the society and the
level of integration
of digital technology
at school might be
good candidates
to account for
differences in
parental mediation
The situation is similar for the per- centage of households with broad- band access at home in 2017. Bul- garia (67%), Greece (71%), Romania (74%) and Lithuania (75%) appear at the bottom of the ranking. Portugal, Latvia, Croatia follow with 76%. Cy- prus, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Re- public, Belgium and Malta show rates between 79 and 85%. Germany is at the same level as Denmark with 92%.Data on the percentage of the persons (aged 16-74) with mobile internet ac- cess in 2017 provide a different view as Italy and Croatia are now at the top end of the series with respectively 32% and 51%. Nonetheless Romania (53%), Lithuania (55%), Bulgaria (56%), Latvia (57%) keep together and closely follow Portugal (58%), Czech Republic (60%) and Slovenia (63%). Cyprus (70%) shows a high rate of mobile internet connection compared to internet connection at home, close to Malta (71%). The per- centages for Germany and Belgium are at 75% while Spain follows Fin- land with 78% of the persons (aged 16-74) with mobile internet access. Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI_2017) and Digital Intensity Index (DII_2017)
As for the composite indicators, Fin- land, Denmark and The Netherlands are in the top 6 - with Ireland, Sweden and Belgium - of the Digital Econo- my and Society Index (DESI_2017) that measures the integration of dig- ital technology in business in 2017. Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia are showing the lowest scores on the DESI_2017 index, while Lithuania is far above the EU28 mean and is placed in 9th position after Czech Re- public and Slovenia but before Ger- many, Portugal, Spain, Malta, and the UK while Croatia, Cyprus and Italy follow, below the EU28 mean. The picture shown by the DII_2016 is very similar for the Digital Intensity Index (DII) that measures the avail- ability at company level of 12 different digital technologies.
At the top of its ranking for 2016, we found Denmark, Finland and Nor-
way, followed by Sweden, the Neth- erlands and Malta (see Note 3 p. 18). Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia score lowest on the index, while Lithua- nia is ranked 10th after Malta, Bel- gium, and the UK but before Spain, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Portugal and Cyprus. Integration of digital technology in schools at national level
Regarding the integration of digital technology in schools, mass media of- ten report the excellence of the Nordic education system thanks to their high results on the OECD-PISA study (OECD, 2015). They are also report- ed in literature and media as leading the way to develop the ‘the skills for the 21st century’.
At international level, OECD, based on the PISA study 2012 constructed an Index of computer use at school based on nine activities using com- puters at school (chat on line; us- ing e-mail; browsing the Internet for schoolwork; downloading, uploading or browsing material from the school’s website; posting work on the school’s website; play simulations at school; practice and repeat lessons, such as for learning a foreign language or math- ematics; doing individual homework on a school computer; and using school computers for group work and to communicate with other students) (OECD, 2015).
Although this information does not fit our needs (the countries of our sample are not all OECD countries; the data are quite old with respect to our data collection time and consider second- ary schools) looking at the ranking
of this index can still be informative. Denmark, Norway are in the first and second positions of the index with re- spective values of 0.9 and 0.7 above the average, followed by Australia (0.6) and the Netherlands (0.5). The Czech Republic is in 5th position (0.4), Spain (0.2) and Slovenia (0.1) show integration of ICT in school slightly above the average at that time. Switzerland was positioned at the average (0.0). Portugal (-0.1), Italy, Croatia, Belgium (-0.2), Latvia and Russia (-0.3) were below the average but not as much as Shanghai-China, Japan and Korea (-1).
More relevant for our exercise is a Survey of Schools: ICT in Education which provided at the request of the European Commission a snapshot image in 2013 of the integration of ICT in schools across Europe, based on over 190,000 responses from stu- dents (including grade 4, 9 years old), teachers and head teachers collected and analysed during the school year 2011-12. (European Commission, 2013).
Building on the results of this first survey, the European Commission launched the 2nd Survey of Schools: ICT in Education, in July 2017 which will assess the progress and estimate costs to connect primary and second- ary classrooms in the EU.
While waiting for those fresh data, re- sults of the first survey can still provide us with some background elements of the contextual situation of our inter- views carried between 2015 and 2017. It is important to note that the response rate was insufficient to make a reliable analysis in four countries (Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and UK) while
teaching of subjects, are much rarer: only around 20% of students are in such schools. Higher percentages of students are in this situation in Den- mark, Turkey, and Slovenia, while lower percentages are evident in Aus- tria, Croatia, Italy and Greece.
In Lithuania around 70% and in Romania around 65% of students at all grades were taught by teachers for whom it was compulsory to par- ticipate in ICT training, while 13% or less of students are taught by such teachers in Italy, Luxembourg and Austria. In Norway around 80% of students at all grades were taught by teachers who had undertaken ICT training provided by school staff. Confidence of the students
Generally speaking, students at all grades across countries declared quite a high level of confidence in their ability to use the internet safely, with students across all grades in Portugal, Poland, Norway, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia and the Czech Republic scor- ing particularly highly. Conversely, students across all grades in Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Cyprus and Luxem- bourg had relatively low mean scores in their confidence to use the internet safely.
3.2.3
Mapping levels of
digitalisation and
integration of digital
technology at school
against parental
perceptions and
parenting strategies
Looking first at the mapping of the Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Turkeysuccessfully completed the survey. Connectedness and equipment The survey showed that most schools in 2012 were connected at least at a basic level (indicated by having, for example, a website, local area net- work, virtual learning environment). Between 25 and 35% of students at grade 4 are in highly equipped schools. Leading the way, Denmark, Norway and Sweden had the lowest ratios student to PC’s/Laptop at all grades, followed by Spain, Malta, Cy- prus and Belgium. Denmark, Norway and Portugal showed most evidence of the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ practice. Malta, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Estonia had lower than average ratios of student to interactive white- boards. Denmark, Estonia, Luxem- bourg, Norway and Sweden had the highest bandwidth. High levels of vir- tual learning environment provision could be seen in Norway, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Use (and non-use) of infrastructure The majority of teachers of grade 4 used internet for their preparation. Fewer used it as pedagogical tool. High levels of teacher use at grade 4 were reported in Malta, Turkey, Slov- enia, Ireland, Estonia, Cyprus and France and at grade 8 (aged 13.5) in Turkey, Portugal, Ireland and Estonia. Policies and strategies
One in two students were in schools where the use of ICT for teaching and learning was discussed among staff. Formalised school policies regard- ing the use of ICT affects around 50 % of the students. Policies covering ICT use in general and specifically in
considered indicators of digitalisation of society (the level of penetration of internet in households, of the mobile and personal access, and the integra- tion of digital technology at business level) clearly shows Bulgaria, Ro- mania, and Latvia at the back of the digitalisation wave in Europe. Croatia is not far ahead of them concerning the penetration of internet access in households but shows slightly better scores on both indices than the last three. Lithuania also has a low score concerning the penetration of internet access in households but shows in the top ten of both indices DESI_2017 and DII (2016), considering the in- tegration of digital technology in business. Portugal and Cyprus show better scores on both indices than the last three, especially DESI_2017 for Portugal (11th), a slightly higher percentage of internet connection at home and they benefit from a higher percentage of persons connected to mobile internet, especially Cyprus. Italy, Slovenia and the Czech Repub- lic, Spain, Malta and Belgium show similar medium percentages of inter- net connection at home while in this respect Germany scores close to the Nordic countries.
However, the results are more differ- entiated for them all regarding per- sonal mobile internet access and both indices. When we compare all indi- cators for those ‘medium’ countries, Italy shows fewer elements of digi- talisation than Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Spain, Malta, Germany and Belgium together with the UK -that scores below Malta and Belgium for the DII (2016) and just above the EU mean for the DESI_2016, even though it stands in the top 6 regard-
Mapping of parental perceptions and parenting strategies. Source: European Commission
FIGURE 12 More negative perceptions Favouring limiting mediation strategies Other countries not participating Blanced perceptions Favouring openness within mediation strategies Blanced perceptions Mixed mediation strategies including limitations and support Positive perceptions Supportive and active mediation strategies
Scaffolders
Open
Restricted
Gatekeepers
ing internet access - are following the track opened by Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, which stand at the forefront of the digitalisation wave.
As for Norway, Switzerland, and Rus- sia, being out of the EU-28 data- base, we had to refer to international data that ranked Norway at the top of the classification of Internet users per country, with 98% penetration, Switzerland is close to Germany and Belgium with 87% while Russia with 73% is close to the position of Roma- nia and Lithuania.
Regarding some important elements of integration of digital technology at school, again, Denmark, Norway and Finland stand out showing the best scores in most of the considered ele- ments while Malta, Cyprus and Por- tugal show interesting scores on con- nectedness, equipment and the use of digital technology in class.
This is not surprising for Malta, given their high level of penetration of in- ternet connection in households. It is more of a surprise for Cyprus and Portugal who are showing low or me- dium ranks on the considered indices. At the same time students in Cyprus are among the least confident along with students in Bulgaria and Latvia while students in Portugal, Lithuania and Czech Republic show the most confidence. Still students in Norway and Denmark are the ones that max- imise their knowledge and confidence thanks to the facilities of accessing quality digital technology both at school and at home.
Comparing those two sets of indica- tors to our mapping that distinguishes parental perceptions towards digital
and Russia and Central European countries would require further and deeper research as other contextual elements might be preponderant or have a major impact.
For example, a third contextual ele- ment can explain the shared positive views and common parental media- tion strategies of this group, at least for the Nordic countries, is the ho- mogeneity of the society in terms of typology of population create homog- enous social norms: the typology of families and their size (i.e researchers reported the difficulty to find sin- gle child families in Denmark); the openness of actions (viewed by all- no blinds on the windows of the houses); shared values, as the concept of fair- ness (Joint Research Centre of the Eu- ropean Commission, 2017) as viewed in Norway (i.e researchers reported the case in Norway of neighbours trusting each other easily regarding the digital meditation of their respec- tive children as they agreed in sharing the same parenting style and parental strategies,).
Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania, beyond boundaries, have the past communist history in com- mon the past of history of the 20th- century is still present and affect their population in their everyday choice. Parents’ choice for open access and particularly in Bulgaria, their prepon- derant care of providing children with the up-to-date tools to keep the pace, for not being left out socially may still be a trace of the counter-reaction to closeness and restriction of media that followed the democratic change. (Hasebrink, Livingstone, Haddon, & Ólaf sson, 2009) already reported the classification of European countries in technology and parenting mediation
of children’s technology use in four groups of country (Northern Euro- pean countries; South and Western countries, Lithuania and Russia; Cen- tral European countries; Eastern Eu- ropean countries and Latvia), it seems that indeed variation of contextual elements such as the level of penetra- tion of internet in society and the lev- el of integration of digital technology at school can account at least partially for those differences as mapped in our comparison exercise.