The information and data gathering process is still in progress in the EU27 plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, thanks to over 40 national correspondents from 30 countries and Empirica GmbH, EUN's partners in STEPS.

The process: Phase 1, Literature Review and deepen the picture on ICT impact in primary schools

The work has been organised in two phases of nine months each. The first one, January- September 2008, mainly dealt with taking stock and developing the analytical framework. National correspondents provided input to the literature review, identified and described the most relevant impact studies from their countries according to a common framework. Qualitative surveys were designed and data gathered: one addressed to policy makers and one to schools. Empirica provided a follow up analysis of the 2006 Leanind Data, Benchmarking Access and use of ICT in European schools, concerning primary schools.

... and Phase 2, identifying good practices and case studies

Based on the work done at the previous stage, phase 2 aims to identify several examples of good practice at primary school level in order to illustrate the main strategic typologies identified. These examples will be further analysed as case studies (a total of 15-20), which describe the overall primary school ICT development plan, the implementation strategy, the organisational changes introduced, the pedagogical implications, teachers' participation and assessment as well as the impact on students’ performance, motivation and participation.

A major milestone of the first phase is the Steps analytical framework, which enables us to map the evidence against five key areas or levels: society, education system, school, teachers and learners.

The methodological framework

Data is gathered through a literature review and a number of qualitative surveys: a policymaker and school survey and case studies. A follow up analysis of quantitative data gathered on ICT during the Learnind 2006 survey was carried out by Empirica. Findings from the various surveys will then be mapped against the analytical framework.

The literature review provides first evidence on the impact of ICT in primary schools. We are currently analyzing studies 60 studies from 22 countries and a number of European studies. The aim is to identify those studies that can give an important insight in the field and to include countries where information access has proven to be difficult so far due to language barriers or fragmented research as revealed by the ICT impact report (1).

Studies range from large scale national evaluation reports to smaller pilot studies and case studies. They are selected based on a number of criteria, such as research method, quality and importance of the study and whether they provide evidence on the impact of ICT.

While pursuing the effort of sufficient coverage, there is still need to identify studies from Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Iceland, Greece, Slovakia and Poland, which are currently under-represented in the review.

In the qualitative policy maker survey national coordinators describe and reflect on national and regional policies and strategies for the integration and impact of ICT in primary schools. The following issues are addressed: characteristics of primary school education, organisation of ICT in primary schools, policies and initiatives for ICT in primary schools, and examples of good practice. Based on the overview of national policies and ICT implementation strategies at several levels (national, regional, local and school) the study seeks to identify strategy typologies. Policy makers will be able to compare themselves with similar approaches, but also to contrast their policies with completely different approaches.

The project has launched an online school survey (available in 8 languages, click here to take it: http://steps-project.wikispaces.com/Information+for+Schools) in order to deepen the picture of the impact of national/ regional/ local strategies and to report on the perspectives of future developments on a sound basis of evidence. The survey is also one of the main tools to identify good practice in schools and their relation to strategies via a self evaluation template, where schools provide quantitative and qualitative information. The aim is to reach a sufficient number of schools (300, at least 10 per country) in order to identify good practice examples in primary schools and deepen the picture concerning the issue of impact and future perspectives. 15 to 20 examples from different countries will be further analysed as case studies. This involves visits to the schools in the coming months.

A major milestone of the project is the quantitative analysis of the LearnInd 2006 Survey (2). It constitutes a further major input to the empirical analysis work in the study.
The teachers and head teachers' interviews were carried out in 2006 by Empirica in the framework of the LearnInd survey for the European Commission (DG Information Society and Media). The analysis, examining 12,379 interviews with class room teachers and 6,449 interviews with head teachers of primary schools, draws a true, empirical and evidence-based picture of the situation on the ICT use in primary schools and its impact in the different European countries. It quantifies the main results achieved at national level in the areas of infrastructure and access, ICT use in schools, ICT use of teachers; and barriers: non use of ICT by teachers.

The use of ICT in European primary schools is measured along to the following components:
• Teachers’ attitudes and motivation with regard to ICT, including perceived impact of ICT
• Technical infrastructure in schools, including computer equipment and internet connectivity
• The use of ICT in class and for educational purpose
• ICT competence of teachers
• Barriers to ICT use perceived by teachers

The STEPS analytical framework consists of 5 areas or strategic levels as they play an important role when we look at the implementation of ICT and its impact: Society, Education system, schools, teachers and learners. Under each of these areas evidence concerning strategies, enablers and barriers will be placed.

What's next?

By the end of June 2009, 30 country reports (one for each of the EU27 countries plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland) and a comparative analysis report will be compiled. They will detail the main European strategies for the integration of ICT in primary schools, their impact and future development perspectives. These papers will contribute to identifying the main impact on learning and learners, on teachers and teaching, as well as on primary school development plans and strategies. The comparative analysis will also provide evidence on which to base a set of recommendations on the integration of ICT in education by identifying the main drivers and enablers for effective and efficient use of ICT. Examples of good practice identified via the school survey and the national correspondents will be included in a searchable knowledge base, 15 to 20 will be further analysed as case studies and included in the report.

Footnotes
- (1): Anja Balanskat, Roger Blamire and Stella Kefala, "The ICT impact report. A review of studies of ICT impact on schools in Europe", 2006.
- (2): Werner Korte and Tobias Hüsing, "Benchmarking Access and Use of ICT in European Schools 2006: Results from Head Teacher and A Classroom Teacher Surveys in 27 European Countries", 2006.

More information

- STEPS wiki:
http://steps-project.wikispaces.com/

- School survey (available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Polish and Estonian, deadline for submission 15/02/2009):
http://steps-project.wikispaces.com/Information+for+Schools

- Policy maker review:
http://195.227.12.109/kb_steps3/search.do

- Literature review:
http://195.227.12.109/kb_steps/search.do
http://195.227.12.109/kb_steps2/search.do

- Empirica:
www.empirica.com

- The ICT impact report
http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/impact_study.htm