1 Introduction

Digital competences (DCs) are essential skills for lifelong learning according to the Comisión Europea (European Commission in English) (2018) and refer to the ability to use digital technologies (DTs) critically, responsibly and safely in the academic, work and social fields. DCs entail multiple skills and attitudes that allow people to function today. The definition of DCs takes into account multiple skills and attitudes, which encompass the use of DTs in different areas of society (Krumsvik, 2012). DCs imply a complex literacy system that includes technological, informational, multimedia, and communication skills (Ferrari, 2013).

The digital divide relates very closely to the development of DCs and the difference between those who can use DTs to learn and communicate and those who cannot. This capacity determines the opportunities that people have in a society which depend on knowledge and information (Hidalgo & Gisbert, 2021; He & Zhu, 2017).

The incorporation of DCs in secondary and higher education is, therefore, a skill for permanent learning, which allows students to develop their autonomy and learning, using the potential of DTs for their training. Consequently, the incorporation of DCs into secondary and higher education in Chile has a positive impact on the development of skills and competencies necessary for the future of students and for society as a whole. Much of the research conducted in Chile thus far has focused on DCs and teacher digital competences (TDCs) only in general terms (Recio et al., 2020; Silva et al., 2019). Thus, it is important to assess DCs in students entering the university system, both to better adapt the teaching they will receive in their respective programmes, and to propose action plans accordingly to help the new generations that are formed in the school system.

According to Valdebenito (2023), from UNESCO, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) contributes to enhancing equal access conditions to education, employment, entrepreneurship, and decent work as it is an essential pillar for equity, productivity, and the countries’ sustainability. Currently, this does not seem to be the case in Chile, which is why policies aimed to develop skills for the job market and greater productivity are much needed, together with policies aimed to increase social integration and lifelong learning.

Latin American countries have committed to addressing these challenges by promoting more TVET. We require policies that focus on developing competences, which must be included in the working world, and on boosting the productivity in difficult situations, as well as on providing access opportunities, social inclusion, and the development of institutional programs that promote lifelong learning.

In different Latin American countries, TVET has an institutional framework in charge of the ministers of education, regulated by general education and higher education legal frameworks. In Argentina and Colombia, specific legislation regulates the TVET. In addition, in countries like Costa Rica, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador there are technical-vocational institutes responsible for the public policy in this area (Valdebenito, 2023).

The primary purpose of this study is to uncover and describe the digital competences of Year 1 university students coming from two different secondary school pathways, namely TVSE and SHSE, considering the five dimensions used by the European Commission’s digital competence standards and its 21 related competence indicators.

2 Theoretical framework

In Chile, the differentiation between secondary schooling pathways, namely technical-vocational secondary education (TVSE), scientific-humanistic secondary education (SHSE) dates back to the “Educational Reform of 1965” (Decree No. 27,952), originally intended to modernize and diversify the country’s educational system contingent to the then social and economic needs (Ministry of Education, 2021). However, the actual foundations of the current educational system were laid during the Military Dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that, as part of a process of significant changes marked by the implementation of neoliberal policies.

One of the most significant changes introduced by Pinochet’s regime was the decentralization of the educational system. Before the dictatorship, education was highly centralized in the Ministry of Education. However, with the Constitutional Organic Law of Education (COLoE) of 1980, the administration of public schools was transferred to local governments, which allowed for greater autonomy and flexibility in educational management, accompanied by socio-economic segregation, which widened the gap in the access and quality of education based on socio-economic status. (Aguilera, 2015). The educational reform in Chile privatized education and led to a steady deterioration of quality of education as a result (Espinoza & González, 1993).

Regarding the TVET high schools, these were handed over to educational corporations created by business associations before the educational reform of the 1980s. Despite the fact that the State continued to finance them with generous subsidies, school enrollment stagnated and the quality of teaching plummeted. Technical education was devalued due to the preference of families for general instruction and the professional opportunities that were opening up for their children. Thus, it can be concluded that TVET prepared young people for the world of work, yet underwent from blatant neglect (Cabaluz, 2015).

2.1 Technical and vocational education in Chile

Fig. 1
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Secondary school enrolement 1970–2016. Prepared by authors on the basis of the data provided by the Ministry of Education

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As can be seen in Fig. 1, the policies incorporated by the Military regime in the 1980’s had a negative effect on the enrollment of TVET students, despite the fact that it was a type of education that presumably suited the interests of the regime in that it would prepare the young people for the job market. This training scheme was meant to link young people more closely with the productive world, which would help boost the country’s economic development. Also, TVET was also looked upon as an alternative for those students who could not access a university education, either for economic reasons or for academic performance.

The TVET underwent significant transformations which originated when vocational training schools changed to companies and private foundations aiming to reflect the economic needs in accordance with the educational offer (Núñez, 1984). The reform implemented during the Military Dictatorship for the TVET secondary education was based on two principles. First, the students and their families chose TVET based on rational criteria considering the workforce needed by society and the profitability of the investment in education. Second, the competitive funding scheme per capita on behalf of the State would compel TVET suppliers to develop proper specializations to meet the production needs, making the programs more appealing for families. Nonetheless, these assumptions did not work out as expected and the systemic deregulation rendered many of the specializations offered by TVET institutions utterly irrelevant (Valiente et al., 2021).

The enrollment in secondary TVET decreased between 1981 and 1987 and then spiked up again, mainly, since it became the only real possibility for socioeconomic disadvantaged learners. For lower income social classes, the Chilean university system was not a feasible option (Matear, 2006).

Later, in 1990 there was a political régime change and center-left governments from the Coalition of Parties for Democracy began to rule. The social and economic model established during the Military Dictatorship was maintained, notwithstanding a series of attempts to “humanize” the system (Arenas, 2006). The main slogan was “growth with equity”. In addition, the market model integrated in the education remained; however, different countervailing policies aiming to improve the equity levels in the educational system were developed simultaneously (Arenas, 2006).

Greater investment in all educational levels was geared towards improving the training of human capital as it was considered a key element in productivity and social inclusion. However, secondary TVET failed to produce the expected results in accordance with the investment that had been made. TVET features problems of inequity, inefficiency, and poor quality; it failed to reflect the needs of the labor market and the demands of the modern world of information and knowledge (Brunner, 1995). This view was supported by ECLAC-UNESCO (1992), which reported a significant imbalance in Chile between the TVET offer and labor market’s requirements, where irrelevant training programs, resistance to change, untrained teachers, and lack of communication could be observed.

In 1998, an education reform was introduced, which aimed to solve the secondary technical and vocational training problems; it sought to align the TVSE with the needs and requirements of specific production sectors and introduce training in the last two years of secondary education (Sevilla, 2014). Nonetheless, issues of TVSE relevance remained the same, together with the low social prestige associated with this education system. Thus, the objectives of the 1998’s reform were not achieved despite higher enrollment in higher education. Indeed, between 1990 and 2009, the undergraduate student enrollment increased from 127,133 to 535,643 (321%), while the enrolment in higher education institutions of TVET increased from 117,780 students to 299,604 (154%) (Espinoza & González, 2013). On the other hand, notwithstanding the TVSE held almost 40% of the secondary students, it was still looked upon as a lower quality alternative for being disjointed of the production system, misaligned with college education and the only choice for the most disadvantaged families of the society to access education.

Nowadays, academic results obtained by TVSE students are still rather poor compared to those obtained by SHSE ones. This gap cannot be attributed exclusively to the educational institutions quality which provide this type of education model, since there are also sociocultural factors that have an impact on such results, as Arroyo and Pacheco (2018) report. In the Chilean educational system, which has been characterized by social segregation (Míguez et al., 2022), poor TVSE results are affected by the students’ poor cultural capital associated to greater vulnerability and previous low academic performance (Arroyo & Pacheco, 2018).

2.2 Digital competences

Digital competences (DCs) can be defined as a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, strategies, and values that allow users to take greater advantages of the digital technologies (DTs) to perform tasks, solve problems and communicate effectively (Ferrari, 2013). DCs have been identified as one of the eight key skills for life, along with native language communication, foreign language communication, mathematical competence, and basic competences in science and technology; also, equally important are the ability to learn how to learn, social and civic competences, sense of initiative, and entrepreneurial spirit (European Council, 2006). The European Commission (2018) regards DCs as some of the basic competences for life-long learning and refer to the safe use of DTs in a critical and responsible manner in the academic, working, and social domains of life.

There are diverse competences certification programs, developed and promoted by government and non-government organizations. The European Computer Driving License (ECDL), also known as International Computer Digital Literacy (ICDL), is a computer knowledge certification program related to the essential ability that an average user should have to use information technologies (ECDL, 2023). In addition, Dig-Comp is a framework of digital competences created by the European Commission, which proposes a combination of DCs for all individuals. The Dig-Comp framework created a vision of what is needed in terms of competences to overcome the challenges that digitalization brings in almost every aspect of modern life (European Commission, 2018). It sought to create a common language that can be used to perform tasks that range from policy formulation, goal setting to planning, evaluation and teaching monitoring. Dig-Com identifies five areas of DCs, viz. information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, network safety, and problem solving. The first three areas refer to competences that can be perceived in specific use and activities. The last two are transversal since they are applied to any kind of activity performed by digital means. Figure 2 presents Five areas of DCs according to Dig-com.

Fig. 2
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Five areas of DCs according to DigComp. Taken from DigComp 2.2 (Vuorikari et al., 2022)

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DCs are particularly important in the university realm, where students need to develop skills relating to autonomy. (Sánchez-Caballé et al., 2021). DCs relate closely to the teaching and learning process in higher education (Jiménez-Cortes et al., 2017; Carrera & Coiduras, 2012; Castañeda et al., 2018) and create a new learning perspective evidenced in the skills, abilities, and knowledge that a person learns and needs to improve in the training process (INTEF, 2017; Castañeda, 2018; Krumsvik, 2012).

3 Method

The general objective of this investigation was to describe the level of DCs of first year undergraduate students in a Chilean state-run university, by type of secondary school pathways they came from, namely technical-vocational education or scientific-humanistic education.

The specific objectives are as follows:

  • To describe the level of DCs in first year students from a state-run university, by type of secondary school pathways they come from.

  • To describe the relationship between the education that first year students from a state-run university received and the level of DCs, by gender, degree course, and years of experience in the use of technology.

It is worth noting that in this investigation, Year-1 students were selected since it is of great interest to diagnose DCs at the initial stage of the higher education learning process in order to act upon such results and further DCs throughout the university training.

3.1 The instrument

There exist several tools to assess DCs in university students, such as INCOTIC 2.0, which was developed in Spain and designed to self-assess DCs in first year students. In Latin America, a modified version is used, the INCOTIC-LA, which is at an experimental stage and is being widely used in Latin American universities. Another tool is ACUTIC, designed to study university students’ attitudes towards Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (Mirete et al., 2015).

Many of the current methodologies employed to assess DCs among students rely on self-reporting, leading to an overestimation of their perceived abilities compared to their actual demonstrated skills. To address this issue, this study utilizes a specialized tool called CompDig-Ped, an abbreviation for ‘Pedagogical Digital Competences’ in Spanish, which draws heavily on the DigComp framework. DigComp encompasses five dimensions and 21 competences, offering various proficiency levels linked to competence performance in educational and professional settings.

The CompDig-Ped was originally designed for implementation among teacher education students, which explains the pedagogical connotation as part of the denomination; nevertheless, the digital competences it encompasses are relevant to all fields of knowledge.

The CompDig-Ped was designed as a standard evaluation instrument which, - as opposed to ordinary rating scales – elicits responses in specific scenarios where DCs are applied, making it possible to yield correct or incorrect results. This instrument was validated by using it with first year teacher education students in Chilean state universities. Furthermore, it continues to be used at the state-run university where this study was conducted to measure DCs of first year students of various areas. This study is based on the data gathered in 2022.

As previously mentioned, the data collection tool utilized in this study heavily relies on DigComp. The reason for choosing DigComp lies in its comprehensive and all-encompassing approach. This framework takes into account not only technical expertise but also cognitive, emotional, and social abilities necessary for proficiently utilizing digital technology in diverse situations. These distinctive qualities have established DigComp as a widely accepted and utilized model for evaluating and enhancing digital competencies in individuals, organizations, and educational establishments.

In this study, a non-experimental, cross-sectional, mixed methods design was used. In addition, the instrument’s validity was safeguarded (American Educational Research Association, 2014) through the development of three stages: First, the instrument was designed. Second, it was applied on representative sample. Third, empirical analysis of validity evidence was gathered.

In order to ensure accuracy and content validity, the questions were validated through expert judgment (Cabero & Llorente, 2013). Conducting content analysis allowed the specialists to make decisions about the clarity of instructions and the item wording, freedom from bias and construction of response categories (Olson, 2010). Five experts in the field of higher education, four from Chile and one from Spain, participated in the process, which was carried out by using validation scales, wherein each expert evaluated with a Yes (1) or a No (0) the following validity conditions: appropriateness, relevance, and wording. Based on the scores assigned by the experts, the overall quality of the items was established, obtaining variations from 73 to 100%. Consequently, the instrument was made up of the three highest rated items for each of the indicators that were previously evaluated by the experts, which rated over 80% of the assessment. After that, the test-type evaluation instrument, composed of closed and multiple-choice items was generated. The test considered specific situations of DT uses in the academic and personal context according to the local reality. The final version of the instrument was made up of 63 items, three items for each of the 21 indicators, distributed over five dimensions, viz. dimension 1: digital information and literacy, 9 items, from 1 to 9; dimension 2: online communication and collaboration, 18 items, from 10 to 27; dimension 3: digital content creation, 12 items, from 28 to 39, dimension 4: network security, 12 items, from 40 to 51 and dimension 5: problem solving, 12 items, from 52 to 63.

In order to ensure reliability of the instrument, the test CompDig-Ped was evaluated using the Kuder-Richardson-21 indicator (McGahee & Ball, 2009), showing that the consistency of the responses obtained at the total level was acceptable (KR-21 = 0.60). Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0,7) indicated the reliability level of the questionnaire was good. In addition, the test level of difficulty was adequate (LD = 55.06%).

Bartlett’s test of sphericity was used to analyze the CompDig-Ped items’ associations indicating they were significant (X2(210) = 696.305, p < .001). Additionally, the sampling adequacy Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test was higher than the 0.6 critical value (KMO = 0.796). The results of both tests showed high correlations among the indicators, indicating factor analysis using the gathered data was feasible to carry out.

A parallel analysis method was used in the exploratory factor analysis to determine the optimal number of factors. According to the international referential framework, it was concluded that the factors correlated (i.e., DCs dimensions); hence, oblique rotation was used (i.e., oblimin). Factor and parallel analysis revealed that the indicators reported mostly low factor loadings (< 0.40); consequently, conducting one-factor analysis was suitable. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted after the exploratory factor analysis was carried out. Considering the ordinal nature of the indicators, Weighted Least Squares (WLSM) was used as a robust estimation method which is more suitable for data that is not distributed ordinally and normally. The recommendation provided by the parallel analysis was confirmed by WLSM and a one-factor model was specified, in which the indicators associated to the network security dimension were measured individually and not through statistical calculation applied to the dimension as a whole.

Table 1 shows how the instrument is composed and the highest scores per dimension. Indicator 1 considers the first three items, indicator 2 the following three ones and so on and so forth. The items were marked as “correct” (0 point) or “incorrect” (1 point). Thus, the range of possible scores for the indicators ranges from 0 to 3, and for the overall instrument the score ranges from 0 to 63.

Table 1 CompDig-Ped instrument
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3.2 Participants

Participation in the research was voluntary; informed consent was sought from Year-1 students. The instrument was then administered over a one-month period, while mandatory diagnostic tests from the Ministry of Education of Chile were being conducted. The instrument was digitally completed in the laboratory.

The sample of this study was made up of 1,919 higher education students (Table 2) pursuing undergraduate programs of a state-run university,; 48.8% (937) was female, 49.6% (952) was male, while 1.6% (30) identified themselves as “other”. Regarding the faculties in which the students were enrolled, 9.6% (184) belonged to Medical Science, 4.3% (83) to Biology and Chemistry, 3.7% (71) to Law, 5.7% (109) to Science, 34.2% (656) to Engineering, 15.1% (290) to Economics and management, 15.1 (289) to Humanities, 6.4% (123) to Technologist, 2.1% (40) to Architecture and 3.9% (74) to Bachelor. Table 2 presents the features of the sample.

Table 2 Study sample
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3.3 Procedure

As stated earlier, participation in the research was voluntary. The instrument was completed digitally in the laboratory using a link provided. It was applied to Year 1 students of all the different programmes from a state-run university, at the beginning of the academic year, a process which spanned one month.

3.4 Data analysis

One-way ANOVA test was performed in SPSS (V 23.0) to evaluate the mean differences in the scores obtained in the CompDig-Ped indicators according to digital information and literacy, online communication and collaboration, digital content creation, network security and problem-solving dimensions, in the sample, according to the type of secondary school pathways students came from. Tukey post-hoc tests were performed to determine the pairs of variables among which the statistically significant differences detected by the ANOVA test.

The choice of one-way ANOVA was made on the basis of its ability to simultaneously compare three or more groups, thus allowing for the efficient identification of significant differences among them. Furthermore, a two-way ANOVA was used to determine if there was any interaction between the educational institution and gender, and the sample’s faculty and years of experience using DT variables.

4 Results

4.1 General results and descriptive statistics per indicator

In this study, 1,919 students participated. Considering that each indicator ranges from 0 to 3 points, and that the overall test, which consists of 21 indicators from 0 to 63, the test overall average was 38.06 points. The lowest score was 17 points, while the highest was 56 points. The standard deviation was 5.68. Table 3 shows the general results by type of secondary school pathway students come from.

Table 3 Overall results by type of s secondary school pathways students come from
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Regarding the type of secondary school pathways, ANOVA analysis indicated significant differences in the F digital competence group results (2, 1916) = 33.84, p > .001. Meanwhile, Turkey post-hoc analysis showed that SHSE students obtained higher scores than TVSE (p < .001) IC 95% [1.68, 3.28] and ‘other’ types of secondary school pathway (p < .001) IC 95% [2.10, 7.49].

4.2 Results by type of secondary school pathway and indicator

Regarding the type of secondary school pathways students come from, namely technical-vocational secondary education (TVSE), scientific-humanistic education (SHSE) or other, ANOVA results revealed significant differences were found in the means of 14 digital competence indicators out of 21 as can be observed in Table 4.

Table 4 Indicators: Descriptive statistics and statistical significance
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Table 4 shows that the indicator with the highest mean was device protection (2.43), in the network security dimension, and that the one with the lowest mean was programming (1.02) in the digital content creation dimension. The indicator with the highest standard deviation was copyright (.901), in the digital content creation dimension and that the lowest one was digital data, information, and content management (.603), in the network security dimension. Tables 5 and 6 provide comparisons between students from different school pathways.

Table 5 Indicators with statistically significant differences for the SHSE school pathway compared to the ‘other’ schooling pathways
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Table 6 Indicators with statistically significant differences for the SHSE school pathway compared to the TVSE
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It is worth noting that ANOVA analysis indicated statistically significant differences in sharing through digital technologies and personal data and privacy protection indicators. However, these differences were not found in the Turkey post-hoc analysis.

4.3 Relationship between secondary school pathways and other variables

According to two-way ANOVA results, no significant interactions were found between secondary school pathways and gender, nor between secondary school pathways and students’ faculty variables. However, interactions were found between secondary school pathways and years of experience using DTs was found (F (6) = 2.17, p = .043) as can be seen in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3
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Interactions between secondary school pathways and years of experience

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As Fig. 3 shows, SHSE students reported higher scores in DC when years of experience scores also increased; meanwhile, this tendency is not clear in TVSE students nor in students who studied in other type of secondary school pathway.

5 Discussion

This study sought to describe the DCs level of first year students pursuing undergraduate programs in a state-run university based on secondary school pathways students came from. This objective was set due to the relevance of DCs in higher education learning and the students’ prospective navigation in modern society.

In relation to the DCs dimensions measured with the CompDig-Ped instrument, namely Information and digital literacy, Communication and collaboration, Digital content creation, Network security and Problem solving, there are indicators with statistically significant higher means associated with students coming from SHSE, while there are no indicators with higher means in students coming from TVSE. The findings also indicate that it is possible to identify a common feature in the indicators of these dimensions, in which SHSE students reported statistically significant higher means. That feature relates to higher mean scores associated with SHSE students’ exploratory, creative and collaborative skills, while indicators that did not show differences between the two groups tended to be related to a more defined type of performance, which might suggest that indicators that involve greater creative and exploratory skills are the ones that differentiate groups coming from SHSE and TVSE secondary school pathways. Also, interactions between years of experience and DCs development means were observed in the SHSE group. As the experience increased, DC mean scores increased.

Although from a statistical point of view, the results cannot be extrapolated to the rest of universities nor to the TVSE as a whole, they seem congruent with the challenges and shortcomings that have been identified and described in Chilean technical-vocational education for several decades. Due to the characteristics of the Chilean educational system, TVSE has increasingly become the option selected by less advantaged socioeconomic groups in Chile, without offering opportunities for social mobility. According to the Educational and Working Trajectories of TVSE students research (CEM, 2020), from 2008 to 2018, the highest percentage of TVSE graduates belong to low and middle-low socioeconomic status (SES). Low SES has been the only group which has continued to group the high percentage of graduates in ten years, reaching almost 80%. In relation to low and middle-low SES groups, the percentage of graduates has dropped, while the high SES group does not feature TVSE students.

Although the rate of TVSE graduates who enrolled in higher educational institutions significatively increased from 2008 to 2018, the dropout rate is higher than those students who graduated from SHSE. In relation to the working trajectories, a phenomenon occurred from 2008 to 2018: The average wage of students who completed TVSE education was 17% higher than the one obtained by students who completed SHSE education. Nonetheless, this gap steadily decreased until the fifth year; and in the sixth year, students who graduated from SHSE obtained a wage that was 6% higher than TVSE students. This new gap continued grow until the tenth year, which presented an average wage that was 29% higher for students who had graduated from SHSE (CEM, 2020).

The presence of a positive correlation between education pathways of people who are part of a society and development and wellbeing levels of that society is a widely accepted fact (Berk, 2022). It is necessary that in Chile, TVSE training, especially in secondary education, cease to be looked upon as lower quality education, created for people who cannot access ‘proper’ higher education. TVET is potentially enormous and has not been fully developed yet in most countries, especially in underdeveloped ones which need it the most. Sectors which are the driving force of their economies play a crucial role in the decision making of the countries’ vocational training programs. Currently, a renewed view regards TVET as part of a wider learning system which offers not only technical skills but also soft skills such suitable for the working market needs. In countries such as Singapore, Australia, Germany and the Nordic countries, TVET systems are considered as part of a wider learning system and not an independent sub-sector (Msiska, 2016). In Switzerland, vocational training seems to be especially appealing for entrepreneurs so long as it is additionally combined with a tertiary degree (McDonald & Korber, 2023). In this regard, it is necessary to remember that the attributes of the economies’ human capital, continually placed under different pressures due to changing global phenomena, are the reference point of development and growth. Human capital development and qualified education should maintain core policies to improve the transition from education to work (Alpaydın & Kültür, 2022).

6 Conclusion

In the technological transformation process we are undergoing, DCs are essential and strategic. They are a basis for the real incorporation of DT in modern society. In this regard, the findings of this study reported significant differences between undergraduate students at a state-run university coming from the SHSE and TVSE secondary school pathways. Analysis by indicator revealed SHSE students obtained higher means than TVSE students in 14 out of 21 test indicators. Also, SHSE students obtained higher mean scores than students coming from “other” secondary school pathway in 2 indicators.

Finally, significant interactions were found between secondary school pathways and years of experience; however, no significant interactions were found between secondary school pathways and gender, nor between secondary school pathways and students’ faculty, although nearly a third of the sample participants were engineering students.

The findings suggest that there are notable differences between two groups concerning certain skills. Specifically, exploratory, creative, and collaborative abilities exhibited statistically significant variations in favour of the SHSE group, whereas indicators linked to more specific and defined performances did not show significant differences. This indicates that skills requiring higher levels of creativity and exploration play a crucial role in distinguishing between students from SHSE and TVSE secondary school pathways. Additionally, in the SHSE group, interactions between years of experience and the development of DCs were observed, showing that as experience increased, the mean scores for DCs also increased.

The findings reveal that students from technical vocational streams tend to exhibit lower scores in digital competencies when compared to their scientific-humanistic counterparts. This divergence can be attributed to the persisting neglect and social association of technical vocational education with lower-income families, leading to a lack of adequate resources and opportunities. Consequently, the evident inequities within the educational system contribute to the existing disparities in digital proficiency among these two types of school pathways.