Exploring the students’ digital competence development in the education policies of Singapore and Estonia
Nizyev, Valentyn (2022)
Nizyev, Valentyn
2022
Master's Programme in Leadership for Change
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-03-16
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202202212075
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202202212075
Tiivistelmä
It is not a surprise to anyone that the today’s world lives in the era of increasingly rapid technological progress. The increasing number of governments around the world aim to enhance students’ digital competence development starting as early as from pre-school education level. The necessity is recognized to focus the education policy not only on promoting technical skills but also communication and collaboration skills, digital safety, content-creation, innovation, problem-solving, and responsible use of the Internet and digital tools.
The purpose of this thesis is to describe and compare how the governments of Singapore and Estonia approach the development of students’ digital competence at pre-school, primary, and secondary education levels. For this, a text-based analysis of the education policies of both governments was conducted from the perspective of different digital competence areas.
The analytical framework was developed on the basis of the literature review and existing digital competence frameworks. Seven areas of digital competence were used to analyze different elements of education policies, namely the ‘Devices and software operation’, ‘Information and data literacy’, ‘Communication and collaboration’, ‘Digital content creation’, ‘Safety’, ‘Problem solving and continuing learning’, and ‘Career-related competences’. The examined elements of the education policies included government programmes, initiatives, school curricula as well as activities aimed at enhancing digital infrastructure in schools.
The findings from this study show that both governments in their education policies equally emphasize the students’ digital competence development in the Devices and software operation, and Information and data literacy areas. However, the government of Estonia approaches the students digital competence development by prioritizing the competences in the ‘Communication and collaboration’, ‘Digital content creation’, and ‘Problem solving and continuing learning’ areas. The Singaporean education policy, in turn, takes a more holistic approach with regard to the students’ digital competence development. In terms of a variety and number of the learning activities represented in their education policy elements, the focus is almost equally spread over all seven digital competence areas. Furthermore, the findings reveal the difference in the ways in which the two governments approach the students’ development of digital competences in the ‘Career-related competences’ area. The analysis of the Singaporean policy elements show that the government puts comparatively more efforts into ensuring a smoother transition of students into the labor marker upon their graduation from upper-secondary schools. In addition, the findings show that the Estonian government places a lesser priority on the development of students’ digital competences in the ‘Safety’ area.
The purpose of this thesis is to describe and compare how the governments of Singapore and Estonia approach the development of students’ digital competence at pre-school, primary, and secondary education levels. For this, a text-based analysis of the education policies of both governments was conducted from the perspective of different digital competence areas.
The analytical framework was developed on the basis of the literature review and existing digital competence frameworks. Seven areas of digital competence were used to analyze different elements of education policies, namely the ‘Devices and software operation’, ‘Information and data literacy’, ‘Communication and collaboration’, ‘Digital content creation’, ‘Safety’, ‘Problem solving and continuing learning’, and ‘Career-related competences’. The examined elements of the education policies included government programmes, initiatives, school curricula as well as activities aimed at enhancing digital infrastructure in schools.
The findings from this study show that both governments in their education policies equally emphasize the students’ digital competence development in the Devices and software operation, and Information and data literacy areas. However, the government of Estonia approaches the students digital competence development by prioritizing the competences in the ‘Communication and collaboration’, ‘Digital content creation’, and ‘Problem solving and continuing learning’ areas. The Singaporean education policy, in turn, takes a more holistic approach with regard to the students’ digital competence development. In terms of a variety and number of the learning activities represented in their education policy elements, the focus is almost equally spread over all seven digital competence areas. Furthermore, the findings reveal the difference in the ways in which the two governments approach the students’ development of digital competences in the ‘Career-related competences’ area. The analysis of the Singaporean policy elements show that the government puts comparatively more efforts into ensuring a smoother transition of students into the labor marker upon their graduation from upper-secondary schools. In addition, the findings show that the Estonian government places a lesser priority on the development of students’ digital competences in the ‘Safety’ area.