Navigating digital skills contradictions with boys’ secondary school students: The teachers’ perspective

Students’ digital skills development seems to be a pertinent issue as we progress into the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and involves student readiness for Education 4.0. However, literature pertaining to digital skills development is often positioned in Higher Education (HE) and often reports on the lack of students' digital skills. Factors such as poor infrastructure and insufficient teachers’ continuous professional development (CPD) have been reported as reasons for this underdevelopment. However, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), government schools are well-resourced and serviced by digitally skilled practitioners who are regularly offered CPD, yet students’ digital skills still seem underdeveloped. As such, this paper aims to add to the discussion in the literature by focusing on secondary school teachers’ perspectives on the challenges they face when developing students’ digital skills. Underpinned by Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the study employed a case study methodology using semi-structured group interviews with four teachers from Creative Computer Design and Innovation (CCDI), English, Math and Science. Themes relating to the lack of students’ digital and basic literacy skills, students’ attitudes and behaviours, and organisational policy emerged as challenges teachers experience whilst trying to develop students' digital skills. Consequently, the paper recommends addressing these challenges through policies that work in tandem with each other to improve digital skills within this and wider contexts.Keywords: digital skills; students; teachers; Cultural Historical Activity Theory; CHAT; ASM; Activity System Analysis; contradictionsPart of the Special Issue Activity theory in technology enhanced learning research (part 2) <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.a88579e2>