More than 70 high level experts coming from the European Commission’s DG Education and Culture, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), and ICT cluster, as well as from OECD, universities, national agencies and ministries of education, met to discuss the results of what is the most detailed picture ever taken of ICT impact on European primary education. The research was carried out jointly by European Schoolnet (EUN) and empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH and funded by the EACEA.

Aims and background
STEPS’ aim was to explore how ICT is impacting on everyday teaching and learning in European primary schools by providing a comparative analysis and individual country profiles reviewing the 27 EU member states (EU27) plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. The study, based on an analytical framework and relying on contributions from over 40 national correspondents from the 30 countries involved, provides evidence from a number of quantitative and qualitative surveys:
- a literature review (analysing more than 60 studies);
- a quantitative survey of head teachers and teachers in 27 European countries;
- a policy maker survey;
- a school survey;
- examples of good practice;
- more than 25 case studies from 12 countries.

In particular, the study aimed to identify the impact of ICT on learning and learners, on teachers and teaching and on primary school development plans and strategies. It sought to identify the main drivers and enablers for effective and efficient use of ICT, and to propose recommendations on the integration of ICT in education for policy makers and stakeholders.

Sources of evidence

The STEPS workshop offered an in-depth insight into the results of each survey, showing the participants the different sources of evidence and the interrelation between their findings. Results were presented by Anja Balanskat, Roger Blamire, Lucia Sali and Bert Jaap van Oel for EUN, and Werner B. Korte and Tobias Hüsing for empirica.

A complex but consistent picture emerged around the five core areas of evidence:

1.ICT policy and strategies
In order to identify national strategies for ICT, National Correspondents completed a survey on ICT policies and strategies and their impact. In the survey National Correspondents described and reflected on national and regional policies and strategies for the integration and impact of ICT in primary schools.

The following issues were addressed:
• Characteristics of primary school education
• Organisation of ICT in primary schools
• Policies and initiatives for ICT in primary schools
• Examples of good practice.

The results of the survey are stored in an online knowledge base, enabling policy makers to compare and contrast policies and approaches. The results were analysed in order to examine policy approaches, impact and enablers and inhibitors across countries, and to identify strategy typologies.

2. The Learnind data
Data collected in 2006 for Benchmarking Access and Use of ICT in European Schools was analysed: interviews with 6 449 head teachers and 12 379 class teachers in schools which offer primary education in 27 European countries. Random samples were drawn to be representative of country, school level, region and type of locality (urban, intermediate, and rural).

The use of ICT in European primary schools was 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 purposes
• ICT competence of teachers
• Barriers to ICT use perceived by teachers

The data were analysed for each country and across all 27 countries.

3. Literature review
National Correspondents identified and reviewed key national studies that provide evidence of the impact of ICT using a sound methodology. A particular challenge was to make findings, mainly in the national language, comparable and accessible in English for a wider audience.

Over 50 studies were reviewed, producing for the first time a detailed picture of research on the use and impact of ICT, as well as enablers and barriers, in primary education in Europe. Findings are presented as they relate to learners, teachers and schools. Individual studies can be browsed in detail in the STEPS knowledge base for the aim, methodology, type of ICT and key findings.

The literature review analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the different types of studies analysed (from large scale national studies to small scale pilots and experiments), and discusses the findings for learners, teachers and schools.

4. School survey of good practice
An up-to-date snapshot of good practices with ICT and the perceptions of the teachers who answered the school survey, available online in nine languages.

There were four sections:
• Country and school context (e.g. country; size of school)
• About the good practice (issue tackled, subjects involved, type of activity)
• Impact of the good practice (on pupils, teachers and school);
• Enablers and inhibitors (e.g. technology used, success factors)

Some 250 good practices were submitted, at least one and as many as 35 from each of the 30 countries in the study. Most of the respondents were practising teachers or head teachers, talking enthusiastically about their experiences and challenges with ICT at the ‘sharp end’ of national, regional, local and school ICT policies that constrain or enable their visions for teaching and learning.

5. Case studies
Examples of good practice at primary school level were documented in order to illustrate the main strategic typologies. Based on school survey responses and recommendations from national correspondents, examples of good practice were identified and contact made with the schools involved. Experts visited the schools, observed lessons and interviewed senior staff, teachers and pupils following an agreed protocol and writing up case studies in a common format.

A fascinating set of over 25 STEPS case studies has been produced describing good practices and the factors behind them in 14 countries, ranging from Romania to Portugal, Finland to Slovenia, large urban schools to isolated village schools. The good practices and case studies have been analysed to draw out common enabling and inhibiting factors.

To give a national perspective on STEPS, the national correspondent from Italy, Marilena Nalesso, and the STEPS supporter, Laura Franceschi (Agenzia Nazionale per lo Sviluppo dell’Autonomia Scolastica, ANSAS, former Indire), explained the Italian approach to STEPS. It consisted of a synergic and consistent research carried out throughout the whole Italy in order to identify the most relevant cases of good practice, and then gather them together in a national workshop in Trieste on 10 December 2009. Teachers leading good practices in their schools - a well balanced selection of different school typologies (small schools in mountain areas, big schools in the outskirts of industrial areas, medium-sized schools in advantaged areas, etc.) and embodying each a different issue (overcoming isolation, tackling pupils’ from different background and origins integration, avant-garde projects, etc.) - could meet, share experience and exchange views on their daily work with ICT in the classroom. The national workshop identified the two Italian case studies.

Integrated country reports

As an additional piece of work, thirty country briefs were produced, each about eight pages, giving a succinct overview of the STEPS results for each country in a standard format. Each country brief contains a summary of ICT policy and initiatives in primary schools based on the policy survey, an analysis of the Learnind data for that country, a summary of the results from national research, and descriptions of good practice in the country and the teachers’ view on the enablers, inhibitors and challenges.

Experts round table

After the presentation of the study, a round table brought together major representatives to offer different perspectives: European policy perspective (Godelieve van den Brande, European Commission’s DG Education and Culture), national policy perspective (Odile Arbeit de Chalendar, French Ministry for Research and Higher Education), primary school perspective (Ferry de Rijcke, Inspectie van het Onderwejis, and Riina Vuorikari, European Schoolnet), and research perspective (Morten Søby, ITU).

The major issues raised by key speakers and participants can be summarised as follows:

- Indicators and benchmarking: the need of developing new indicators and benchmarking systems has been highlighted. They should address parameters such as school leadership, level of drop-outs and heterogeneity, and assess the impact on learning outcomes.

- Stronger focus on the pedagogical use of ICT: there seems to be a new trend in the focus of impact studies, which is shifting from looking at ICT impact per se to how ICT is used in pedagogical processes. ICT shouldn’t be thought in isolation, what counts is the pedagogy of ICT practices.

- New skills and assessment: the new curriculum and skills required for the knowledge society, where creativity and innovation play a central role, should be better re-defined and consequently assessed. The link between the 21st century competences and the abilities required and developed through interaction with online social networks and digital games was stressed likewise.

- Policy makers, evidence and vision: the main challenge is to link together policy makers, evidence and vision: how to engage policy makers in understanding what comes out of evidence, as researchers and policy makers still don’t seem to speak the same language. What matters the most is not strategies, but how they influence and enter a country’s vision.

- Teachers’ professional development: teachers need to be helped to fully think digital. The effective use of ICT also for administrative tasks could allow them to focus more on educational tasks. Now the priority should be to invest in further continuous professional development.

- Call for more case studies: case studies have been found very valuable in providing interesting insights, and would be useful to do more in the future and making them accessible in a database.

- Other issues: there is a set of different issues which would deserve further research such as collaborative approaches in and between schools, the links between what students learn in and out of school, the role of ICT in self-regulated learning. Also a further knowledge on how learning is developed by what in human beings, and what is learning about, would help developing new approaches and strategies.

STEPS outputs

The STEPS final report will be submitted to the Executive Agency in the coming weeks. It comprises:
- an executive summary;
- the full report split into sub-reports: policy, Learnind data, literature, school survey and good practice, including also the analytical framework, methodology and annexes;
- 30 country briefs;
- case studies;
- presentations (leaflet and PowerPoint) for diffusion.

The reports will be published by the Executive Agency following review and will be available on the EACEA's website.

Further information

- STEPS workshop:
www.steps-workshop.eu

- STEPS aims and outputs:
http://steps.eun.org

- Previous Insight articles on STEPS:
http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/school_innovation/best_practice/steps_workshop.htm
http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/school_innovation/best_practice/steps.htm

- STEPS consortium:
European Schoolnet (EUN)
www.eun.org
empirica GmbH
www.empirica.com

- The previous ICT Impact Report (2007)
http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/impact_study.htm