital content, 4) Information security and 5) Troubleshooting.

The panorama in which teachers are immersed must also take into account the public policies based on the recommendations and parameters of various international organizations that propose the new teacher profile, which addresses a series of attributes related to the new role they must play in the teaching-learning processes, in their training and continuous updating and finally to their willingness and attitude to take on all these new challenges in the technological field as part of their holistic training.

From the perspective of Cabero, Romero, Barroso and Palacios (2020), "to be digitally competent, one must be able to overcome the obstacles of the era in which we live, a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context" (p. 2). In Latin America, the digital divide continues to be a factor of exclusion and inequality, mainly in countries with low economic growth and low human development index, which reflects the purchasing power and quality of life that the country can offer to its inhabitants clearly affects them to afford digital devices and Internet services.

Towards a definition of digital teaching competencies

The term digital competence has been addressed in recent years by several authors, one of them is Cabero et. al. (2021, as cited in Cabero et al. 2020) who define it "as that set of knowledge, skills and strategies of the teaching profession that allow solving the problems and educational challenges posed by the so-called knowledge society" (p. 2). As a result, the conceptions have led to the formulation of different questions such as: What is a digital teaching competency and what attributes, indicators or parameters validate that the ideal digital profile of the 21st century teacher has actually been acquired?

Under these questions and the multiple approaches to conceive the digital competence converge common points, however, this triggers a variety of proposals of digital profiles among the research community, therefore, it implies to specify and standardize the conceptualizations along with its dimensions and attributes necessary to validate the acquisition of technological competences.

The first finding detected within the group of studies analyzed is that conceptualizations such as digital competence, digital skills, ICT competence and technological competence are frequently used in titles and keywords of the selected studies, this does not imply that the authors have defined in their research whether or not there is a conceptual equivalence, but in their theoretical frameworks they do not show significant differences between one and the other, they all arrive at equivalent conceptions.

According to Verdú, Lázaro, Grimalt, and Usart (2021) "digital competence in teaching (DTC) is advancing at an excessively slow pace compared to the speed at which technological changes are incorporated into society" (p. 2). The choice of technology-based educational tools is subject to follow a teaching-learning process and not only be part of an educational political discourse that leans towards digital solidarity, because digital competencies in the current era are "all the fundamental capabilities, skills needed by teachers, students, professionals and others to develop and improve their teaching, learning, research, professional, among others" (Vargas, 2019, p. 8)

An approach based on digital competencies implies taking into account the pedagogical aspects of teaching and the specific contexts that enable the design and implementation of teaching strategies in accordance with the diagnosis of the situation. For the teacher to know the technological context in which he/she operates, and in turn, promote meaningful learning, he/she needs a digital literacy that allows him/her to design teaching processes and basic digital codes that help him/her to express and disseminate interest with students.

The use of ICT is a relevant aspect in the educational field, therefore, the way of learning and teaching implies questioning the meaning of generating new strategies that use the digital tools required by the new learning generations (Torres, Rincón, & Medina, 2021).

Along the same lines, understanding the meaning and direction of digital competencies implies recognizing the role of the teacher and its context, since these refer specifically to "the set of knowledge and skills that allow a safe, critical and efficient use of communication and information technologies in order to achieve the objectives in different areas" (Palacios et al., 2019, para. 1).

The formative development of digital competence incorporates pedagogical activities and strategies. Now, the concept begins to have relevance in 1997 by the author Gilster, who exposes the term digital literacy referring in his studies to the sense of education and the use of the Internet. However, until the seventies the concept was revolutionized and merged with the use of information applications. Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, attention was paid to using virtual information from a variety of search sources in order to perform a task, solve a problem or use it as a means of educational learning (Adell, Llopis, & Esteve, 2022).

Likewise, Adell et al.(2022), in their conceptual analysis, conclude that digital competencies require a permanent process of critical reflection on their practical actions, since developing digital competencies in teacher training should respond to specific dimensions of their work in teaching. In this sense, the technological educational potential, lies in the implication of intentional learning. Touron et al. (2018, as cited in Centeno, 2021) makes known: Digital competencies are a fundamental part of the profile of teachers for the development of comprehensive learning in their students; they constitute a set of practical knowledge with which technology is adapted in specific life actions such as: work, entertainment and communication (p. 3).

Based on the above, Centeno (2021) states: to ensure meaningful learning and didactic potential in the use of ICT, through the actions and wishes of teachers, it is necessary to "reflect on those educational practices that persist and refuse to give way to the daily use of technologies" (p. 13). According to UNESCO (2019), the framework consists of 18 competencies organized around six aspects of teachers' professional practice: understanding the role of ICT in educational policies; curriculum and assessment; pedagogy; application of digital competencies; organization and administration; and teachers' professional learning.

Although the cognitive and non-cognitive competencies acquired are a basis for building mechanisms for action and development of digital skills, it is not possible to speak of digital competencies if there is no notion of what the development of other competencies implies. According to Espino (2018) to talk about teaching digital competencies, is to integrate a variety of elements that allow the teacher to know and reflect on the involvement of new technologies in their practical teaching process and thus favor meaningful learning. Likewise, the author discloses the following basic elements that an education teacher requires in relation to digital tools: a) To have knowledge of the information tools applied in the network, and which are useful for a didactic application, b) To integrate ICT according to the needs of students and c) To give an efficient management to the existing information in the virtual environment.

The incursion of ICT in the educational environment alone does not ensure the success of meaningful learning, they must be assisted by the teaching direction focusing on learning experiences and the school context. In order to unleash the didactic potential of ICT, through the teacher's actions, it is necessary to combine diverse knowledge and instrumental knowledge of technologies, which allow advancing towards the mastery of didactic-pedagogical contents (Espino, 2018).

Improving educational practice and learning involves identifying and developing knowledge, skills and attitudes in teachers to generate active learning methodologies with the incursion of ICT, and thus, reach a transformation of teaching and innovation in student learning. According to INTEF (2022), there are three blocks in charge of organizing the six areas of professional teaching competencies: a) Specific competencies of the teaching profession, b) Pedagogical competencies of teachers and c) Digital teaching competencies.

Faced with this wide range of conceptualizations and dimensions of digital competence at international and national levels, several standardized frameworks, self-assessment tools and training programs have been developed to describe each facet of educators' digital competence and to help them assess their qualifications, identify their training needs and offer them specific preparation. The DigCompEdu, is responsible for reflecting the specific digital competencies of teachers, with the purpose of using digital technologies to improve and innovate in education. In turn, it is a scientifically sound reference framework that helps guide policy and can be directly adapted to implement regional and national tools and training programs.

In addition, it provides a common language and approach, which will help dialogue and the exchange of good practices among the different territories. The DigCompEdu is made up of six areas, in which the digital competencies of teachers are organized (Redecker, 2020):

1. Professional engagement. Focuses on improving and reflecting on digital wellness in its interaction with the educational community through organizational communication, professional collaboration, reflective practice, and ongoing professional development.

2. Use of digital content. It is constituted of a selection of digital resources that allow to modify and adapt them for the disposition of the students.

3. Teaching and learning. Implementation of technological tools based on guidance and self-regulated collaborative support by students.

4. Evaluation and feedback. Value the use of digital technologies and strategies in order to provide feedback to students.

5. Student empowerment. Improving attention to learning diversity and improving students' digital engagement.

Development of digital competence by students. Implement actions that provide students with tools for the construction of content and projects through the use of technology.

Materials and methods

A look at the problem from previous research.

The methodological construction is based on a literature review, with the objective of analyzing the conceptualizations, dimensions and indicators necessary for the appropriation of teachers' digital competencies, as well as those factors that influence the development and appropriation of these competencies. A two-stage method was used: The heuristic phase and the hermeneutic phase.

From a matrix for the analysis of the contents, the hermeneutic begins, which is a reinterpretation of the key concepts, theoretical approaches of the authors, the results and conclusions to compare and analyze the existing relationships between the studies in order to find those extrinsic and intrinsic factors that, due to their frequency indexes, become clear findings and trends. Identifying these factors allows to understand holistically that the development of digital competencies in teachers is more complex than just learning to use technologies.

Heuristic Phase

For the search phase, research systems that integrate specialized journals of rigorous scientific quality into their databases were used to logically connect concepts or groups of terms and quickly delimit or filter the information referring to articles on digital competencies in higher education, using databases of scientific journals such as Dialnet, IRESIE, REDALYC and SciELO.

The keywords used were "teaching digital competence, teaching technological competence, teaching digital skills, teaching digital literacy + teaching", these parallel constructs allowed finding articles related to teaching digital competences. Continuously, the quotation marks operator and the negation "Digital competences, teachers and NOT students" were applied in order to apply filters that reduced the number of results and better delimited the search only towards teachers' digital skills.

Heuristic Phase (Inclusion and exclusion criteria)

Four inclusion criteria were used to select the articles. First, we searched Spanish language databases for "Factores que inciden en el desarrollo de las competencias digitales docentes en la educación" (Factors that influence the development of teachers' digital competencies in education). In general, the search engine yielded 3,860,000 results; subsequently, to filter information, we excluded those articles that were not directly linked to the objectives aimed at analyzing teachers' digital competencies and their parallel constructs emanating from the keywords found in the articles on teachers' digital competencies.

Articles not directly related to teachers' digital competencies and those that did not follow UNESCO, INTEF or DigCompuEdu standards were excluded. Comparative studies between teachers' and students' digital competencies were included, as well as theoretical reviews due to the broad panorama of past and current contributions on the object of study to clarify conceptualizations, identify theories, parameters that serve to facilitate the development of theory and understanding of the problem. Research focused on students' digital competencies or those that focused on the specific assessment of a teacher's technological competency or if they particularized their study on the use of certain digital devices were excluded. The literature reviewed was based on Spanish-language regions of Ibero-America, America and Europe from 2003 to 2023.

Hermeneutic phase (Synthesis, analysis, categorization and hierarchization of the content)

For information management, analysis and integration of texts, a matrix was designed that reflects a complex information structure that presents the opportunity to carry out processes of classification, synthesis, analysis, comparison, contrasts of ideas, contributions or absences.

The research with intervention proposals for teachers to evaluate their didactic performance with the support of ICT to improve the teaching-learning process in students, were considered as relevant due to their methodological and narrative richness about their experiences.

The reinterpretation was formulated according to the trends and findings frequently presented in the studies. The compilation was reduced to 55 articles, for a broader understanding of the problem, cause-effect relationships were established between the various intrinsic-extrinsic variables that interact with each other and affect the appropriation of the technological competence of teachers. Likewise, this review shows an overview over time, whether there have been advances, positive or negative changes, or whether it has simply remained the same and no change has occurred.

From the integration of the results and conclusions of selected studies, the following is established: what has been published and in which years there is more or less publication; what methods, paradigms and instruments are mainly addressed by the research; what is the scope of the research and how it is evaluated in the case of empirical research; and finally, based on this review, what are the extrinsic-intrinsic factors that influence teachers in the appropriation of digital competence? And finally, based on this review, an answer is given to identify which are the extrinsic-intrinsic factors that influence the teacher to take ownership of digital competence?

Results

With reference to the literature review of the 55 articles located in America and Europe, an increase in the literary production in the research line of educational technologies was appreciated from 2012 to 2023 (see Table 1)inadequate teaching and learning methodology developed during the pandemic period and the lack of accompaniment both at home and at school.

Table 1.

Publications by year.

Year	Fi		Fr.	Year	Fi	Fr.	Year	Fi	Fr.	Year	Fi	Fr.
2003	1	1.8 %		2010	3	5.4%	2015	2	3.6%	2021	4	7.7%
2004	1	1.8 %		2011	2	3.6%	2016	9	16.3%	2022	8	14.5%
2005	1	1.8 %		2012	5	9.0%	2017	3	8.3%	2023	1	1.8%
2006	1	1.8%		2013	3	5.4%	2018	2	3.6 %
2008	1	1.8 %		2014	4	7.7%	2019	4	7.7%

It is clearly perceived, given the growing demand of the XXI century context to train future teachers and students with digital competencies from their initial academic preparation, more and more researchers consider the need to address this area in order to achieve educational excellence.

However, the studies reviewed focus mainly on higher education levels, with 58.1%, followed by basic education, with 30.9%, whose target population are students of various professions, and bachelor's degrees in education. On the other hand, most of the research produced by these groups are strictly scientific articles, with 80% of frequency (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Publications by type of documents and educational levels.

By type of documents			By educational level
Documents	Fi	Fr.	Level	Fi	Fr.
Articles	44	80%	Basic	13	23.6 %
Testing	2	3.6 %	Upper Middle School	4	7.2%
Monographs	2	3.6%	Superior	32	58.1 %
Papers	2	3.6%	Studies comprising two or more levels	6	10.9 %
Thesis	5	9%
Total	55	100%	Total	55	100%

Therefore, it is assumed that institutions and groups of researchers are committed to these types of documents, perceiving them as an efficient means to contribute to generate, collaborate and share valid and well-founded knowledge.

Paradigms and design of the instruments reported.

In the process of methodological review of the studies, the first observable pattern with recurrence is the dominance of the quantitative paradigm with 40%, followed by a mixed approach with 9.0%, as opposed to the qualitative paradigm to a lesser degree with 7.2%. It should be noted that the quantitative paradigm has greater preference because it was part of one of the inclusion criteria for the literature, however, I call for the use of the qualitative more frequently due to the exploratory-descriptive potential it has thanks to the abundant collection of information obtained from the narratives made by the subjects to understand the problem about those factors that affect the development of digital competencies in a more holistic way, attending in a particular way to each of its properties, but understanding it as a whole.

However, mixed paradigms (quantitative-qualitative) are also beginning to be used with a higher rate of recurrence. This can be justified by the complexity of the object of study, since the progress of technological competencies in teachers is subject to factors of diverse characteristics such as cultural and generational factors, the environment and working conditions in which they work, and the incursion of new cognitive processes such as the appropriation of digital language in the psyche.

Therefore, it can be deduced that the phenomenon studied is multifactorial in nature and at the same time more complex due to the heterogeneity of the teaching characteristics that may be present in relation to the various factors mentioned above (see Table 3).

Table 3.

Paradigms and instruments most commonly used in the studies.

Paradigm or Approach			Instruments
Quantitative	22	40%	Questionnaires	16	29%
Qualitative	4	7.2%	Physical or online surveys	4	7.2%
Mixed	5	9%	Mixed questionnaires, observation guides and interviews	6	10.9%
Not specified	9	16.3%	Pilot experiences specifically designed for the research	6	10.9%
Theoretical essays	15	27.27%	Matrix for content analysis	5	9%
			Not specified (Tests with theoretical input)	18	32.7%
Total	55	100%	Total	55	100

The table shows the instruments preferred by quantitative, qualitative and mixed paradigms, being the quantitative paradigm the most recurrent with the application of closed questionnaires for the assessment of digital competencies, in this way, I call for the use of the qualitative because in this research only 10.9 % of the sample uses it as a favorite instrument using interviews and observation guides, in addition to proposing it as an exploratory-descriptive tool, which can abound and deepen in the collection of valuable information narrated by the subjects to understand the problem of study in a more holistic way, attending in a particular way to each of its properties, but understanding it as a whole. In most of the studies of the theoretical essay type, 32.7% chose not to provide the type of instrument or techniques used for the theoretical analysis of the contents.

In second place, the instruments preferred by quantitative paradigms are closed questionnaires, with a frequency of 29%. Likewise, pilot experiences, such as ICT training and updating programs, initial ICT training programs and methodological proposals for active learning with the implementation of ICT in the classroom are contextualized and designed specifically for the purposes of the research, but they are the least used.

In turn, this type of pilot experience is used as a means to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of teachers in relation to their technological competencies used in their educational practice, which are assessed through the application of contextualized instruments such as rubrics, questionnaires, surveys or interviews of self-perception and satisfaction of students and teachers on the effectiveness of the pilot experience.

Table 4 shows that several studies decided to develop their own instruments specifically for the research context, which means that their items are designed based on the ultimate purpose of the study in order to avoid making erroneous evaluative judgments, with a percentage of 41.2%. Most of the instruments are fully validated by experts in the area of ICT, with statistical tests to evaluate reliability and small representative samples that serve as experimental pilot tests to later make the pertinent readjustments to the instrument in order to execute the final version.

However, despite the fact that the research community has sat down to reflect on the epistemological conceptions and attributes of digital competence, it has not been possible to establish more complex evaluation mechanisms aimed at ensuring that teachers know how to integrate ICT effectively into the curriculum, adapting them to the learning and individual needs of students. Furthermore, these evaluations should not be focused solely on the strictly technological, because measuring competence is not strictly about knowing how much technology a teacher masters, but rather about how they integrate technology into their pedagogical practice to develop students' digital autonomy.

Table 4.

Instrument design.

Origin	Fi	Fr.
Based on another instrument	11	20%
Designed specifically for research	22	41.2%
Adaptation of another instrument	4	11.1%
Not specified (Tests with theoretical input)	18	27.7%
Total	55	100%

Scope of research and reported forms of evaluation

Regarding the scope of the research, a homogeneous trend is observed, mostly using tools adapted to the research objectives, designed to evaluate digital competencies as objectively as possible through tests that measure the levels of knowledge, skills and self-perception that the teacher has of ICT to execute them in a didactic way in his or her teaching practice.

On the other hand, they also evaluate the personal use made by teachers in the sense of using them as tools that promote autonomous and self-regulated learning through ICTs; these objective performance tests account for 29% of the total sample analyzed.

Another way to validate the appropriation of the teacher's digital competence is to measure through the student's learning results after the teacher has implemented the intervention proposals with active learning methodologies with the use of ICT and the self-perception they have about the use of them; these investigations represent 21.8% of frequencies. At the professional level, this form of evaluation is considered to be one of the most comprehensive and enriching because it studies the actions of teachers and students throughout the educational process. It is objective, because it is checking whether the objectives, hypotheses and problems are met through the intervention proposals, i.e., it evaluates the level of appropriation of the teacher's digital competence in the classroom through its methodological approach to teaching with ICT support, while checking or rejecting whether the teaching applied with technology treated in a didactic-pedagogical way, affects the optimal development of digital citizenship skills and more meaningful learning for students.

It is also interesting to underline that, if the objective is to determine the technological competencies possessed by teachers or students, retrospective self-assessments are not the most robust tools for these purposes. Self-assessments may present indirect and subjective data because they are self-perceptions that teachers have about their professional performance implementing ICT in the classroom, Therefore, the data provided by these forms of evaluation can offer information that is not entirely reliable because there is no set of actions that show the validation of the competence that confirm these teachers' self-perceptions.8% of the total sample analyzed (see Table 5).

Table 5.

Scope of Investigations.

Forms of evaluation	Fi	Fr.
Teacher's self-assessment or self-perception of ICTs	12	21.8%
Testing performance levels of digital skills (Interventions)	16	29%
Self-perception and performance levels of C.D. to teachers and students through intervention proposals.	12	21.8%
Not specified (Theoretical contribution tests)	15	27.2%
Total	55	100 %

Discussion of results

The 55 studies reviewed show an analysis of conceptual constructs, methods, scopes, results and conclusions; this hermeneutic process allows delimiting conceptualizations and attributes of the C.D.D. In the same way, it diagnoses the degree of appropriation of ICT in the professional practices of teachers, which is definitely influenced by factors such as generational and self-perception that are conditioned under different socio-cultural epochs.

This leads to organize the findings found in the research in two categories: extrinsic factors and intrinsic factors, in each one, a series of indicators are grouped, oriented to the conflicts faced by the teaching field in the appropriation of digital competencies.

The following is the result of this reflective exercise that interprets the research problem in a more holistic way, that is, from a total perspective that considers it as a set of integrated factors that are related to each other and not purely as elements isolated from each other.

Extrinsic factor 1. Institutional or managerial management of ICTs

● Indicator 1: There is no monitoring, follow-up, evaluation and accountability of the ICT programs or courses that are managed within the institution, which creates an empty, meaningless perception of the teacher.

● Indicator 2: Poor management of ICT training and updating programs within the institutions that promote the application and naturalization of ICTs in the classroom and contribute to generate a critical-reflective awareness about their impact on learning, their appropriate use, their potential and limitations.

Extrinsic factor 2. Teachers' working conditions

● Indicator 1. Academic and administrative overload within the institutions that inhibits participation in new training programs.

● Indicator 2. Low income of some teachers.

● Indicator 3. No academic recognition by the institution for teachers who use ICTs in their professional practice.

Extrinsic factor 3. ICT education, training and refresher courses for teachers

● Indicator 1. They limit themselves to instructing the teacher in an operative way in educational technologies, forgetting the didactic-pedagogical approach of digital tools.

● Indicator 2. Forgets the implementation of innovative pedagogical practices, using the benefits of ICT under the approach of the new school conception. In other words, the use of ICT by teachers continues to reinforce the traditional teaching paradigm.

Extrinsic factor 4. Availability of ICT resources

● Indicator 1. Lack of spaces equipped with technologies and infrastructure in the educational community.

● Indicator 2. There are technological spaces, but the infrastructure and technological resources are not adequate and efficient to implement them.

Extrinsic factor 5. Educational policies

● Indicator 1. Federal or state programs only focus on technological equipment, but do not provide teacher training, assuming that the mere fact of equipping contributes to the progress of technological literacy of teachers and students.

Now the indicators that are framed in the intrinsic factors that affect the appropriation of digital competence are mentioned, these are:

Intrinsic factor 1. Technical and instrumental knowledge of ICT.

● Indicator 1. The use of ICTs is concentrated in the search for information, development of communication and monitoring of activities through the use of digital and mobile devices. The perception of teachers is that they feel trained to use ICTs, but have difficulties in integrating them into their educational practice in an optimal way that contributes to significant student learning.

Intrinsic Factor 2. Technical and pedagogical knowledge

● Indicator 1. Lack of knowledge of the didactic-pedagogical treatment of ICTs; introducing ICTs into the educational process is not enough.

● Lack of knowledge of new ICT-supported active learning methodologies such as collaborative project-based learning (ABPC).

● Indicator 3. Scarce application of ICTs as auxiliary support tools for problem-based and collaborative learning methodologies.

● Ignorance of constructivist and cognitivist theories, and of new theoretical approaches arising from the inclusion of technology as part of our new forms of cognition, such as the theory of connectivism, a learning theory for the digital era.

Intrinsic factor 3. Teaching comfort zone

● Indicator 1. Fear of E-A methodological changes brought about by ICTs. Changing teachers' pedagogical practices and conceptions from one day to the next is a gradual process that requires time, training and a strong professional ethical commitment.

● Indicator 2. The time required for teachers to train themselves to be adequately trained in the use of ICTs, which implies an extra personal commitment of dedication.

● Indicator 3. Digital devices and tools are constantly being updated, which obliges teachers to undergo continuous and permanent training.

● Indicator 4. Work anxiety and stress caused by the use of technologies leads to a lack of interest in learning them.

● Indicator 5. Lack of habit in the use of technological tools.

Intrinsic factor 4. Teacher's self-perception of ICTs

● Indicator 1. The context, time and cultural space in which the teacher developed influences his way of learning and therefore of teaching, he considers that ICTs are not entirely necessary for the teaching-learning processes because in his generational context the technological boom was not yet exponential.

● Indicator 2. Some studies consider the academic level of the teacher as a success factor for the development of technological competence. They show that teachers with a higher level of education are more likely and open to accept new challenges and leave their comfort zone; if they do not meet them satisfactorily, they have a higher degree of resilience.

● Indicator 3. In the emotional factor, they lack self-confidence in their own technological skills because they do not know the digital language and the operational part of ICT. On the other hand, another sector feels fully confident in using ICT because they have digital skills, but they feel anxious when applying them in a didactic-pedagogical way in their classes through theoretical methods.

Another relevant aspect is that the area of technological teaching competences is less studied in Higher Secondary Education, therefore, it is considered an area of opportunity for future research at this level in order to intervene with specific proposals to address the problems of the educational context in the baccalaureate.

Conclusions

This literary balance is the result of this hermeneutic process that allows us to affirm that the appropriation and naturalization of ICT in the professional practice of teachers is undoubtedly a multifactorial process that depends both on the external context that surrounds and in which the teacher develops, as well as on an intrapersonal level, which leads to the teacher's awareness of his or her qualities, capabilities, attitudes and limitations in the use of ICT in the classroom. In the same way, the self-perception that the teacher has towards the role that technologies play in the education of the 21st century is undoubtedly conditioned by the sociocultural context in which he/she develops.

Likewise, this study determines that the acquisition of teachers' digital competence is directly related to multiple literacy processes, which include: digital literacy in web 2.0 tools and devices, an information literacy that refers to the skills for information management on the network and a technopedagogical literacy, understood as an intersection between the domain of technological instrumental knowledge and pedagogical knowledge that together help to promote a critical-reflective use of ICT that enhances the learning processes.

The purpose of this research is to recognize what are the factors that influence teachers to develop digital competencies in their educational practice? According to the literature review, teachers do not start from zero in digital competencies, they have basic ICT skills for their educational work; however, they show concern, anxiety and stress when they try to merge ICT with new pedagogies. For this reason, during ICT training, it is necessary to develop not only technical skills, there must also be an accompaniment and pedagogical follow-up that allows the teacher to reflect on the best ICT application to achieve the objectives related to professional development, learning, communication and information with society.

Another point of observation responds to the methodological axis, there are some instruments that in the planning of its design and its scope of assessment are not evaluating precisely the performance in the knowledge, know, do and be of the teacher with respect to the use of technology within the educational practice in the classroom, but rather assess the self-perception that participants have about their digital skills, so it is considered that they are not necessarily the most relevant method, since it is important to consider that the result of self-perception or self-assessment can be subjective.

Therefore, if we want to identify the degree of development or mastery that teachers have of their digital competencies in the classroom, it is necessary to understand it as the set of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to perform various tasks that enable their performance in a critical and safe way in digital environments. In this sense, then, studies should be evaluating how much they know and how much they are able to do in digital environments, instead of evaluating the self-perceptions they have about them, being this the main call for attention to future research, as well as to contribute to further consolidate a common frame of reference with standards and indicators that make up the construct of digital competence, which is undoubtedly polysemic and multifactorial.

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