Russian School Principals' Beliefs about Digital Competences of Educational Process' Participants

Andrey Deryabin, MSc Social Psychology, Research Fellow, Center for Socialization and Personalization of Children's Education, Federal Institute for the Development of Education, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA); Teaching Assistant, Department of Sociology and Mass Communication, Novosibirsk State Technical University. Address: Bld. 1, 9 Chernyakhovskogo Str., 125319 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: deryabin-aa@ranepa.ru (corresponding author) Ilya Boytsov, PhD student, Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Economic Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Address:11 Pokrovsky Blvd, 109028 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: iboytsov@hse.ru Aleksandr Popov, Doctor of Sciences in Philosophy, Associate Professor, Head of the Open Education Research Sector, Center for Socialization and Personalization of Children's Education, Federal Institute for the Development of Education, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA); Head of the Laboratory for Competency-Based Approach in Teaching, Institute of System Projects, Moscow City University; Professor, Department of Sociology and Mass Communication, Novosibirsk State Technical University. Address: Bld. 1, 9 Chernyakhovskogo Str., 125319 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: popov-aa@ranepa.ru Pavel Rabinovich, Candidate of Sciences in Engineering, Associate Professor, Director of the Center for Project and Digital Development in Education, Institute for Social Sciences, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Address: Bld. 2, 82 Vernadskogo Ave, 119602 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: pavel@rabinovitch.ru Kirill Zavedensky, Deputy Director of the Center for Project and Digital Development in Education, Institute for Social Sciences, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Address: Bld. 2, 82 Vernadskogo Ave, 119602 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: kirillzav3@gmail.com This study investigates into Russian school principals' beliefs about the requirements that digital transformation of schools imposes on students, parents, educators and administrators. Answers to an open-ended questionnaire obtained from 7,189 schools representing all administrative districts of the Russian Federation were analyzed using natural language processing technology. Responses were categorized according to the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu). In general, responses reflect the use of information technology by the relevant groups of participants in the educational process, educators assigning the greatest significance to selection and distribution of educational content, students to information search and communication, parents to communication, control and safety, and administrators to digital interactions. However, the spectrum of digital competences attributed by respondents to every group of participants in the educational process is rather narrow. Low occurrence of most DigCompEdu framework categories in questionnaire responses allows to conclude that school principals have a poor understanding of many important dimensions of digital competences.