Raising the Quality of Educational Outcomes and Improving E-learning: Cross-national Evidence on Challenges and Opportunities Judit Kádár-Fülöp Indicators and Analysis Division Directorate for Education Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 12th EDEN ANNUAL CONFERENCE June 2003 Rhodes Palace Hotel, Rhodes, Greece

Challenges and opportunities

Participation rate in continuing education and training and ratio of participation based on educational attainment for 25 to 64-year-olds (2001)

Percentage of students at each of the proficiency levels in reading literacy Level 2 Level 1 Below Level Level 5 Level 4 Level

Not just about academic performance Prevalence of disaffected students

Is it all innate ability? Variation in student performance

Variation of performance between schools Variation of performance within schools Is it all innate ability? Variation in student performance

Early selection and institutional stratification Low degree of stratification High degree of stratification Low Performance High Performance Low Social equity. High Social equity

Reading literacy proficiency by levels of engagement and social background

PISA assesses the performance of 15-year-old students and other outcomes of schooling in OECD countries every three years in key literacy areas

r PISA shows the important role of... …Engagement and motivation …Effective learning strategies Foundations for lifelong learning Many of the successful education systems seek to shift the focus of education policy and practice… … from helping students repeat solutions to solving problems and engaging in learning –Learning to learn –Self-concept

r Computers can … generate engagement and motivation …help develop effective learning strategies Can schools promote e-learning? Are schools equipped for using computers effectively? To what extent do schools use computers?

The OECD Survey of Upper Secondary Schools r Which countries? Belgium (Fl), Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland r Which schools? School sites with upper secondary programmes samples of 200 to 400 schools 4400 schools altogether r Which method? Questionnaire survey addressed to school principals r When was the survey implemented? 2001/2002

The OECD Survey of Upper Secondary Schools r Availability of ICT in schools r Use of ICT in schools by students and teachers r Professional development of teachers r Obstacles to development of ICT in schools

Ratio of students to computers and ratio of teachers to computers in upper secondary education (2001)

How many students share a computer? 20 students or more share a computer 1 to 4 students more share a computer

How many teachers share a computer? More computers than teachers More than 10 teachers share a computer

Percentage of schools with computers connected to the Internet and to intranet

Use of computers in schools  What kinds of activities? r Which educational purposes? r What about teachers? Do they use ICT? Do they improve their professional skills? OECD International Survey of Upper Secondary Schools

What kind of ICT activities?

For what purposes are computers used?

Differences between schools in the variety of of educational use (purposes) International mean

Differences between schools in the variety of use of computers (2001) International mean

Variety of ICT activities and ICT use

Availability and frequency of the use of computers for 15-year-olds at home and at school (2000) Distribution of mean percentages of 15-year-olds who reported having a computer available to use and those who reported using computers at home and at school Availability of a computer to use almost every day, a few times each week or at least between once a week and once a month Frequency of computer use almost every day, a few times each week or at least between once a week and once a month %

Percentage of upper secondary students who attend schools where more than 60 % of teachers use…

Teacher participation in professional development activities

Teacher-related obstacles to reaching ICT goals in upper secondary education (2001)

Conclusions r To make effective use of computers in schools The ‘consumers’ of continuing education are raised in national school systems. A robust and sustainable technological environment is needed in schools to make teachers professionally interested users of ICT. The digital divide can aggravate social exclusion. High quality educational software must be affordable for schools. Can language barriers be overcome?

The OECD Survey of Upper Secondary Schools r When will the data be published? Publication: Integration, Cooperation, Support Data release: 15 July, 2003 Printed publication: November, 2003