Measuring Digital Competence in Pre-Service Teachers: Development and Psychometric Validation of a Multidimensional Scale

In the digital era, digital competence has become an essential skill for teachers to meet the demands of societal development. Pre-service teachers must also develop this competence; however, there is a dearth of validated scales specifically tailored to their needs. To address this gap, this study developed and validated a 22-item self-report instrument anchored in a theoretical synthesis of the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers and the European DigCompEdu framework, further contextualized by the National Teachers’ Digital Competence Standards in China. A total of 1,217 Chinese pre-service teachers completed the online questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis (N=600) and confirmatory factor analysis (N=617) yielded a six-factor model with satisfactory fit, encompassing Digital Awareness, Digital Technology Knowledge and Skills, Digital Teaching Application, Digital Collaborative Education, Digital Social Responsibility, and Digital Professional Development. The scale established metric and scalar measurement invariance across genders and study stages, supporting its stability. Theoretically, by empirically distinguishing Digital Awareness and Digital Collaborative Education as distinct factors, the scale reconceptualizes digital competence beyond mere instrumental pedagogy, emphasizing pre-service teachers’ intrinsic technological awareness and the educational significance of digital practices. Practically, this validated scale provides teacher educators and institutions with a diagnostic instrument to assess pre-service teachers’ digital competence, inform the design of targeted interventions, and offer new insights for future research, thereby helping to better prepare pre-service teachers for the digital era.