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Portuguese children and young people believe in their digital skills

The conclusions are pointed out in a report from the European project ySKILLS, which investigates the acquisition of skills to explore digital opportunities and resilience in the face of its risks.

ySKILLS

In 19 European countries, Portuguese children and young people are among those who most consider their digital skills in a positive way, points out a report from the European project ySKILLS, which investigates the acquisition of skills to explore digital opportunities and resilience in the face of its risks.

The good results in the self-appreciation of digital skills on the part of Portuguese young people "show a self-confidence in the younger generation of Internet users and are in line with what was found in previous studies, which gives them consistency", says Cristina Ponte, coordinator of the Communication Sciences Department of NOVA FCSH and the ySKILLS project in Portugal. It is now important to “add the digital performance results to these responses, to verify that what they do in concrete is in line with what they say they know how to do", she concludes.

The ySKILLS report, which deepens the data analysis of the recent European survey EU Kids Online, also points to the tendency, in a European context, for children to have higher digital skills when engaging in more online activities - including communication, entertainment, education, etc. On the contrary, they score lower on digital skills when parents limit their children's online activities.

Another similar but global report from the ySKILLS project presents results from 110 studies from 64 countries published since 2010. The analysis concluded that digital skills play a key role in school learning and that the benefits of digital skills apply online and offline. The results further suggest that better digital skills can help protect children from the risk of harm online, although further studies are needed.

Led by the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), the ySKILLS project is funded by the European Commission for more than 3 million euros. 14 universities from 13 countries and the European Schoolnet also participate in the project.