Teachers’ professional digital competence: exploring issues of social justice and fairness

Ann Marcus-Quinn

Chapter 5 in Reimagining Teacher Digital Competence, 2025, pp 60-76 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines the complex role of technology in both mitigating and exacerbating educational inequalities, particularly within socio-economic and demographic contexts. While digital tools are often lauded for their transformative potential in education, access to these tools is mediated by both technical and social factors. This chapter argues that digital competence must therefore be understood as contextually sensitive, flexible and adaptable, rather than as a fixed set of skills. Recognizing that digital inclusion demands more than just technical solutions, it calls for a deep understanding of universal design principles and diverse modes of communication. Furthermore, critical digital literacy emerges as a crucial competency, empowering learners not only to utilize digital tools but also to critically assess their impact. In this context, teachers play a pivotal role in fostering digital competence among students, highlighting the need for educators to approach the digital transformation agenda with a critical mindset that prioritizes social justice, inclusion and fairness. This chapter will explore the social dimension of digital competencies and the gap between rhetoric and reality.

Keywords: Digital competencies; Educational inequalities; Digital inclusion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035337507
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035337514.00011 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23499_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().