The safe and competent use of digital media has become even more important in recent years. In order for the upcoming generation to benefit from these dynamic changes, the school education sector has a responsibility to provide the necessary pedagogical and technological framework conditions. The central challenge is to teach pupils how to use digital media in a competent, reflective, productive, and communicative way. The international comparative study "International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2023" (ICILS 2023) shows the state of these skills and competences. For the third time – after ICILS 2013 and ICILS 2018 – the digital skills of eighth-graders and the framework conditions of the skills competition in Germany are being analysed in an international comparison and information on teaching and learning with digital media in schools is being collected. The national research centre for the 2023 study is located at Paderborn University, as it was for ICILS 2018. The study is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with four million euros and co-financed by the European Commission. In Germany, 230 randomly and representatively selected lower secondary schools from all 16 federal states took part in the study. In each of these schools, an eighth-grade class and, as a rule, 15 teachers, the respective school management, and the person responsible for IT coordination at the school were randomly surveyed according to an international sampling plan.
New findings on computer and information-related skills
The study focuses on pupils' digital skills, which are recorded in two test domains. Prof. Dr. Birgit Eickelmann, Scientific Director of ICILS 2023 for Germany and Head of the School Pedagogy Group at the Institute of Educational Science at Paderborn University, explains: "Thanks to the latest results, the computer and information-related skills of pupils in Germany can be presented for the first time as a trend over ten years. The results show that Germany, with 502 points in the field of computer and information-related skills, is above the international average (476 points) in a comparatively weak field of countries; however, the average skills have declined significantly compared to ICILS 2013 and ICILS 2018. Eickelmann explains: "When we look at the distribution across the five competence levels recorded, we see that more than 40 per cent of eighth-graders now only achieve the lower two competence levels. At non-grammar school types, this proportion is even higher at more than 55 per cent. Overall, it is primarily the non-grammar school types that need to be supported much more in the coming years. In addition to measures at system and school level, more targeted, continuous and up-to-date teacher training and the strengthening of school leaders as 'digital learning leaders' play a particularly important role."
Study shows need for development and action in Germany
"For a long time, scepticism towards digital in education prevailed," explains Eickelmann. "But in recent years, digitalisation-related innovations have gained momentum," she continues. Nevertheless, the ICILS 2023 study shows that there is still an urgent need for development. For Germany, the results now presented show that the technological equipment in schools in Germany has developed significantly, although modernisation measures are now being called for. However, an international comparison also reveals a certain urgency to expand newer technologies, such as adaptive learning systems to support learning processes. The study also shows that teaching with digital media has become a matter of course for 70 per cent of teachers. This proportion has risen considerably over the past five years and illustrates the development towards digitalisation becoming the norm in teachers' everyday lives. However, the developments and measures of recent years are far from reaching all pupils: For example, only 25 per cent of eighth-graders state that they use digital media at school every day for school tasks. This result is in clear contrast to the pupils' wishes and expectations. Eickelmann: "In the study, 90 per cent of pupils expressed a high level of motivation to learn with digital media. In the future, it will thus be important to develop student-orientated, learning-friendly, and meaningful learning arrangements. This will also involve promoting the potential of digital media against the backdrop of the possibilities of AI in schools."
Findings on the 'Computational Thinking' competence area
In the additional module 'Computational Thinking', the second test domain in ICILS, a comparison of competences over five years is possible for the first time. The latter competence area has been part of the study since ICILS 2018 and plays a role in the context of using algorithms and modelling to solve problems, among other things. In many European countries, including German-speaking Switzerland and Austria, it has already been anchored in school curricula for several years. For this competence area, it can be seen that the average competences have at least not fallen any further in the last five years. Germany only achieves an average of 479 points and is therefore well below the results of many other countries, including European countries.
Innovative teacher training at Paderborn University
Paderborn University will be able to build on one result in particular. While only around 30 percent of teachers in Germany – and thus rather few in an international comparison – state that they have already learned how to teach with digital media during their teacher training, it is clear that a significantly larger proportion of the young generation of teachers here have already gained experience in various digitisation-related fields during their teacher training. The importance of contemporary and innovative teacher training at Paderborn University in research and teaching has been further expanded, not least as part of the quality offensive for teacher training with the cross-phase research project COMeIN ("Communities of Practice NRW – for Innovative Teacher Training") and with the follow-up projects as part of the large nationwide project lernen:digital, which is also funded by the BMBF and in which Paderborn University is involved with various sub-projects.
Provision of the results
The full report on the study and a summary of the results for Germany can be viewed on the project website. There is also a link to a video on the study, which explains six possible development perspectives for the school education sector based on the results of the ICILS 2023 study. The first state-specific results for North Rhine-Westphalia, the only state to participate in ICILS again, are also available. In addition to the results on pupils' digital skills, selected results on the framework conditions and processes of school education in the digital transformation are included in the report. The focus here is on the perspectives of pupils, teachers, and school administrators. Furthermore, comprehensive findings on the technological framework conditions in Germany in an international comparison are provided on an empirically sound basis.
This text was translated automatically.
