Multivariate analysis of teachers’ digital information skills - The importance of available resources

Digital information skills are prerequisites for success in the information society. Previous research on 21st century skills has shown that digital skills evolve sequentially, building on digital information skills, making them the key to future skills that teachers should acquire and be able to pass on to future generations. In the research on digital skills, shortcomings of bivariate approaches have been widely identified and interest has largely shifted to multivariate methods. However, the development of effective targeted interventions still requires a deeper understanding of the social resources of individuals and the interdependencies of predictors. This study examined the extent to which sociodemographic factors and available resources predict digital information skills and which subgroups emerge as potential targets for interventions, by analysing the interdependence of the predictor variables. The empirical data used in the study consisted of 4988 Finnish teachers' questionnaire responses and performance test results. Utilising the multiple regression analysis, the study found that digital activity and age explain most of the variation in teachers' digital information skills. Their effect was found to be the inverse of each other, with abundant digital activity increasing and age reducing teachers’ mastery of these skills. Digital self-efficacy and in-service training also emerged as promising predictors, highlighting that teachers' information skills are explained more strongly by the available resources than by sociodemographic factors. At the end, the practical significance and recommendations for more targeted interventions as well as for further research are considered on the basis of the results obtained.