The digital competence of teachers in the Canary Islands to attend to functional diversity.

Background: teachers have been identified as the cornerstone in the development of digital competences as a guarantee for reducing the digital divide among pupils. Objective: to analyse the level of digital competence of teachers in the Canary Islands with regard to the application of ICT to cater for diversity. Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study was designed with a sample of 382 teachers (100 males and 282 females). The questionnaire used was called Diagnosis and teacher training for the incorporation of ICT in students with functional diversity. Results: Global ICT knowledge scored substantially below the average of the questionnaire in all the Canary Islands. According to the initial training of the teachers, significant differences were found in all dimensions in favour of Special Education teachers (p < .05). Those with 1-3 years of experience have more ICT training (p < .05). Conclusion: there is a low level of training among all teachers in the Canary Islands with regard to the application of ICT with pupils with functional diversity. However, teachers with a specialisation in Special Education and those with less professional experience show greater ICT training. Future lines of research should shed more light on how digital training courses for teachers can have an impact on the holistic development of schoolchildren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]