What do we know about 21st Century Skills, Technologies and Initial Teachers Training? A Scoping Literature Review

Abstract

Twenty first century skills and digital technologies have become more relevant in educational sciences, with a greater emphasis on school education, but also in teachers training. Several studies highlight its relevance to Initial Teachers Training, but also some vulnerabilities. This study aims to identify the research main trends between 2000 and 2020 on the development of competencies and the integration of digital technologies in initial teachers training. A five-stage Literature Review was conducted, based on document selection and data charting to examine the scope and nature of the most relevant studies. This methodology results in 998 references that integrate the three dimensions analyzed, whereby the dimension of competencies stood out the most with 39.67% of the references, followed by Initial Teacher Training with 31.40% and technology with 28.94%. The results reveal what are the current needs of elementary school teachers regarding the development of competencies, the strengths and vulnerabilities of initial teachers training and the enabling and conditioning factors for the integration of technologies in training.