32.7% express doubts and 11.8% openly reject it compared to 53.6% who are committed to digitization
70.9% of centers point out the lack of time for teachers as the greatest difficulty in taking advantage of ICT
One of the discussions current in the world of education is the one that refers to the digital transformation of schools. There are disparity of criteria on the subject, as reflected in the study ‘Opportunities and challenges of digital education from the perspective of educational centers’ carried out by Connected Education and that has been presented this week in Madrid. Although the report reflects that 53.6% of Spanish schools agree on the need to advance in the digital transformation of classrooms, there is a 44% expressing reluctance: 32.7% do not see it so clearly and 11.8% take a totally opposite position. Critics worry about, among other things, the impact of digitization on academic outcomes.
The study has also investigated the problems that schools encounter when implementing digitization in the classroom, ranging from issues related to equipment and connectivity to the digital skills of the educational community. And an important conclusion is that, in the opinion of the management teams of the educational centers, the lack of teacher time (70.9%) and the low digital competence of families (61.8%) are the problems that currently most hinder the incorporation of ICT in the teaching-learning processes. Added to these problems is the also majority perception that teachers have insufficient digital skills in ICT (51.8%).
Other necessary issues pointed out by the schools are the increase in resources from public administrations (33.6%), the innovation in evaluation methods (33.6%) or the increase of devices in classroomswhich 31.8% of the centers claim.
Regarding the impact of the pandemic, 50.9% of the centers highlight that the teaching staff “has greatly improved their digital skills after the pandemic”; though a significant 42.7% speak of a “certain improvement, although little”. “That is to say, although the majority of centers admit great evolution in this sense, there are not a few who mention little progress, perhaps insufficient to face the challenges that the digital transformation requires. And perhaps it can also be hypothesized that a good number of professionals present certain resistance to fully incorporate ICT in the teaching space”, underlines the report.
Bet on face-to-face
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The study has also asked the schools about distance training -the great melon that opened the confinement- and the answers leave no doubt: those in charge of the centers, for the most part, are committed to an education where face-to-face training continues to be the primary training channel.
But if these results are compared with those of the study ‘Youth experiences and perceptions about the digital adaptation of schools in a pandemic’ -also carried out by Connected Education in 2021 among students of IT’S and FP– one observes very different perspective between teachers and students regarding the future of the digital teaching. While the teaching staff and the centers are firmly committed to face-to-face teaching -or in a minority combination with online training-, the students opt for opposite scenarios.