PCs have little impact on education

08-12-2004

by Deirdre McArdle

A survey by the University of Munich has revealed that computers in schools have little effect on the quality of children's education.

The survey, conducted by Ifo, a research outfit which is part of the University of Munich's Centre for Economic Studies (CES), has said that students' education levels have little to do with class size or resources in the school such as computers.

"On average, better countries have neither smaller classes nor more computers in schools, and they only spend marginally more," according to German education expert and researcher of the report, Ludger Wossmann.

External and comparable examination systems provide incentives to improve students' performance according to Wossman, while the report also says that the way in which a school is run has a significant effect on a student's performance.

The Ifo report analysed individual student data from the countries involved in the first Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Test in 2000 and a range of other student comparison tests worldwide. Results from the second PISA Test conducted by the OECD in 2003 have just been released. This report concentrated mainly on students' performance in mathematics where Ireland fared moderately, well with results slightly above the OECD average.

The results from the PISA Test 2003 indicate that links between a school's physical resources such as computers and a school's performance only exist in a handful of countries. The quality of such resources have little bearing on performances in the school, the report states.

The use of computers in the educational system sparks debates in most countries, not least in the UK where the Prince of Wales recently lamented the replacement of "teaching and inspiration" by "computer-driven modules." Other critics have said that some teachers are using computers as a way to avoid actually teaching a class.

UK advocates of computers in classrooms have lauded the PC as a way in which students can have their own personalised learning systems. "Computers seem to offer more flexibility to mixed-ability classes, allowing children to progress according to their ability, not that of the class as a whole," said head of information systems for schools in Sheffield Alan Marshall, who was quoted by the BBC following a conference in London organised by the educational software company RM.