Teacher's Digital Competence for Reducing Digital Divide: Comparative Study Between Spain and Costa Rica

The immersion of society in the digital age has caused unstoppable transformations such as continuous connectivity, big data or artificial intelligence, which imply a technological mediation in all human interactions and which require training in specific skills. The main objective of the study focuses on conducting an international comparative analysis between two countries within different contexts, Spain and Costa Rica, to demonstrate that the globalization of ICT and connectivity have made teachers a cornerstone in the development of digital skills as they are a guarantee for the reduction of the digital gap in the use and not in the access. Using a quantitative methodology of descriptive-correlational character, five study constructs were analyzed in a sample of 126 teachers from both countries. The results show that despite the political, social and educational differences in each country, the perception of teachers is not so different. The main conclusion is that teachers in both countries feel confident in their digital skills, are motivated, understand that the educational system does not respond to current needs, and they feel that a specific curricular inclusion of the subject is needed in formal education.