European Trade Union Committee for Education

The latest OECD PISA report on “Students, Computers and Learning” assesses the effects of ICT (Information and communication technologies) on teaching and learning in schools. The report analyses the development of pupils’ use of ICT, the integration of digital media in schools, digital navigating abilities and their effects on digital reading skills, the impact of ICT to tackle inequality and support permeability in education, the relationship between pupils’ performance, use and access to computers and the implication of digital media on education policies.

Due to the fact that in many European countries 9% of the pupils spent more than six hours on the internet outside school, the report suggests teaching them a responsible use of ICT, as one of the priorities of teachers and parents. Not only does the overuse of the internet influence social integration, the affected children are also easier targets for online harassment and violations of privacy.

In general, the report states that “limited use of computers at school may be better than not using computers at all; using them more intensively than the current OECD average tends to be associated with significantly poorer student performance”. According to the report, education policies cannot only focus on increasing the numbers of computers in schools or expanding broadband connections, it should also encourage pupils’ skills, such as “evaluating trustworthiness of sources”, “organising hypertext structures into a coherent mental map” and developing effective strategies for reading on line.”

The OECD makes clear that learning and skills of pupils depend to a large extend on the teacher and not on the use of computers. Even the best programme to enlarge the use of ICT in schools would not enhance pupils’ abilities as long as the teacher is not trained to integrate digital media in classes. ETUCE therefore highlights the importance to further improve and develop teachers’ initial and continuous professional training with a view to prepare education staff for new teaching techniques. Education authorities have to recognise the importance of teachers when it comes to achieving lifelong learning skills and high learning outcomes. They need to do their utmost to assist teachers in achieving the necessary competences to use ICT in class, to adapt to the change in the role of a teacher, that the use of technology and the internet bring about and to provide support and guidance to teachers in case of difficulties that may arise in connection to teaching and learning with new technologies.

Find the OECD report here.