Who Teaches Older Adults? Pedagogical and Digital Competence of Facilitators in Mexico and Spain
Digital inclusion has become an essential component in ensuring the autonomy, social participation, and well-being of older adults. However, their learning of digital skills de-pends to a large extent on the quality of support provided by the facilitator, whose age, training, and experience directly...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| Repositorio: | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:idus.us.es:11441/181395 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/11441/181395 https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15010047 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Digital literacy Older adults Facilitators Pedagogical skill Digital competence Digital inclusion |
| Sumario: | Digital inclusion has become an essential component in ensuring the autonomy, social participation, and well-being of older adults. However, their learning of digital skills de-pends to a large extent on the quality of support provided by the facilitator, whose age, training, and experience directly influence teaching processes and how older adults relate to technology. This study compares the digital competences, and ICT skills of 107 facilita-tors of digital literacy programs, classified into three groups: peer educators (PEERS), young students without gerontological training (YOS), and young gerontology specialists (YGS). A quantitative design was used. Statistical analyses included non-parametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney, Kendall’s Tau) and parametric tests (ANOVA, t-tests), to examine associations between socio-demographic variables, the level of digital compe-tence, and ICT skills for teachers (technological and pedagogical). The results show clear differences between profiles. YOS achieved the highest scores in digital competence, es-pecially in problem-solving and tool handling. The YGS achieved a balanced profile, com-bining competent levels of digital skills with pedagogical strengths linked to their geron-tological training. In contrast, PEERS recorded the lowest levels of digital competence, particularly in security and information management; nevertheless, their role remains rel-evant for fostering trust and closeness in training processes among people of the same age. It was also found that educational level is positively associated with digital compe-tence in all three profiles, while age showed a negative relationship only among PEERS. The findings highlight the importance of creating targeted training courses focusing on digital, technological, and pedagogical skills to ensure effective, tailored teaching meth-ods for older adults |
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