Supporting Students with Disadvantaged Backgrounds by Using ICT for Teaching and Learning – Challenges for Upper Secondary Schools

Author(s):

Birgit Eickelmann(presenting / submitting)Kerstin Drossel(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

16. ICT in Education and Training

Format:

Paper

Session Information

16 SES 05 A, ICT as a Tool to Reduce Violence and Support the Disadvantaged

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-19

11:00-12:30

Room:

FCT - Aula 12

Chair:

Ton Mooij

Contribution

This paper delivers insights into a research project regarding a region-wide school-related innovation. This innovation project takes place in the federal state of North-Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) which is the largest federal state in Germany with more than 17 million inhabitants. Due to economical restructuring in the last decades, the rate of unemployment and the number of people with a low income got comparably high in this geographical region. Therefore, one of the most remarkable German results of the international comparative studies like OECD-PISA or IEA-PIRLS, the linkage between student background and educational opportunities (Bos et al., 2007; Ehmke & Jude, 2010; OECD, 2010), has especially reinforced the need to support all students, regardless of their family and socio-economic background in NRW. This includes the need for decoupling students’ individual educational success from students’ backgrounds. One overall approach in Germany has been a radical shift from half-day schooling towards all-day schooling in the last decade. Concerning this shift, recent studies have shown that the link between academic achievement and social background could be weakened in all-day schools (Fischer & Klieme, 2012).

The presented research refers to a region-wide project called “Ganz In - All Day-Schools for a Brighter Future. The New All-Day Secondary School in NRW“. It has been launched by the Ministry of Education and is supported by a private foundation (Mercator Foundation). This innovative project started at the end of 2009. Its core idea refers to supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing all-day schooling at upper secondary school level and especially by supporting students with more individualized teaching (Berkemeyer et al., 2010). For this aim 31 already existing upper-secondary schools joined the project and changed from half-day schooling to all-day schooling. Moreover, the participating schools are accompanied by experts providing school development advice, by didactical support and by research focusing on their development. On the pedagogical level, one main objective of the project is the use of the extended time-frame in order to improve the quality of learning. Therefore, a key research question is to explore how schools shape and use their new structures and how they use their new radius of operation to improve learning in order to support their students. The special focus of this presentation is the role of information and communications technology (ICT) for teaching and learning in these schools. Therefore, the potential of ICT as a supportive factor for the enhancement of learning (Eickelmann, 2011) and especially the improvement of the quality of learning in all-day schooling (Eickelmann & Rollett, 2012) is examined in more detail.

Method

The accompanying research is based on a longitudinal design with three waves of measurement between 2009 and 2015. The study applies a mixed method approach by using qualitative and quantitative data. The data is gathered from students, their parents, principals, teachers and the further educational personnel within the schools. In addition to qualitative interviews and questionnaires, students’ achievement is tested in core subjects at different times of the project. This paper focuses on the quantitative data of the first wave. The sample included in the presented paper consists of more than 500 teachers in all 31 schools which are involved in the project. By means of descriptive statistics and multivariate data analysis the research addresses firstly the question to what extend media competence and computer-related competences are a special focus of the schools in the sample. Secondly, data concerning the use and relevance of ICT for personalized learning on the teacher and on the school level is analyzed. Moreover, teacher data regarding the professional development and the support structures in the context of improving learning by the use of ICT is included in the analysis.

Expected Outcomes

First results on individual-level show that the majority of teachers considers the use of ICT to be important for learning and teaching. A considerable rate reports to use the new learning environment to support students’ media competence and computer-related knowledge. A closer look into the data on aggregate-school-level reveals differences between the participating schools. E.g. even if all councils share the opinion that they teach knowledge about computers and media in quite a good way in their school, they have different positions about how important it is to focus on these topics more intensively in the future. As to using ICT to improve learning as such, teachers report that applying ICT is most useful to link learning in the morning to learning in the afternoon. Applying ICT for more personalized learning and the therefore perceived gain out of the participation in the project seems to be more important for teachers than expected. Their self-reported proficiency in using ICT for supporting students’ learning turned out to be comparably high. This might lead to a good prognosis for further support of student learning by using ICT in all-day school environments.

References

Bos, W., Hornberg, S., Arnold, K.-H., Faust, G., Fried, L., Lankes, E.-M., Schwippert, K. & Valtin, R. (2007). IGLU 2006 – Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich [German findings of IEA-PIRLS 2006]. Münster: Waxmann. Berkemeyer, N., Bos, W., Holtappels, H. G., Meetz, F., & Rollett, W. (2010). „Ganz In“: Das Ganztagsgymnasium in Nordrhein-Westfalen [Project description and research approach within the Ganz-In-Project]. In N. Berkemeyer et al. (eds.), Jahrbuch der Schulentwicklung, Band 16 (pp. 131–152). Weinheim: Juventa. Ehmke, T., & Jude, N. (2010). Soziale Herkunft und Kompetenzerwerb [Analyzing the linkage between students‘ social background and achievement in PISA]. In E. Klieme et al. (eds.). PISA 2009. Bilanz nach einem Jahrzehnt (pp. 231–253). Münster: Waxmann. Eickelmann, B. (2011). Supportive and hindering factors to a sustainable implementation of ICT in schools. In: Journal for Educational Research Online/Journal für Bildungsforschung Online. 3, 1, 75–103. Eickelmann, B., & Rollett, W. (2012). Angebote in Ganztagsschulen: Ein Weg zur Reduktion von geschlechtstypischen Unterschieden in der schulischen Nutzung digitaler Medien? [Using ICT in all-day schools in Germany]. In R. Schulz-Zander et al. (eds.). Qualitätsentwicklung in der Schule und medienpädagogische Professionalisierung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag. Fischer, N., & Klieme, E. (2012). Quality and effectiveness of German all-day schools: Results of the study on the development of all-day schools. In J. Ecarius et al. (eds.) Extended Education – an International Perspective. Leverkusen: Verlag Barbara Budrich. Holtappels, H. G., & Rollett, W. (2008). Individuelle Förderung an Ganztagsschulen [Individual learning support in all-day schools]. In I. Kunze, & C. Solzbacher (eds.). Individuelle Förderung in der Sekundarstufe I und II. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, 291-308. OECD (2010). PISA 2009 Results: Overcoming Social Background. Equity in Learning, Opportunities and Outcome (Vol. II). Paris: OECD.

Author Information

Birgit Eickelmann (presenting / submitting)

TU Dortmund University

Institute for School Development Research

Dortmund

Kerstin Drossel (presenting)

TU Dortmund University, Germany

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