OECD (2000)

Computers in Schools and their Use
POLICY CONTEXT
OECD economies are increasingly dependent on technological knowledge
and skills in the labour force. Students with little or no exposure to information
technology in school may face difficulties in making a smooth transition to the
modern labour market. Although the issue of how computers should be used
by students and teachers so as to maximise students’ learning outcomes is a
matter of debate, measures of student access to information technology can be
an indicator of how well schools are responding to technological change.
EVIDENCE AND EXPLANATIONS
Among the 13 OECD countries participating in the Second IEA Information
Technology in Education Study (IEA/SITES), Canadian lower secondary
students tend to have the best access to computers (a typical school having
one computer for every eight students and 90 per cent of schools having
student/computer ratios of 15 to 1 or less). Lower secondary schools in
Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway and New Zealand have slightly fewer
resources, with the typical school having between 9 and 14 students per
computer and 90 per cent of schools having student/computer ratios of 25
to 1 or less. The ratio of students per computer is higher in Belgium (French
Community), France, Iceland, Italy and Japan (between 18 and 23 to 1), and
about one out of ten schools in Belgium (French Community) and Italy have
student/computer ratios higher than 55 to 1. Lower secondary schools in the
Czech Republic and Hungary have the fewest computers, the typical school
having between 30 and 39 students per computer (Table D7.1).
More than 90 per cent of lower secondary students in Canada, Finland,
Iceland and New Zealand attend schools that have access to email/Internet for
instructional purposes. In Denmark, Luxembourg and Norway, between 75 and
85 per cent of students are enrolled in schools with either email/Internet
access, while the proportion in France, Italy and Japan is between 55 and 75 per
cent. Fewer than 45 per cent of lower secondary students in Belgium (French
Community), the Czech Republic and Hungary are enrolled in schools that
have access to the Internet (Table D7.2).
This indicator shows the
number of students per
computer as well as
principals’ reports
of how information
and communication
technology (ICT)
is used.
The number of students
per computer is
five times greater
in the Czech Republic
than in the typical
school in Canada.
Nearly all lower
secondary students are
enrolled in schools that
have access to the
Internet in Canada,
Finland and Iceland.
D7
Between a quarter and three quarters of students are enrolled in schools
where the information technology specialist reported that insufficient simultaneous
Internet access was a major obstacle to realising the school’s ICT
objectives.
Goals for ICT usage
As part of IEA/SITES, principals were asked about their policy goals relating
to ICT. At the lower secondary level, there was wide variation between
countries in responses regarding two goals: whether there should be “one or
more computers available in every classroom” and whether students should
use email. While about two-thirds or more of lower secondary students’ principals
in Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway indicated that a computer in
every classroom was a policy goal, only about one out of ten students’ principals
in the Czech Republic and Japan stated that this was a policy goal. Use of
email was a goal for over 85 per cent of students in Finland, Iceland and
Luxembourg while less than a third of students’ principals indicated that this
The degree to which
lower secondary
principals see
“a computer in every
classroom” and
“students using email”
as policy goals varies
between countries.
© OECD 2000
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