Bekaidar N.2026-09-112026-09-112026Bekaidar N / Digital Competence of Secondary School EFL Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges, and Practices / SDU University / Department of Language Educationhttps://repository.sdu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/2660Against the backdrop of a national declaration of 2026 as the “Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence” Kazakhstan is carrying out a large-scale reform of its educational system. As for secondary school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, this change entails a transition from basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy to advanced, pedagogy-oriented digital competence. The qualitative study examined perceptions, practices and systemic challenges of six EFL teachers in different urban, private and rural settings in Almaty region. This study uses semi-structured interviews and theme analysis to explore how instructors deal with the new “teacher - artificial intelligence (AI) - student” relationship. The research reveals a clear divide in self-efficacy, with many instructors feeling overwhelmed by the pace of change in technology and constant infrastructure problems, while younger teachers in well-resourced workplaces report high levels of confidence and active tool use. Concerns included the rural-urban digital divide, severe time constraints, and lack of on-site pedagogical Information Technology (IT) support, similar to those in the first- and second-order obstacles literature (Ertmer, 1999). The study concludes that for sustainable development of digital competence we should move from the generic ICT training to contextual, practice-based, ‘cyberpedagogy’ models and formation of formal PLCs to encourage peer support and reduce professional isolation. The study recommendations clearly show that success in the national digitalisation policies requires a balance between the provision of hardware and pedagogical support.enDigital competenceEFL teacherssecondary educationDigCompEduThesis