Five myths about education, debunked

By Andreas Schleicher

Director, Directorate for Education and Skills

Photo credit: Shutterstock

It’s so much easier to educate students for our past than for their future. Schools are inherently conservative social systems; as parents we get nervous when our children learn things we don’t understand, and even more so when they no longer study things that were so important for us. Teachers are more comfortable teaching how they were taught than how they were taught to teach. And, as a politician, you can lose an election over education issues, but you can rarely win one, because it takes far more than an election cycle to translate intentions into results.

So changing education bureaucracies seems like moving graveyards: it’s often hard to rely on the people out there to help, because the status quo has so many protectors. The biggest risk to schooling today isn’t its inefficiency, but that our way of schooling is losing its purpose and relevance. And when fast gets really fast, being slower to adapt makes education systems really slow and disoriented.

We live in a world in which the kind of things that are easy to teach and test have also become easy to digitise and automate. Education has won the race with technology throughout history, but there is no guarantee it will do so in the future. Students growing up with a great smartphone but a poor education will face unprecedented risks. When we could still assume that what we learn in school will last for a lifetime, teaching content knowledge and routine cognitive skills was rightly at the centre of education. Today, the world no longer rewards you for what you know – Google knows everything – but for what you can do with what you know. If all we do is teach our children what we know, they may remember enough to follow in our footsteps. But it is only if we help them build a reliable compass and navigation skills that they will be able to go anywhere and find their way through this increasingly complex, volatile and ambiguous world.

One of the reasons why we get stuck in education is that our thinking is framed by so many myths. So I start my new book, World Class: Building a 21st-century school system, by debunking some of the most common.

• “The poor will always do badly in school.” That’s not true: the 10% most disadvantaged kids in Shanghai do better in maths than the 10% most advantaged students in large American cities.

• “Immigrants will lower the performance of a country on international comparisons.” That’s not true: there is no relationship between the share of immigrant students and the quality of an education system; and the school systems in which immigrant students settle matter a lot more than the country where they came from. 

• “Smaller classes mean better results.” That’s not true: whenever high-performing education systems have to make a choice between a smaller class and a better teacher, they go for the latter. Often it is small classes that have created the Taylorist culture where teachers end up doing nothing other than teaching, and don’t have the time to support individual students, collaborate with other teaching professionals or work with parents – activities that are hallmarks of high-performing education systems. 

• “More time spent learning always means better results.” That’s not true: students in Finland spend little more than around half the number of hours studying than what students in the United Arab Emirates spend; but students in Finland learn a lot in a short time, while students in the United Arab Emirates learn very little in a lot of time. 

• “The results in PISA are merely a reflection of culture.” That’s not true: rapidly improving education systems did not change their culture but their education policies and practices. 

Why is our thinking so captured by myths and past practice? Because education systems have a habit of building “walls” that separate teachers, schools or the systems themselves from peer learning. When I started PISA, the central idea was to break those walls. The idea was to count what counts – that is, to collect high-quality data and combine that with information on wider social outcomes; to analyse that data to empower educators and researchers to make more informed decisions; and to harness collaborative power to act on the data, both by lowering the cost of political action, and at times by raising the cost of political inaction, as well.

The good news is that our knowledge about what works in education has improved vastly. In my book, I write extensively about what makes school systems successful, and what makes high-performing school systems different.

Still, knowledge is only as valuable as our capacity to act on it. To transform schooling at scale, we need not just a radical vision of what is possible, but also smart strategies to help drive change. The road of education reform is littered with good ideas that were poorly implemented. The laws, regulations, structures and institutions on which education leaders tend to focus are just like the small tip of an iceberg.

The reason it is so hard to move school systems is that there is a much larger invisible part under the waterline. This invisible part is about the interests, beliefs, motivations and fears of the people who are involved in education, including parents and teachers. This is where unexpected collisions occur, because this part of education reform tends to evade the radar of public policy. That is why education leaders are rarely successful with reform unless they build a shared understanding and collective ownership for change; and unless they build capacity and create the right policy climate, with accountability measures designed to encourage innovation rather than compliance.

Our task is not to make the impossible possible, but to make the possible attainable. 

Many teachers and schools are ready for change. To encourage their growth, policy needs to shift towards inspiring and enabling innovation, identifying and sharing best practice. Such a shift will need to be built on trust: trust in education, in educational institutions, in schools and teachers, in students and communities. Trust is an essential part of good governance in all public services, and a key determinant of where great people want to work. But trust cannot be legislated and mandated; that is why it is so hard to build into traditional administrative structures. And trust is always intentional. Trust can only be nurtured and inspired through healthy relationships and constructive transparency. That is the lesson we can all learn from Finland, where opinion polls consistently show high levels of public trust in education. At a time when command-and-control systems are weakening, building trust is the most promising way to advance and fuel modern education systems.

In the face of all these challenges, we don’t need to be passive. While technology and globalisation have disruptive implications for our economic and social structure, these implications are not predetermined. Their outcomes will be determined by our collective response to these disruptions – the interplay between the technological frontier and the cultural, social, institutional and economic agents that we mobilise in response. We have agency, the ability to anticipate and frame our actions with purpose, and to devise and execute a plan to achieve that purpose.

I decided to write this book when I saw children from the poorest neighborhoods of Shanghai learning from Shanghai’s best teachers. It was then that I realised that universal, high-quality education is an attainable goal, and that our task is not to make the impossible possible, but to make the possible attainable. This is not rocket science; it is entirely within our means to deliver a future for millions of learners who currently don’t have one.



World Class: Building a 21st century school system is available as a free download here.

Why social emotional learning matters for migrant students and how schools can help

By Andreas Schleicher, Director, Directorate for Education and Skills

and John McLaughlin,  Deputy Education & Early Childhood Development Minister, New Brunswick

Photo credit: Feliphe Schiarolli/Unsplash

The world is experiencing major geopolitical, economic, environmental and social shifts resulting in increased international migration. In turn, migration flows are having a snowball effect on cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity in many of today's classrooms, particularly in cities and large metropolitan areas. As a result, calls for schools to help their students develop social and emotional skills – in addition to strong academic skills – are growing louder. Social and emotional skills are crucial for a child’s ability to thrive in complex, interconnected and highly diverse environments in and outside of school. Additionally, the OECD’s own work has shown that these skills are crucial assets for the working environments of the 21^st  century.

We should view migration flows not only as a challenge, but also as an opportunity. If we work together to support our teachers and principals while having an open mind, a bold and ambitious heart, and a kind and welcoming spirit, we can reshape our schools and adapt our classrooms – and ourselves – to better meet the needs of today’s children and tomorrow’s citizens.

As a result of the unique challenges immigrant and refugee children face, many have distinct social and emotional needs. For example, some students may have experienced trauma fleeing war-torn countries during their migration. Others may have been separated from their immediate or extended family, leaving them with feelings of guilt and shame about loved ones left behind. Community ties were broken for all children who have experienced migration,  and the resulting stress can have a lasting impact on their socio-emotional development. Even when parents are present, they might be overwhelmed by their own experience of displacement,leaving them unable to support their children’s social and emotional development.

Migrant children have to negotiate new roles and identities in an unfamiliar cultural context. Some are called to demonstrate allegiance to their native or host country when choosing which language to speak, which sport to practice, which music to listen to, or which social group to join. They also have to juggle the attitudes and stereotypes of numerous different social groups and find where they fit in. Adjusting to their new environment can be a long bumpy road, but through the support of teachers, school principals, other education professionals and communities migrant children can navigate the difficult transition.

Diversity can be an opportunity for students without an immigrant background to develop social and emotional skills.

At the same time, diversity can also be an opportunity for students without an immigrant background to develop social and emotional skills. This includes self-awareness  of their own attitudes, stereotypes and emotions; social awareness, which enables them to empathise with others from diverse environments; the capacity to manage diverse social relationships by making constructive choices about how to act and behave in social interactions; and social engagement, which reflects their desire to contribute to the well-being of their school and community.

In an effort to address these challenges, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development of New Brunswick in Canada, the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD and the Council of Education Ministers in Canada have organised a policy forum on the theme: “Social Emotional Learning to Foster a Sense of Belonging for Immigrant and Refugee Learners”.  On May 31^stand June 1^st, a group of international experts, practitioners, school leaders, teachers and policy makers will convene in Fredericton, Canada to consider how learning from past practices could help change the future of education and support the social and emotional learning of migrant and refugee children.

In the spirit of the OECD’s Strength through Diversity initiative, international and Canadian participants will bring  a wide range of perspectives to this forum, given their diverse roles, responsibilities and backgrounds. The aim is not only to advance our understanding of what has happened so far and discuss what may come next; we also hope to create an international community that promotes effective school policies and practices to support migrant and refugee learners.

This forum will be the fourth in a series organised by the OECD’s Strength through Diversity project. Speakers will introduce key themes during small group discussions and exercises, as well as roundtables and panel discussions. The meeting will cover five key themes:

• The role of education in social and emotional learning and sense of belonging; 
• Language for social cohesion; 
• Culturally responsive teaching practices;
• Retention of immigrant children and education for global citizens; 
• Whether ICT and digital technologies are tools for fostering or threatening integration. 

The programme will, for the first time in the series, include school visits,  and on the first evening, participants will have the opportunity to meet community leaders, community organisers, and students from immigrant or refugee backgrounds, at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery reception.

The keynote address will be given by Dean Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Wasserman Dean at the Graduate School of Education and Information Services, University of California – Los Angeles. Other speakers will include:

• Stefaan Hermans, Director for Policy Strategy and Evaluation in the European Commission's Directorate for Education Youth Sports and Culture 
• Professor Veronica Boix Mansilla, Harvard University 
• Professor Benedicta Egbo,University of Windsor 
• Professor Stacey Wilson-Forsberg, Wilfrid Laurier University 
• Dr. Angelica Galante, University of Toronto  
• Letitia Zwickert, high school teacher, Fulbright Specialist in Education and founder of MENTEE.

Lessons arising from the meeting will be shared in a proceedings document published on the Strength through Diversity website. We encourage all to read the proceedings when they are published, and we invite everyone to follow the meeting through live broadcasts on May 31^st (13:00 GMT to 23:00 GMT) and June 1^st (17:00 GMT).

In the spirit of the motto “stronger together”, we wish a productive forum and insightful discussions to all those who will travel to Fredricton. And to those joining us remotely: enjoy the show!


Read more: 

• Strength through Diversity - 4th Policy Forum, 31 May-1 June 2018

Where will tomorrow's graduates come from?

By Marie-Helene Doumet

Senior Analyst, Directorate for Education and Skills

Knowledge has become the new currency of today’s economy. Digitalisation, technological innovation and globalisation have together made intellectual capital the most important asset in today’s era, and countries have responded by increasing access to higher education like never before.

By the end of the 20th century, the United States was the highest supplier of tertiary graduates in the world. Around the same time, the share of 25-34 year-olds holding a higher education degree reached above 40% in only two OECD countries: Canada and Japan. But no one would have disputed back then that the two population giants, China and India, would one day play a major role in supplying the world’s graduates. By 2015, 37 million young adults held a higher education degree in China and 30 million in India. Together, they represent 40% of the total pool of tertiary-educated young adults worldwide, more than the EU and the Americas combined.

And it does not stop there. The latest Education Indicators in Focus shows that despite adverse demographic trends, tertiary education attainment among young adults is set to increase in all regions. Globally, this means there will be 22% more tertiary graduates by 2030.

But, interestingly, the growth will not come from China, whose declining population tends to just about balance out any increase in tertiary attainment. As the figure above shows, it is in fact India, with its rising population and emphasis on education, which is set to surpass China as the largest provider of tertiary graduates in the next decade, supplying the world with more than a fifth of its talent. Latin American countries will also account for a large part of the growth, as tertiary graduates in the region are set to double over the next ten years. Russia, on the other hand, will be facing a decline in its tertiary-educated workforce.

What students study will become paramount to sustain the productive growth of the economy.

With such a steep rise in credentials, what students study will become paramount to sustain the productive growth of the economy. Science, technology, engineering, and maths, also known as STEM, have recently been at the forefront of education policy as the backbone of this knowledge economy. Not only are China and India currently the largest contributors to the graduate pool worldwide, but they are also the countries with the highest share of students graduating from a STEM field of study. More than 35% of graduates in China and India hold a degree in a STEM field – more than double the average share from OECD countries. The employment advantage of engineering and information technology, compared to other fields of study, also suggests that supply is yet to meet demand in a number of OECD countries.

Employers on the ground are beginning to feel the impact of this trend. Recent studies have demonstrated that employers are finding it more difficult to recruit the skills they need in their workforce, with engineers and IT scientists among the jobs facing the most shortages. A number of countries have started to look beyond their own borders towards an increasingly mobile international student population in order to fill the gap. Outsourcing software development or engineering work to foreign companies has also become common across a number of sectors.

With the growing number of tertiary graduates, and their increasing willingness to study and work abroad, it is undeniable that competition for talent has intensified. But perhaps a more subtle phenomenon is that the higher supply of graduates is leveling out the playing field of qualifications. In our fast-paced, volatile and uncertain world, a degree on its own is not as much of a predictor of skills as it used to be; what students learn in classrooms today may even become obsolete tomorrow. Those who succeed will be those who have gone beyond the curriculum to cultivate softer skills such as problem solving, creativity, or critical thinking – and, above all, the capacity to adapt, be flexible, and never stop learning.


Read more:

Education Indicators in Focus - No. 61: How is the tertiary-educated population evolving?

What current education ministers can learn from their predecessors

By Andreas Schleicher
Director, Directorate for Education and Skills

Photo credit: © Varkey Foundation

Last October, I attended the inaugural meeting of the Atlantis Group – an organisation comprised of former education ministers from across the world. Over the course of two days, these former ministers shared their experiences and insights in tackling common challenges, and discussed the role of political leadership in education.

It was fascinating to see former leaders share insights and common practices. But two things struck me as particularly interesting: virtually every former minister said they wished they had known on their first day what they knew on their last day; and nearly everyone wished they had been far more courageous and aware of the policy space for deep and lasting change that had actually been available.

While some new ministers will have access to a body of research and data to inform their decision-making, few will have the opportunity to learn from their predecessors – the former ministers who sat behind the same desks, faced the same issues and asked themselves the same questions. The Atlantis Group is helping to fill this gap, drawing on its members’ combined 70 years of experience in running public education systems.

“Every new minister wants to show rapid results and impress in the first few months,” says Silas Lwakabamba, Rwanda’s former education minister. As a leader known for implementing an ambitious programme of change while in office, he argues that new ministers should start by figuring out what’s already working.

“There are no jobs which are more challenging in society than political leadership in a period of change.”

“The challenge is to quickly identify the positive efforts or low-hanging fruits left by the previous minister and leverage the same for quick wins,” Lwakabamba says. “Unfortunately some new ministers tend to ignore or dismiss the efforts of the previous ministers, at their cost.”

For others, a minister’s priority for their first weeks in office should be to identify where – and who –the current system is failing. In the words of the former Philippines education minister, Brother Armin Luistro: “A new education minister will have to go beyond the usual queries about the status of current programs and begin asking the difficult questions about learners who are lagging behind, at risk of dropping out or, worse, who dare not dream of going to school.”

While in office, both Professor Lwakabamba and Brother Armin pursued far-reaching reforms that expanded free universal education and rewrote curricula. Today, as leading members of the Atlantis Group, both men want to pass on what they have learned to a new generation of ministers.

The Atlantis Group is an advisory body that works to provide expert, not-for-profit counsel to current ministers of education. An initiative of the Varkey Foundation, the group consists of 25 former ministers of education and heads of government.

Asked to reflect on their own time in office, the former ministers described some of the ways in which they made education a top priority for their own government, from the diplomatic (sitting down with teacher leaders to end a country-wide strike); to the astute (bringing in international experts); to the flat-out audacious (door-stopping officials for a greater share of resources). As one former minister noted: “There were several billion dollars that were committed to education [in my country] by sitting outside of the president or the minister of finance’s office forever and becoming relevant by force. You have to be there because otherwise there’s another minister that’s going to sit there and fetch that money.”

But beyond these political tactics, the former ministers overwhelmingly concluded that they had been most effective in office when they informed their decision-making with data, not ideology – and that good data had helped them to become better leaders. Indeed, many pointed to the publication of OECD reports and PISA data as watershed moments in their own countries that spurred reform.

In a new briefing, the Atlantis Group draws upon these discussions to set out four basic principles for ministers of education to succeed and lead effectively in office. They argue that a minister must have:

• the respect of their government and other stakeholders; 
• the conviction of their beliefs; 
• the resilience to lead their departments through crises; 
• and that ministers must reform education by fostering leadership and accountability throughout the system. 

The Atlantis Group hopes that these principles will help guide current and future education ministers as they work to overcome significant global challenges. As the Group notes in its new report, the international community today risks falling short of its 2030 Sustainable Development Goal, which calls for delivering inclusive and quality education for all, and promoting lifelong learning. Millions of children are leaving primary school without basic writing, reading and math skills, and at least 264 million are not in school at all, according to UN figures.

This is truly a global crisis, and one that urgently demands political leadership. As one former minister put it: “There are no jobs which are more challenging in society than political leadership in a period of change.”


Read more: 

Learning to Lead
PISA 2015 Results
Education Policy Outlook

Working together to improve adult skills in Portugal

By Andreas Schleicher

Director, Directorate for Education and Skills

Photo credit: xtock/Shutterstock

In the span of a few decades, Portugal has transformed into an inclusive democracy. Its citizens enjoy a good standard of living, and despite being severely impacted by the financial crisis, the country’s economy is growing once again.

Portugal has made impressive progress in education, as well, with attainment rates rising continuously and youth academic performance fast improving. Yet although many young Portuguese people now complete their education and acquire skills that will be needed in the future – including digital skills – a large number of older, low-educated adults are at risk of falling behind.

Equipping all Portuguese adults with the right skills will be critical for Portugal and its people to address the challenges of the future and seize the opportunities it presents. More than 50% of working-age adults in Portugal have not completed secondary education. As a result, they may struggle in a world where globalisation and digitalisation are destroying some jobs, creating new ones and transforming the tasks people need in the workplace. They will also struggle to fully participate in society and political life.

Our new report, Skills Strategy Implementation Guidance for Portugal: Strengthening the Adult-Learning System, identifies three areas for action and 11 detailed policy recommendations aimed at reinforcing the capacity of Portugal’s adult-learning system to raise skills. This, in turn, can help boost economic growth and social cohesion.  

The first step would be for Portugal to develop a coherent adult-learning strategy that encompasses existing and new measures, and aligns with other key economic policies. Such an integrated strategy would be built on a vision shared by all actors involved, including the government, social partners, education and training providers, and the learners themselves. It would also connect various policy areas that support adult learning and engage stakeholders.

Putting these recommendations into action will involve a wide range of stakeholders.

The next important step would be to raise awareness around the value of skills and adult learning. Recent initiatives like the Qualifica programme and tools such as the Qualifica Passport are promising moves toward raising participation rates. But improving participation among the low-skilled continues to be a particularly formidable challenge. It is therefore essential that Portugal continue its efforts to demonstrate the value of skills and skills investments by disseminating better information on the returns from skills, and by implementing a comprehensive communication campaign that includes outreach tailored to specific groups.

It is also important to improve the accessibility, quality and relevance of adult-learning opportunities. This can be achieved by removing barriers to participation, including through more flexible and labour market-relevant programmes, as well as adequate support to make it easier for those who juggle work and family priorities to take part.

Improved guidance for learners could also strengthen the culture of lifelong learning in Portugal by providing clear ways for adults to access the learning opportunities they need at various points throughout their lives. A more systematic way to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of programmes will be key to raising quality and identifying what works best, and for whom.

  

Strengthening the governance and financing of the adult-learning system in Portugal is essential to ensuring that all actors work together towards common goals, and that funding is used strategically to raise quality and improve outcomes for learners. The country needs effective mechanisms to co-ordinate the multiple actors involved in adult learning. Portugal should therefore consider setting up dedicated governance bodies to oversee adult learning (e.g., a permanent inter-ministerial team and a permanent group within an existing multi-stakeholder institution) and ensure that it remains at the forefront of policy priorities in the long term. 

The country also needs strategies for cost sharing among the public and private sectors, recognising that the returns on investment would benefit learners, employers and society at large. To help with this, Portugal should establish a stable and quality-oriented funding model through a “skills financing pact”. Well-targeted financial incentives for learners, employers and providers will help raise participation of all parties involved in adult learning. 

Putting these recommendations into action will involve a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, individuals, employers, trade unions, and education and training providers. They will need to take joint responsibility and commit to delivering on efforts to improve the quality of Portugal’s adult-learning system and make it more accessible.

Portugal has led the way throughout history – it spearheaded world exploration centuries ago, and today it attracts record numbers of visitors and entrepreneurs to its dynamic cities. The country now needs to come together to ensure that everyone has the skills needed to thrive in a fast-changing world, and to build prosperity and social progress for generations to come.

Read more:

• Skills Strategy Implementation Guidance for Portugal: Strengthening the Adult-Learning System

Over 300 million people suffer from depression worldwide. Can education help?

By Simon Normandeau
Statistician, Directorate for Education and Skills

Photo credit: Maksym Kaharlytskyi/Unsplash

The World Health Organization estimates that depression affects over 300 million people worldwide, making it the leading cause of disability. Suffering from depression can make it extremely difficult for an individual to function properly at school and at work; not only does this have an impact on the lives of those affected and their surroundings, but it also has wider economic consequences for societies at large, mainly due to high medical costs and employee productivity loss. In fact, recent studies have found that the total annual costs related to depression exceed EUR 90 billion in Europe, making it one of the most costly mental disorders.

These numbers are calling for action. But can education systems do anything about it? The answer is not so clear cut, but there may be evidence to show that education has at least some part to play in combating depression. The latest Education Indicators in Focus sheds some light on the relationship between education and depression, demonstrating that adults with low educational attainment are often those who report the highest level of depression. However, it is also true that depression among students may in itself be a cause for lower educational attainment, making it impossible to say for sure whether better education results in a lower likelihood of depression.

Even so, this ambiguity should not discourage us: education systems can still play a role in tackling depression and should strive to keep people in education at least until they complete upper secondary education. This means giving appropriate support to low-performing students and ensuring a climate of well-being in the classroom, thus creating an atmosphere that promotes positive attitudes towards mental health and provides all students with the best possible chance to succeed.

Even among similarly-educated adults, the likelihood to report depression varies greatly across countries, and can reflect cultural attitudes towards, and awareness of, mental health issues. The share of low-educated adults who say they suffered from depression is particularly high among low-educated adults in Iceland (above 20%), while it is generally low across different education levels in Italy. The results for Iceland are in line with an OECD report that showed that the country is the largest consumer of antidepressants per capita. The low rates in Italy, on the other hand, might be related to cultural taboos around depression: a recent study found that three quarters of Italians believe that people suffering from depression should avoid talking about their problems.

The differences are not just between countries: gender also plays a significant role in the likelihood to report depression. The chart above shows that, on average, women report higher levels of depression than men, but the likelihood to report depression decreases more steeply as women acquire further qualifications. This decreasing gender gap may be explained by the varying job prospects across different levels of educational attainment: being employed tends to be associated with a lower prevalence of depression, and the gender gap in employment rates also generally decreases as educational attainment increases.

Having a mental illness can also hinder the chances of finding a job; but at the same time, mentally ill people who find employment often show improvement in their condition through a greater sense of worth in the society and through enhanced self-esteem. It is therefore important that education systems ensure a smooth school-to-work transition, especially for those who perform poorly at school as they are likely to suffer from cumulative disadvantages. Students should enter the labour market equipped with the skills to properly flourish and break the vicious cycle that can lead to or sustain depression.

Although awareness of depression goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, the illness is still stigmatised in today's world. We now (thankfully) know that depression is not caused by demons and evil spirits, but the reluctance or failure to recognise depression for what it is prevents those most at risk from getting the support they need. Given the extent of the prevalence of depression and the large number of cases not yet diagnosed, it is important to lift the taboos around this illness and get people to talk more about it.

Education systems have a role in identifying those most at risk early on and raising awareness to ensure they are properly supported and that they get the attention they need from teachers or counsellors. It is of course true that schools should be dedicated to raising students' cognitive skills, but they must also equip them with self-confidence and self-esteem – two important factors that can help counter depression.



Read more:

Education in Focus no. 60

Taking a break from the Internet may be good for learning

By Alfonso Echazarra
Analyst, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills

Photo credit: imgix on Unsplash

A Danish study on Internet use at school revealed that students themselves are perfectly aware of the risks of using the Internet for learning. Tellingly, one student explained the problems of using the Internet in the classroom: “You can have a brief conversation on Facebook during a math class and, when you look up again, the blackboard is covered with symbols and numbers”.

While this study also described promising ways in which computers and the Internet were being used in Danish high schools — for instance, students joined study groups on social media — studies like this one remind us how important it is to analyse the challenges associated with the digitalisation of education. After all, governments around the globe are making huge efforts to bring computers and high-speed Internet to every school; but too many questions remain unanswered.

Looking into the Internet use of 15-year-olds, this month’s PISA in Focus tries to answer some of these questions: Are 15-year-olds more connected to the Internet than their counterparts of three years ago? Is the digital divide growing or closing? And do digitally connected students show better education outcomes?

 Greater connectivity may not necessarily be good news for disadvantaged students.

The results show that students around the globe are spending more and more time on line. In the three years from 2012 to 2015, the time that 15-year-olds reported spending on the Internet increased from 21 to 29 hours per week, on average across OECD countries – an increase of more than one hour per day – with most of this increase concentrated on school days. The growth in Internet use was observed in every country and economy that distributed the ICT questionnaire in both the 2012 and 2015 cycles of PISA. Internet use grew the fastest in Chile, Costa Rica, Ireland and Italy, and slowest in Greece, Hong Kong (China), Macao (China) and Slovenia. In Costa Rica, students reported spending, on average, 36 hours per week on the Internet in 2015, compared to 19 hours just three years earlier.

There is no such thing as a digital divide in Internet use in most OECD countries. Even in 2012, socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students reported spending a similar amount of time connected to the Internet, on average across OECD countries, presumably because Internet access became virtually universal across most OECD countries in the preceding years. Interestingly, the gap may be reversing in favour of disadvantaged students, on average across OECD countries: in 2015 they reported spending about two hours more per week on line than advantaged students. But in Chile, Costa Rica, Latvia, Mexico, Russia and Uruguay, the traditional digital divide remains: advantaged students reported spending more time connected to the Internet than disadvantaged students – in Mexico, almost 20 hours more per week. And the digital divide persists when it comes to certain online enriching activities, such as reading news on the Internet.

However, this greater connectivity may not necessarily be good news for disadvantaged students. In every school system, students who reported using the Internet more frequently, particularly on school days, scored lower in science than students who reported using the Internet less frequently. These results are not necessarily a call for digital abstinence, but rather a call for moderation, as students who reported using the Internet moderately – up to 30 minutes on a typical weekday at school, between 1 and 4 hours on a typical weekday outside of school or between 2 and 4 hours on a typical weekend day – scored above students who never used the Internet or used it more intensively. Using the Internet intensively is also associated with less satisfaction with life, arriving late for school and lower education expectations, according to the OECD report PISA 2015 Results: Students’ Well-Being.

Students everywhere are spending more and more time connected to the Internet, both in and outside of school, and Internet use among disadvantaged students is increasing exponentially. While this may have been good news a few decades ago, today it may be a mixed blessing: evidence suggests that digitally connected students perform worse academically, particularly when they use the Internet intensively on school days; and extreme Internet users report lower levels of well-being. There are innovative, efficient and promising ways in which digital technologies are being used in education, but until they become the norm, logging off the Internet may not be a bad idea after all.


Learn more:

• PISA in Focus No. 83: How has Internet use changed between 2012 and 2015?