Does ICT improve Spanish students’ academic performance?
Cubillo Fuentes, María Dolores[1]
Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Andalucía
Torres Gutiérrez, Juan José
Universidad de Málaga
Abstract
The School 2.0 Programme (approved in 2009) of the former Spanish Central Government aimed to introduce information and communication technology (ICT) into the learning process, with the objective of improving students’ performance while enhancing their participation, motivation and creativity. The Government planned to distribute 1,500,000 laptops for students, 80,000 computers for teachers and the installation of 80,000 digital classrooms, with a total budget of 800 million Euros. The high cost involved in a period of budget cuts has caused a debate as to its necessity and efficiency. This Programme was cancelled by the new conservative Government in 2012. The intention of this article is to cast some light on the situation of ICT use in the educational system and to what extent technology may influence students’ results.
In this article we use the PISA 2009 Report database to analyse to what extent computer equipment is available to children at school and at home, what use they make of it and whether ICT factors affect students’ scores.
We have observed the positive effects on students’ scores of certain ICT related variables such as the availability of ICT equipment at home or school, student’s ICT use for online reading and searching for information, their attitude towards new technology and the level of students’ digital skill. However, ICT use at school does not seem to have brought about a significant improvement in academic results, rather the contrary, there appears to have been a negative influence on students’ average scores. As we expected, ICT use for entertainment affect students’ scores negatively. Students’ digital dexterity increases with ICT availability and use, at home and at school, even for entertainment uses.
We have also observed, after the School 2.0 Programme implementation (2009-2011), that ICT use by children from ten to fifteen has improved, especially in those regions, such as Andalucía, where the budget has been greater, unlike other regions, namely Madrid and Valencia, which did not take part.
Key words: School 2.0, PISA 2009, ICT, school laptops, educational policies, digital skills.
JEL codes: C31, H52, I21, O33
Acknowledgements: We thank the Universidad de Málaga Econometrics professor, Francisco Trujillo, for his precise comments, and the English teacher, Michael Strevens, for checking the English version patiently.
1 Introduction
The predominant role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the knowledge society is beyond doubt nowadays. However, the complete integration of ICT in the Spanish Educational System is a challenge which has been approached in different ways, at different intensity and with differing results over the last decade. The Autonomous Communities have, over the last few years, developed programmes designed to integrate ICT in schools. One that was outstanding for its scope and intensity is the regional government of Andalucía’s ICT Centres Programme, which ran from 2003 to 2009, covering more than half the population of school age in Andalucía, the most densely populated autonomous region in Spain (Cubillo Fuentes, M. D., 2010, 2011).
The Spanish Government’s School 2.0 Programme, in collaboration with the Autonomous Communities which took part, has produced a change in attitudes towards ICT in national educational policy. Unlike the models used regionally where computer classrooms were installed for general use at all teaching levels, a one-to-one system was adopted, with the distribution of free ultra-light laptops to students of 10 to 15, and a gradual introduction of the programme over four years (2009-2013). To complement the programme, digital classrooms (digital boards, projectors, class computers and laptops for teachers) and an ambitious teachers’ training programme, not only in ICT use but also in its integration in teaching methodology. The high cost involved in a period of budget cuts has caused a debate as to its necessity and efficiency. This Programme was cancelled by the new conservative Government in 2012 in the context of a hard budget cutting programme. Here, our aim has been to investigate the situation of ICT use in the educational system and the effects that technology may have on students’ results.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become the international reference for evaluation in the educational systems of member countries of the OECD, and a numerous group of associated countries. In the case of Spain, the results obtained by those students evaluated (15 year-olds) have not satisfied political, educational and social agents, since these results have been consistently lower than the OECD average from the beginning of the PISA reports (Ministerio de Educación, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010), although at the same level of countries in the same geopolitical area such as Portugal, Italy and Greece.
In this article we use the PISA 2009 Report database to analyse to what extent computer equipment is available to children at school and at home, what use they make of it and whether ICT factors affect students’ scores.
2 The School 2.0 Programme
The School 2.0 Programme was the Spanish Government’s most ambitious project to introduce ICT in the educational system. Approved in 2009 by the Ministry of Education, it was started up in collaboration with the Autonomous Communities, who handle educational competencies. It was planned to be developed over four years, from 2009 to 2013, and was going to cover all students in state-funded schools in the fifth and sixth courses of Primary Education (10-12 years) and the first and second courses of Compulsory Secondary Education (12-15 years). All the Spanish Autonomous Authorities signed the corresponding collaboration agreement with the Central Spanish Government, except those of Madrid and Valencia, where the programme was not applied. Since this programme has been cancelled by the present Government, it will not be applied in the 2012-2013 course.
According to the former Government’s previsions (Pérez Sanz, A., 2011) altogether the distribution of more than 1,500,000 laptops for students, more than 80,000 computers for teachers and classrooms, and the installation of around 80,000 digital classrooms were involved. The overall budget for the four years was more than €800,000,000, co-financed equally by the Ministry of Education and the Autonomous Communities taking part in the scheme.
The School 2.0 programme concentrated mainly on these points:
Ø Digital classrooms. This programme would provide laptops to students and teachers and standardised digital classrooms to schools. The computers distributed were ultra-portable, with low consumption processors, able to support educative software and applications of the latest generation. The classrooms were fitted with digital interactive boards.
Ø Connectivity inside and outside the classrooms. The programme guaranteed the Internet connection through the broad band of each centre and interconnections in the classroom for all equipment through ADSL connection by cable to the classroom and router wifi inside it. Access to the Internet at students’ homes was also proposed at certain times and prices thanks to special arrangements with the main telephone companies.
Ø Teacher training. The programme envisaged the training of teachers both in technological and methodological aspects, with the intention of integrating ICT in daily teaching practise.
Ø Digital resources. The programme aimed to encourage the creation of digital educational material suitable for curricular designs, and to facilitate access to it by teachers, students and their families. To achieve this, it was planned to go ahead both with collaborative projects (AGREGA2 project[2]) and by providing incentives to the publishing trade to create digital educational contents adapted to official curricula.
Ø Implication of students and their families in use and care of resources. A contract engaged families in the correct use of the laptops. Although the laptops went to students’ homes, the educational centres were responsible for them. They would become the property of the students once they had satisfactorily finished Compulsory Secondary Education.
From the start of the programme (September 2009) until October 2011, more than 650,000 laptops were distributed to students in 5th and 6th Primary courses and 1st and 2nd Secondary courses, over 30,000 digital classrooms were installed and over 160,000 Primary and Secondary teachers received specific information concerning School 2.0 programme about ICT tools and the integration of technology in teaching practise (see Table 1).
Not all the Autonomous Communities made the same progress in the implementation of the School 2.0 Programme. While Andalucía, over the first two school years, covered almost 55 % of the target population in the distribution of laptops, other regions such as Murcia or Navarra did not even cover 2 %. The national average, taking into account Madrid and the Comunidad Valenciana’s absence from the project, was 32.48 %.
In the educational field, there is a debate about the ICT role, as to whether the introduction of ICT in educational programmes aims to improve students’ performance or to achieve a minimal level in digital competence. The improvement of students’ results is the explicit objective of School 2.0 Programme, although the Spanish Law of Education defines digital competence as an independent competence to be attained[3].
Regarding the impact of programmes introducing ICT in Spain, it is worthwhile to take into account some of the studies referring to the Programme of ICT Centres in Andalucía, one of the pioneer regions in this type of programme:
Ø Pérez Gómez, A. I. et al. (2006) aimed to find out and understand what happened in the ICT Centres and the pedagogical processes set in progress by the projects for the incorporation of ICT in teaching practise. Although no improvement in students’ results was demonstrated, their motivation did seem greater. Even the students felt that though they had not learned more, they found studying more attractive and easier. Discipline was better and absenteeism lower.
Ø Cebrián de la Serna, M. and Ruiz Palmero, J. (2006) studied the impact produced by the ICT Centres Project on primary and secondary schools in Andalucía from the teachers’ point of view. The study inquired as to what changes had been noticed by students and teaching staffs as a consequence of the introduction of ICT in schools. The main conclusion was that ICT centres increased students’ motivation, but not their academic performance.
Ø Blanco, N. and Gimeno, M. (2005) focussed on a secondary school in the suburbs of Córdoba (Andalucía), which is almost marginal. Both teachers and students agreed that computers in the classroom had changed neither methodology, contents nor evaluation, and that text books remained the basis of education. They considered that computers favoured neither the learning process nor the depth of the contents, but they thought it was a fundamental tool to keep students attentive and orderly. The essential conclusion was that students neither learn more nor get better results but that they enjoy classes more.
International experience in programmes of introducing ICT in educational systems is not homogeneous. In general, the programmes applied in USA were evaluated positively. Hendricks, P. (2005), Rockman et al. (2000), Silvernail, D. and Lane, D. (2004) and Urban-Lurain, M. and Zhao, Y. (2004) showed positive effects of ICT on students’ performance. Other programmes applied in European countries or Israel did not obtain such positive effects, as Malamud, O. and Pop-Eleches, C. (2008), Angrist, J and Lavy, V. (2002) and Leuven, E. et al. (2007) showed.
In this article we assess the effects of the availability and use of ICT on students’ results before the implementation of the School 2.0 Programme, using the PISA 2009 Report database. It is not possible to assess the actual effects of the School 2.0 Programme until we know the next PISA 2012 Report. We are also using the INE survey on use and availability of ICT (INE, 2012) to investigate possible improvement in students’ ICT use after this programme was implemented.
3 ICT use by 15-year-old Spanish children.
The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), created in 1997, engages member countries of OECD to evaluate the output of the educational system, calculated by students’ results, with an internationally acceptable methodology. The main objective of the PISA Report is to estimate the level of acquisition, by 15 year-olds, of the knowledge and skills in reading, mathematics and science they will need in their adult life. The PISA Report generates, besides the basic indicators of students’ knowledge and competence, a series of contextual indicators showing how these basic competencies relate to the principal demographic, social, economic and educational variables (OECD, 2009).
In the latest PISA Report 2009, sixty five countries took part; the thirty three [4] member countries of the OECD plus thirty two[5] associated countries. There was an option for the amplification of the sample which permitted each region participating to have sufficient statistical precision to compare among themselves and with the other countries taking part. In the case of Spain, each Autonomous Community, according to their educational competence, chose whether or not to participate. In 2009 (Ministerio de Educación, 2010) fourteen Autonomous Communities joined the state sample, plus the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Only Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and Valencia did not increase their samples.
Optional questionnaire addresses students’ familiarity with technology, focussing on the availability and use of ICT, students’ ability to carry out certain tasks, and their attitude towards computer use. Through this questionnaire, the following have been measured specifically: availability of technological equipment both in the home and at school; use of computers for educational activities both at school and outside; students’ abilities in tasks using computers; and attitude towards computer use. This database enables us, therefore, to analyse thoroughly the availability of new technologies for students, and the use they make of them.
It appears that 15 year-old Spanish students’ homes are above the OECD average with regard to technology (desk computer, laptop computer and Internet access). 87.32 % of 15 year-olds have access to a desktop computer at home; 59.51 % have laptops at home; and 84.2 % of students have access to the Internet.
Spanish schools are worse equipped technologically than the OECD average, except for Internet availability. 86.68 % of 15 year-olds have access to desktop computers at school; as for laptops, 23.64 % of students have them. 89.94 % of students have Internet connection at school.