Digital Competence Framework

However even though play is important in a child’s life the world is becoming increasingly digital which means a child needs to become skillful and digitally aware in order for them to thrive in a modern world. The digital competence framework is a “one of 3 cross-curricular responsibilities, alongside literacy and numeracy” (Learning Wales, 2018). The Digital Competence Framework aims at developing digital skills but these skills will be able to be applied to a variety of subjects. The Digital Competence Framework was developed by practitioners from pioneer schools and external experts. The Framework consists of four strands which are all important, to go with their elements within the strands. The four strands are; citizenship, interacting and collaborating, producing and data and computational thinking.

The Digital Competence Framework will enable children to develop their own skills and will enable children to understand their health and wellbeing while online but also ensure that they know how to treat others while online. Children will learn how to behave online while taking other people’s feelings and actions in account when learning things like cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is a modern issue which many children experience “around 1 in 8 young children have been bullied on social media” (Ofcom, 2017).

Due to “1 in 3 internet users” being children (Livingstone, 2015) it is important that teachers embed this in to their curriculum and lessons just as much as they do with English and maths. The Digital Competence Framework needs to be as important as the Literacy and Numeracy Framework within a child educational journey. If it is brought in early it will become embedded within the child and they should be given plenty of opportunities and resources to practice their use of the Digital Framework in order to use it effectively.