Research on the Construction of a Digital Literacy Assessment Model for Higher Vocational College Teachers in the Context of Building a Strong Education System

Abstract

The pursuit of building a leading education system has imposed new demands on vocational education to cultivate high-caliber technical and skilled professionals; consequently, teachers' digital literacy has become a key determinant of the success or failure of the digital transformation in vocational education. Building upon a clear delineation of the core connotations and extensions of teachers' digital literacy in higher vocational education, this study systematically examines the theoretical underpinnings of the Ministry of Education's Industry Standard for Teachers' Digital Literacy (JY/T 0646-2022), the EU DigCompEdu Framework, the UNESCO Information and Communication Technology Competency Framework (ICT-CFT), and relevant OECD evaluation indicators. Integrating these frameworks with the practical characteristics of "type-specific education" in vocational training, the study proposes a "Three Domains and Nine Dimensions" knowledge and skill model framework for higher vocational teachers' digital literacy-comprising the Knowledge Foundation Domain, Digital Competence Domain, and Digital Identity Domain. Based on this framework, a comprehensive evaluation indicator system is constructed, consisting of 5 primary indicators, 14 secondary indicators, and 36 tertiary observation points. At the mechanism level, the study designs a four-dimensional linkage mechanism encompassing "vocational standards – training – evaluation – incentives," advocating the use of standards as the guiding force, training as the supporting foundation, evaluation as the leverage, and incentives as the driving motivation to establish a dynamic digital literacy development system that adapts to technological evolution, aligns deeply with the distinctive features of vocational education, and effectively stimulates endogenous motivation. An empirical validation was conducted using a sample of 186 full-time teachers from higher vocational institutions; the results demonstrate that the evaluation model exhibits strong reliability, validity, and discriminant power, enabling it to effectively identify structural gaps in teachers' digital literacy, provide a basis for targeted training and personalized professional development, and offer both theoretical and practical insights for the systematic enhancement of teachers' digital literacy within higher vocational institutions in the context of China's efforts to build a leading education system.