Innovative use of ICT in schools in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom Ulf Fredriksson Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning, Ispra, Italy and Mid Sweden University, Sweden Tjeerd Plomp University of Twente, the Netherlands Gunilla Jedeskog Linköping University, Sweden Elsebeth Sorensen Aalborg University, Denmark Maria Rasmusson Mid Sweden University, Sweden

2 Innovative use of ICT in schools in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom The ELFE project – a short presentation Findings from the project Findings from the Nordic countries compared with findings from the other three countries Discussions and conclusions

3 The ELFE project Initiated by ETUCE 2 year project financed by the EU allow ETUCE and the wider society to get a better understanding of the strengths and the weaknesses of using ICT in primary and secondary education

4 The ELFE project: aims Aim 1: Analyse and share good experiences and identify good practices in using ICT Aim 2: Study the possibilities of transferring these good practices to other schools and countries Aim 3: Create a debate on how the European policy on eLearning and use of ICT in education should be developed

5 The ELFE project Cooperation between researchers and teacher unions Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal and United Kingdom Three schools from each country An additional study in Sweden (three schools)

6 The ELFE-project: selection of schools normal as opposed to schools that receive extra budgets and support as part of a specific project a mixture of primary and secondary schools including some vocational schools and some isolated and/or rural schools the use of ICT is aimed at pedagogical innovation ICT is intensively used in teaching and learning processes in the school as a whole

7 The ELFE-project: selection of schools selection of school was done by the national trade union representative of the participating countries in the ELFE Steering Committee only three days were available for the three school visits in a particular country (one day per school, during that day the ELFE team also had to travel from one school to the next)

8 ELFE instruments Principal: interview and questionnaire Innovative teachers (i.e. teachers deeply involved in using ICT in their teaching and in implementing ICT in the school): interview Other teachers: interview Students: interview ICT coordinator (staff member responsible in the school for the ICT infrastructure): questionnaire collect school level documents relevant for the topic

9 Three questions 1.What factors influence the intensive use of ICT? 2.What difference does the use of ICT make in schools where ICT is intensively used for instructional/pedagogical purposes? 3.How are the students influenced by this different way of teaching as compared to the traditional classroom education, both individually and as a collective?

10 What factors influence the intensive use of ICT? Vision on teaching and learning Schools involvement in other innovations Leadership style of the principal Integration of ICT in the schools culture Teachers professional development Teacher collaboration External policies and linkages relevant for ICT use and pedagogical changes

11 What difference does the use of ICT make in schools where ICT is intensively used for instructional/pedagogical purposes? Interaction between teachers Interaction between teachers and students Better communication with parents Other type of interaction with local community Influences on teaching and learning New physical arrangements Increased efficiency of school administrations and effectiveness of school management

12 How are the students influenced by this different way of teaching as compared to the traditional classroom education, both individually and as a collective? What students do with ICT How students experience working with ICT No hard evidence of what impact the intensive use of ICT in subjects and/or in projects and independent learning tasks has on students New competences such as being able to work independently and in projects, to search for information, to collaborate and communicate, etc

13 How are the students influenced by this different way of teaching as compared to the traditional classroom education, both individually and as a collective? Students show more confidence and have better learning motivation Students have no instrumental problems in working with computers and more general with ICT In general students like working with computers

14 Findings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden Country / school (grades)Student:computer ratio DK (1-9) 4.4 DK (10 – 12) 5.7 DK (10 -12) 4.8 NW (1 – 10) 3.7 NW (11 – 13) 2.8 NW (11 – 13) 1.9 SW (10 – 12) 2.4 SW (10 – 12) 1.7 SW (10 – 12) 1.7

15 Findings from Germany, Portugal and the UK Country / school (grades)Student:computer ratio EN (1 – 6) 3.6 EN (6 – 12) 5.9 EN (6 – 12) 3.7 GM (1 – 4) 1.9 GM (11 – 13) 12.8 GM (5 – 13) 33.6 PT (1 – 9) 15.3 PT (10 – 12) 12 PT (5 – 9) 13.7

16 Findings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden What factors influence the intensive use of ICT? Vision - yes Leadership style – yes (autonomy of the schools) Integration of ICT in the schools culture - yes Teachers professional development – yes (based on local needs and local decisions) External policies - yes

17 Findings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden What difference does the use of ICT make? Interaction between teachers and students New physical arrangements Increased efficiency of school administrations and effectiveness of school management

18 Findings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden How are the students influenced by this way of teaching? All students use ICT Students ability to work independently?

19 Comparison between the three Nordic countries and the other countries All the schools seem to have much in common The schools in the Nordic countries and in England seem to have been working more with teachers professional development than in the other countries. Students use computers in all involved schools, but the schools in the Nordic countries and in England seem to have more access to computers than the German and the Portuguese students

20 Discussion and conclusions: Time is an issue (Fullan, 2001) Three stages: –Initiation: Being informed –Implementation (change): Fear, risk, etc. Pedagogical imagination Competence –Institutionalization

21 Discussion and conclusions: The teacher as the key The appropriate role of technology depends on the individual educational designers/teachers views and perception of the goals of education A conscious choice Time

22 Discussion and conclusions: A set of questions for reflection The role of the teacher/student? How to balance student initiatives and teachers need to control? Dialogue/collaboration? How to use ICT to foster collaboration? Imagining appropriate assessment models?

23 Discussion and conclusions The findings from the ELFE project are not possible to generalize. Comparing schools that are supposed to be in the forefront may give some hints about the directions of developments in the involved countries The differences between the schools in the project seem to reflect the differences between the countries.

More information about the ELFE- project

25 Merci! Danke! Gracias! Tack! Kiitos! Grazie! Takk!