Pan-European survey: More than 2/3 of the EU?s schools benefit from high-speed internet
E Portugal? Almost all Portuguese schools now use computers for teaching (97%) and have internet access (92%). 73% use the internet via a broadband connection. With this figure Portugal ranks at number 16 of the 27 countries participating in the survey.
There is a large variation between school types: while 70% of primary schools have a broadband internet connection, the penetration is highest among upper secondary schools, with 87%, and vocational schools which reach 91%. There is only minor variation with regard to broadband access between urban and rural areas.
Computers in school libraries seem to play an important role in Portuguese schools, especially in secondary schools, where significantly more than 90% of the schools offer computers in libraries probably as a compensation for the very poor general equipment with computers in schools which in Portugal is at only 6 computers for 100 pupils. With this figure, Portugal finds itself at the very bottom of the countries in Europe together with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
70% of Portuguese classroom teachers have used computers in class in the 12 months prior to the survey, with little variation across school types and between urban and rural areas. A majority (54%) of the teachers using computers use them in more than 25% of all lessons. [...]
Not surprisingly, the older the teachers (indicator used here: years of teaching experience), the less use they make of computers and the internet in schools. While 27% of the young teachers use ICT in more than half of their lessons, the corresponding figures for the older teachers is at 17%.
30% of teachers in Portugal still do not use computers in class.
When asked for the most important barrier 48% state a lack of computers in their schools as an important barrier, while some 24% believe that the lack of adequate material is an important constraint.
In Portugal the percentage of schools using computers for educational purposes has risen over the past 5 years from 70% in 2001 to 97% in 2006. While in 2001 one hundred pupils had to share 4 computers the figure rose to 6 until 2006, an improvement of almost 50%; however, Portugal still stays at the very bottom of European countries, with a figure only half of the European average of 12. [...]
A very high 95% of Portuguese teachers see significant learning benefits for pupils using computers in class. Only 9% argue that the use of ICT does not reveal significant benefits for pupils. This is a top figure compared to most other European countries.
With 36% of teachers having the necessary ICT skills and motivation but lacking ICT access, the situation in Portugal is much worse than the European average (21%). The same applies to the very large group of teachers who are motivated to use ICT in class but who lack the necessary ICT access and competence. With 15% this group is three times above the EU25 average. Finally, Portugal is also faced with a group of 8% of teachers with ICT access and motivation but lack of ICT competence, a figure which is almost twice as high as the European average. As a consequence the ICT readiness of Portuguese teachers is very low with the country ranking only 22nd in Europe.
It appears as if policy actions are required in Portugal to achieve a drastic improvement of the number of computers per school and the quality of ICT equipment in schools, but also the ICT skills of the teachers.
