The current paper presents the findings from a scoping review of international and Bulgarian research on teacher attitudes toward the implementation of ICT and their digital competences. The emphasis is on two main research questions from a comparative perspective between European and Bulgarian studies in the field: 1) How do teacher attitudes conceptualize and operationalize with regard to the educational implementation of ICT and digital competences? 2) What are the main factors related to the positive and negative teacher attitudes toward using digital practices in classroom teaching and learning? The main implication of the review is the development of an integrative framework for the study of teacher attitudes toward ICT implementation in education and the role of teacher digital competences in the process.
The review of the selected studies in the field establishes that in terms of conceptualization and operationalization of teacher attitudes in the digital sphere and the identification of the factors related to their development, there are no salient differences between the studies in the two contexts (international and Bulgarian). Studies conducted by research teams in Bulgaria follow analogous conceptual frameworks and types of research design to those carried out in a foreign language environment.
An attempt is made to summarize the objective (environmental) and subjective (intrapsychic) factors determining teacher motivation to implement digital tools and practices in education, which are important to be taken into account in future research in this field. Part of the conclusions of the reviewed research indicate an overall positive teacher attitude toward the use of digital technologies in education, however, at the same time, teachers report an explicitly high degree of anxiety accompanied by a self-awareness of insufficient competence regarding their own digital literacy. Thus, the authors propose that future research be specifically aimed at studying teacher attitudes as a complex and dynamic construct underpinning the development and maintenance of digital competence.
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