Digital skills in the context of media literacy

This chapter describes European children's level of self-reported digital literacy, measured by the ability to perform specific tasks, the range of online activities undertaken and the belief about one's own internet abilities. A nuanced answer is presented to the question whether European youth is really as skilful as often assumed. Differences in skills persist between children, due to gender, age and parental education. Moreover, skills vary between European countries. By multi-level analysis, both types of skill differences are studied simultaneously. The chapter discusses how self-reports of digital skills relate to digital literacy and the broader concept of media literacy. Care is needed, however, in using self-reported skill measures as proxies for media literacy when drawing out implications for future research and policy agendas.