THE RELATION BETWEEN TEACHERS’ DIGITAL LITERACY LEVELS AND THEIR SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
Abstract
Digital literacy is a fundamental skill, and its significance for teachers increased with the transition to distance education. This competence enables the effective and responsible use of digital technologies, which is expected to positively influence teachers' subjective well-being. Subjective well-being refers to an individual's positive emotions and cognitions about their own life. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the digital literacy levels and subjective well-being of teachers working in Muş Province, Türkiye. A quantitative relational survey model was used. The sample consisted of 220 teachers from public high schools. Data were collected using the Digital Literacy Assessment Scale and the Subjective Well-Being Scale. The results showed a statistically significant, weak, and positive correlation between the overall Digital Literacy Scale and the Subjective Well-being Scale. Digital literacy levels were found to significantly predict subjective well-being. Further analysis revealed no significant correlation with the School Commitment dimension. However, a positive and significant correlation was observed between all digital literacy dimensions and the Teaching Competence dimension. This indicates that high digital literacy levels enhance teaching competence, leading to increased professional satisfaction and subjective well-being. Educational institutions should support the development of teachers' digital literacy to foster their well-being.
Keywords: Digital literacy, subjective well-being, digitalization, digital literacy in education, subjective well-being in education.
Ethics and Conflict of Interest
All the rules in the "Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive" were followed in this study. None of the actions specified in the second section of the relevant directive titled "Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics" were taken. The authors declare that they acted in accordance with ethical rules in all processes of the research. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
REFERENCES
Acar, Ç. (2015). Anne ve babaların ilkokul, ortaokul ve lise öğrencisi çocukları ile kendilerinin dijital okuryazarlıklarına ilişkin görüşleri (Unpublished Master's Thesis). Ankara University.
Casal-Otero, L., Catala, A., Fernández-Morante, C. et al. (2023). AI literacy in K-12: a systematic literature review. IJ STEM Ed 10, 29 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-023-00418-7
Collie, R. J., Martin, A. J., & Gasevic, D. (2024). Teachers’ generative AI self-efficacy, valuing, and integration at work: Examining job resources and demands. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 7, Article 100333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100333
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., and Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276.-302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276.
Eshet, Y. (2002). Digital literacy: A new terminology framework and its application to the design of meaningful technology-based learning environments. P. Barker and S. Rebelsky (eds.). in: Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2002--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications. (pp. 493-498). AACE: Denver.
European Commission: Joint Research Centre (2022). DigComp 2.2, The Digital Competence framework for citizens – With new examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/115376
Gillotte, J. L. (2019). Copyright infringement in ai-generated artworks” UC Davis Law Review, 53 (5), 2655-2691.
Hofer, M., Hargittai, E., Büchi, M., & Seifert, A. (2019). Older adults’ online information seeking and subjective well-being: The moderating role of Internet skills. International Journal of Communication, 13, 1-18.
Jogezai, N. A., Koroleva, D., & Baloch, F. A. (2023). Teachers’ digital competence in the post COVID-19 era: The effects of digital nativeness, and digital leadership capital. Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(4), ep466. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/13366
Kleinert, S. (2022). Atmosphäre, Wohlbefinden und Zufriedenheit im BRU vor dem Hintergrund der Lehrer: innen-und Schüler: innenäußerungen (nach der bibor-Umfrage von 2019). A. Obermann (hrsg.). in: Wünsche, Ziele und Atmosphäre im Religionsunterricht an berufsbildenden Schulen: Ein kombinierte Lehrer: innen-Schüler: innen-Umfrage. (pp. 51-63). Waxmann: Münster.
Lankshear, C. and Knobel, M. (2006). Digital Literacy and Digital Literacies: Policy, Pedagogy and Research Considerations for Education. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy 1(1), 12-24.
Lee, D., Arnold, M., Srivastava, A., Plastow, K., Strelan, P., Ploeckl, F., Palmer, E. (2024). The impact of generative AI on higher education learning and teaching: A study of educators’ perspectives. Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence, 6, 100221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100221
Leu, D. J., Kinzer, C. K., Coiro, J. L., & Cammack, D. W. (2004). Toward a theory of new literacies emerging from the Internet and other information and communication technologies. Theoretical models and processes of reading, 5(1), 1570-1613.
Liu, Y., Zhao, L. and Su, Y. (2022). The impact of teacher competence in online teaching on perceived online learning outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak: A moderated-mediation model of teacher resilience and age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(10), 6282.
Meinel, C. (2020). Digitale kompetenzen und schulbildung. In Synapsen im digitalen Informations- und Kommunikationsnetzwerk (pp. 29–35). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-22109-6_4
Nie, P., Ma, W., & Sousa-Poza, A. (2021). The relationship between smartphone use and subjective well-being in rural China. Electronic Commerce Research, 21, 983-009.
Özerbaş, M. A., & Kuralbayeva, A. (2018). Türkiye ve Kazakistan öğretmen adaylarının dijital okuryazarlık düzeylerinin değerlendirilmesi. Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 5(1), 16-25.
Pap, Z., Maricuțoiu, L., and Vîrgă, D. (2023). Happy teacher, healthy class? Linking teachers’ subjective well-being to high-school and university students’ physical and mental health in a three-level longitudinal study. Social Psychology Education 26, 811–831. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09768-0.
Perifanou, M., Neophytou, L., Petrova, Z., Gomez, N. C. and Antoniou, F. (2019). Investigating teachers’confidence and training needs on digital literacy across four european countries, INTED2019 Proceedings, March 11-13, 2019, Spain. 6808-6817.
Rahman, T., Amalia, A. and Aziz, Z. (2021). From Digital Literacy to Digital Intelligence, 4th International Conference on Sustainable Innovation 2020–Social, Humanity, and Education (ICoSIHESS 2020), October 13-14, 2020, Virtual. 154-159.
Rastegar, N., & Rahimi, M. (2023). Teachers’ post-pandemic outlook on the role of Technological and Pedagogical Content Knowledge in coping with burnout under adverse conditions: How a job demand transformed into a job resource. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1129910. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129910
Picton, I., & Clark, C. (2024). Teachers’ use of generative AI to support literacy in 2024. National Literacy Trust. ERIC Number: ED660537. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED660537
Polizzi, Gianfranco (2020) Digital literacy and the national curriculum for England: learning from how the experts engage with and evaluate online content. Computers and Education, 152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103859
Renshaw, T. L., Long, A. C., & Cook, C. R. (2015). Assessing adolescents’ positive psychological functioning at school: Development and validation of the student subjective wellbeing questionnaire”. School psychology quarterly, 30(4), 534.
Shi, L. (2025). Assessing teachers’ generative artificial intelligence competencies: Instrument development and validation. Education and Information Technologies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-025-13684-5
Wickramasinghe, M., & Jayatilleke, A. (2021). The impact of information and communication technology usage on psychological well-being among undergraduates. 8. 77-99.
Zhou, H., Zhang, X., Ge, C., Wang, J., & Sun, X. (2023). Does ınternet use boost the sustainable subjective well-being of rural residents? Evidence from rural China. Sustainability, 15(2), 1652.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 by Şevket GÜNGÖR, Nejat İRA

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


