Digital citizenship education: Perceptions on the concept, self-reported competences and practices of Georgian school society

Abstract

The project ‘Digital Citizenship in General Education Schools in Georgia: Challenges and Ways of Implementation’ aimed to understand to what extent were teachers, students and parents aware of the Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) concept, whether teachers felt competent to implement it in the classroom and what DCE activities were carried out there. Data were collected from 1954 individuals, among teachers (205), students (972), parents and guardians (777), following an exploratory sequential design (qualitative followed by quantitative), and data analysis exposed that even half of the school society members claim to be aware of the DCE concept, they lack the right competences to apply them in their daily practice. Considering the project, two guides were created, one for teachers and one for parents, both aligned with the Georgian curriculum. Both documents aim to raise awareness of DCE and become key resources in training teachers and other educators.