Hybrid Education in Catalan Secondary Schools: Digital Competence as a Key Factor

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on compulsory formal education and various responses were given to the lack of face-to-face attendance: from the most improvised (emergency remote teaching model) to more informed practices of digital education, such as the hybrid educational model. This non-experimental, descriptive-inferential study aims to investigate whether the self-perceived digital teaching skills (SDTS) by teachers (n=346) and the self- perceived digital skills (SDS) by students (n=1322) and families (n=531) from 15 secondary education schools in Catalonia are related to variables of virtual/online education in the model of hybrid education: teaching and learning activities; assessment proposals; aid provided and received to promote learning. A specific online questionnaire was prepared for each group of participants. The results indicate that a high level of SDTC by teachers is related to more innovative methodological and assessment proposals, and, in the case of students, their SDS are related with a better predisposition to learn online, while in families we found no relationship between the SDS and the help received and provided to their children. The conclusions point to the need to promote a higher level of digital teaching skills in teachers to guarantee more suitable hybrid education practices and to foster digital competences in students.