Comparative analysis of achievement standards related to digital citizenship in the 2015 and 2022 revised special education curriculum

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore educational implications by comparing and analyzingachievement standards related to digital citizenship in the 2015 and 2022 special education curriculumand to present directions for digital citizenship education for special need students in the future. Methods: In this study, digital citizenship-related subjects of the 2015 and 2022 revised specialeducation curriculum were selected and analyzed using the analysis framework of previous studiesrelated to digital citizenship. In addition, in order to confirm the reliability and validity of the analysisresults, reliability between analysts and expert content validity were executed. Results: It was found that the achievement standards related to digital citizenship increased in the2022 revised basic special education curriculum compared to the 2015 revised special educationcurriculum. According to the analysis results by subject, the Korean language department was themost frequent in the 2015 revised special education curriculum, but the information and communicationutilization department was the most frequent in the 2022 revised special education curriculum. Asfor the results of the analysis by school level, the high school level was the highest in both the 2015and 2022 revised basic curriculum of special education. The results of the analysis by digital citizenshiparea showed a high proportion of functional areas in both the 2015 and 2022 special educationcurriculum, and the results of the analysis by subtype showed the highest rational digital communicationability in the functional area. Conclusion: First, special teachers should recognize the digital society, be interested in preventingpeople with developmental disabilities from being alienated from the digital world, and develop theireducational capabilities. Second, in special education, it is necessary to conduct basic research ondigital citizenship by life cycle, such as a study on selecting digital citizenship education contentssuitable for the characteristics of special education subjects from elementary school level to adults. Third, special teachers should design classes so that they can become holistic digital civic education.