Assessment, training and innovation in information literacy in secondary education: Mediation and moderation techniques in gender studies

Many theoretical and empirical studies that analyze the factors associated to academic achievement identify gender as a highly significant element. Within the assessment of information literacy skills, the effect of gender seems apparent. However, the contextual nature of gender makes it difficult for the results of the studies to result in specific improvements and innovations in the schools. The aim of this study is to show the potential of the statistical techniques of mediation and moderation to identify the effect that non-contextual variables have on the relationship between gender and academic achievement. We implemented innovation projects in 22 schools from Castile and Leon and Andalusia with a pre-experimental design with pretest and posttest, reaching a representative sample of 260 students and 22 teachers from Secondary Education. The results were obtained with a validated instrument for the assessment of information literacy skills, and they confirm the usefulness of these techniques for the detection of moderating variables. In addition, it is evidenced that, in the case of information literacy, gender is an effective moderator in some cases and a predicting variable in others. Finally, we discuss about the potential of mediation and moderation techniques in gender studies, the limitations they pose at present, and the contribution they can make in future studies, mainly in the field of factors associated to academic achievement and key competences.