4.

Curriculum and pedagogy

4.1 Introduction
Educational systems may be described in terms of different organisational levels (Figure 4.1):
Macro-level: the (administrative and political) system of a country, state or province
that is responsible for the overall organisation;
Meso-level: the school and the classroom; and
Micro-level: the student.

Figure 4.1 Organisational levels of educational systems

Macro-level: system level

Meso-level: school and classroom level

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Micro-level: student level

Decisions about educational goals and facilities are taken by (and/or influenced by)
different groups of people at each of these levels. At the school level, for example, these
include the school board, the principal, members of the subject department, and the
teacher. Decisions (and other outputs) from each level also form the input for the sub-
system on the next level. For example, the output at the macro-level policies,
intentions, and plans of governments that are set out in official documents may
determine what is expected from schools (on the next level). The output at school level
consists of classroom activities and practices, time allocations and ICT-related instructional
practices of teachers. This (input at the micro-level) results in the realisation of learning
activities undertaken by students, as well as their competencies and attitudes.

The IEA makes a distinction between the intended, the implemented, and the attained
curriculum so as to describe curricula in a cross-national, comparative way (see, for
instance, Pelgrum & Plomp 1993; Robitaille & Garden 1989). These different perspectives
(or manifestations) of curricula can be characterised as follows:
The intended curriculum refers to the curriculum plans (at the macro-level), which
may be set out in official documents or which may exist as shared conceptions of
what constitutes important curriculum content.
The implemented curriculum (at the meso-level) consists of the content, time
allocations, instructional strategies that teachers actually realise in their lessons.
The attained curriculum (at the micro-level) is defined as the competencies,
aspirations and attitudes of students that occur as a result of teaching and learning.

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The school survey part22 of SITES Module 1 differentiated between:

The school-intended curriculum: This is the curriculum that schools aim to realise. It
can be described in terms of ICT-related objectives, achievement targets, and intended
educational processes (instructional processes, roles of teachers, evaluation procedures).
The implemented curriculum: This consists of perceptions of school principals of the
educational processes that take place at the teacher and student levels. It can be
described in terms of the learning opportunities offered to students.

It was considered appropriate to collect data concerning the school-intended curriculum

from school principals for SITES Module 1. It was expected that they would be well-
informed about their schools intentions and plans. An attempt was also made to collect
information from the principals about the implemented curriculum.23 In a full-scale IEA
study, teachers and students usually provide this information. Therefore, it should be noted
that estimates from school principals are likely to be more questionable in terms of
reliability and validity than their answers to questions related to the objectives of the school.
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Figure 4.2 shows a more detailed framework for distinguishing and describing ICT-related
curriculum indicators. This follows the presentation of the overall framework for SITES
Module 1 in Chapter 2 (see Figure 2.1).

The pedagogical practice paradigm refers to the teaching and learning practices that are
being utilised in schools; it will be explained below that a distinction is made between
emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices. Investigating the extent to
which schools have implemented practices related to each of these paradigms may offer
important contextual information for understanding ICT-related objectives and practices
in schools.

Figure 4.2 Framework for curriculum and ICT indicators

B A
ICT-related
Pedagogical
instructional
practice paradigm
objectives

ICT-related learning outcome expectations and learning opportunities

22 See Plomp, Anderson, Law & Quale (2003) for information about the national context of ICT in education.
23 During the preparatory phase of SITES Module 1, participants collectively agreed that school principals would not be
able to provide reliable estimates of learning outcomes of students.

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Each of the areas in Figure 4.2 is described in the following sections in terms of the
questions included in the questionnaire and then in terms of the indicators that were
constructed from the questionnaires. Caution is needed when interpreting the indicators of
pedagogical paradigms. These indicators seem to have face validity, and the factor analyses
show the empirical tenability of the distinction between emerging and traditionally
important practices. However, the construct validity of these indicators has not yet been
investigated in depth. Therefore, it is not known if, for example, the indicator of emerging
pedagogical practices really reflects the extent to which schools have implemented a
curriculum that is focused on student-centred, active, and independent learning.

4.2 Pedagogical practice paradigm

An attempt was made to probe the extent to which schools had adopted particular
pedagogical practices. The following question and statements explored the presence of
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pedagogical practices in the schools.

To what extent is each of the following aspects of teaching and learning present
in your school? (Answer options were: not at all, to some extent, a lot.)

1. Students developing abilities to undertake independent learning.

2. Providing weaker students with additional instruction.
3. Organising teaching and learning so that differences in entrance level,
learning pace, and learning route are taken into account.
4. Students learning to search for information, process data, and present
information.
5. The emphasis in learning is on the development of skills.
6. Students working on the same learning materials at the same pace and/or
sequence.
7. Teachers keeping track of all student activities and progress.
8. Students being largely responsible for controlling their own learning progress.
9. Students learning and/or working during lessons at their own pace.
10. Students involved in co-operative and/or project-based learning.
11. Students determining for themselves when to take a test.
12. Students learning by doing.
13. Combining parts of school subjects with one another (multi-disciplinary
approach).

Indicators of emerging practices and traditionally important practices were discovered by

empirical means. These analyses provided substantial evidence that statements 1, 2, 3, 4,
8, 9, 10, and 13 could be interpreted as reflecting emerging practices, while statements 5,
6, and 7 could be combined into an indicator of traditionally important practices.

The box plots in Figures 4.3 and 4.4 provide a condensed summary of the median values
per country and distribution of indicators within countries concerning the emerging and
the traditionally important practices in lower secondary and upper secondary education.

The indicators for lower secondary education vary quite substantially between, as well as
within, countries (see Figure 4.3). The presence of traditionally important practices was in
fact higher than emerging practices in most countries.

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In South Africa there was a tendency (at both lower and upper secondary levels) towards
the traditionally important practices with apparently less emphasis being placed on the
emerging practices. At both levels, South Africa was in the middle of the range among the
countries for emerging practices, while being among the top of the range for the
traditionally important practices.

In general, at lower secondary level the presence of emerging practices was much lower
than that of traditionally important practices in France, the Russian Federation, Singapore
and Thailand. In some countries (such as Norway) the presence of learning activities
associated with emerging practices was relatively high when compared with other countries.

As can be seen from Figure 4.4, at the upper secondary level generally it appeared that
the level of emerging practices was highest in Canada, Norway, and Singapore. The
values for the traditionally important practices were significantly higher or equalled the
emerging practices, except in Norway.
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As mentioned previously, there is a widely-held belief that applying ICT may facilitate the
implementation of emerging pedagogical practices. Subsequently, a possible hypothesis is
that schools that have used ICT for a large number of years may have higher scores on
the emerging pedagogical practices indicator than schools that started using ICT only
relatively recently. Conversely, this trend should not be expected for the traditionally
important practices. However, an analysis conducted by the researchers writing the
international report concluded that there is not strong support for these hypotheses: both
practice orientations tended to co-vary in a similar way with the number of years that ICT
had been applied in the schools.

Figure 4.3 Emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices paradigm, lower
secondary education

Note: *Country did not satisfy all sampling criteria.

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 Curriculum and pedagogy

Figure 4.4 Emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices paradigm, upper
secondary education
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Note: *Country did not satisfy all sampling criteria.

4.3 ICT-related instructional objectives

4.3.1 Instructional objectives at schools
To ascertain the ICT-related learning objectives that schools had adopted, school principals
were asked two questions. The first related to the nature of the goals utilised in determining
the current use of ICT in the schools. The second was concerned with the schools adoption
of ICT-related policy goals on issues of instruction (teaching and/or learning).

A. How important was each of the following goals in determining how

computers are now used at your school? Answer options: not important,
important, very important.

1. To prepare students for future jobs

2. To improve student achievement
3. To promote active learning strategies
4. To individualise student learning experiences
5. To encourage more co-operative and project-based learning
6. To develop student independence and responsibility for own learning
7. To give students drill and practice exercises
8. To make the learning process more interesting.

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B. The following statements concern the use of computers in different aspects.

Is this a policy goal in your school? Answer options: no, yes

1. One or more computers available in every classroom

2. Teachers use computers in their instructional practice
3. Using software for students with learning problems
4. Encouraging students learning on their own with the computer/encouraging
independent learning with the aid of computers
5. Students using computers as supportive learning aids (e.g. searching,
analysing, and presenting information)
6. Students use e-mail
7. Students access external databases via Internet/the Web
8. Co-operation with other schools in the area of computers.
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This study revealed that internationally those goals considered very important were,
among others, promoting independent and active learning, and preparing students for
future jobs. This was especially true in secondary education.

In lower secondary education in Finland, Iceland, and Luxembourg a relatively high

percentage of students were in schools that were striving to make computers available to
every classroom, in contrast to schools in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Japan, and
Thailand. Almost all students attended schools that had adopted the objective that teachers
use computers in their instructional practice. Most schools in a number of countries (for
example, Iceland and Norway) aimed to use software for students with learning
problems. However, this was rarely evident in other countries (such as Cyprus, Japan, and
Thailand). For the majority of students in all countries except the Russian Federation,
independent learning as well as computers as support learning aids were considered key
objectives. Large differences existed between countries in terms of schools that had
adopted objectives with regard to communication (see statements B6, B7, and B8 above).

In South Africa, of all the instructional objectives in lower secondary education, the
highest percentage of school principals (71% for both) reported that using computers as
supportive learning aids and that teachers using computers in their instructional practice
was very important. Of school principals, 66% saw that independent learning was a very
important objective in using ICT. The objective reported by the lowest percentage of
school principals was that of individualising students learning experiences.

Making computers available in every classroom was a widely-adopted goal in upper

secondary education, especially in Iceland, Luxembourg, Singapore, and the Slovak
Republic, in contrast to countries such as the Czech Republic, Japan and South Africa.
Most students (including 66% of South Africas students) attended schools that adopted
the goal that teachers use computers in their instruction, with the exception of the Slovak
Republic and the Russian Federation. In some countries almost all students attended
schools that had adopted the goal that students should use e-mail (for example, Chinese
Taipei, Iceland, Singapore, Slovenia), while in other countries this was the case for only a
minority of students (for example, Belgium-French, Japan, and the Slovak Republic). Less
than 50% of students in South Africa attended schools where this goal was adopted.

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The goals that were adopted by the majority of South African students principals at upper
secondary level included encouraging independent learning (71%), using computers as
supportive learning aids (69%), teachers using computers for instruction (66%), and for
preparing students for future jobs (63%) (Table 4.1).

Table 4.1 Instructional objectives that were considered to be very important by principals,
percentage of students in South African lower and upper secondary education

Lower secondary Upper secondary

Prepare students for future jobs 55 63

Improve student achievement 31 24
Promote active learning 26 26
Individualise students learning experiences 18 22
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Encourage co-operative learning 25 31

Develop independent learning 37 38
Give drill and practice exercises 18 12
Make learning more interesting 37 27
More computers in every class 20 23
Teachers use computers for instruction 71 66
Use by students with learning problems 47 45
Encourage independent learning 66 71
Use as supportive learning aids 71 69
Students use e-mail 49 49
Students access external databases 57 55
Co-operation with other schools 51 51
Objectives emerging 55 (2.6) 54 (2.2)

When comparing the principals reports on the objectives and categorising these into
emerging versus traditionally important, it appears that there is little difference between
the two in South Africa. The responses of 59% of the students principals indicate they
follow those objectives that are traditionally important compared to 54% of those that fall
within the emerging paradigm.

4.3.2 Skills acquired by target grade

School principals were requested to indicate which of the following skills students should
have acquired by the time they had reached the end of the target grade:
1. Operating a computer (saving files, printing, keyboarding)
2. Writing documents with a word processor (typing, editing, layout)
3. Making illustrations with graphics programmes
4. Calculating with spreadsheet programmes (sheet creation, using formulas)

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5. Writing simple programmes (in e.g. Logo, Pascal)

6. Communicating via e-mail with teachers and other students
7. Sending, searching for and using electronic forms of information
8. Other.

Responses have been summarised in Tables 4.2 and 4.3.

Principals in most countries expected students to learn to operate a computer, including

South Africa where principals of 83% of students expected this. However, this expectation
was evident for only 50% or less of the students in the Russian Federation and Slovenia.
That students would be able to use computers for making illustrations was important for
most principals in Chinese Taipei and Singapore, but much less so in, for instance, Italy
and Norway. Principals of only 40% of students in South Africa placed emphasis on this.
A relatively high percentage of students in Denmark and Slovenia were expected to learn
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how to use spreadsheets, which was not the case in South Africa where principals of only
34% of students expected this outcome. Writing simple programmes was important for
most principals in China Hong Kong, Hungary, and Slovenia, but rarely in, for instance,
South Africa (16%), Denmark, France, Iceland, and Norway (see Table 4.2).

An index was calculated for the skills that would be covered by the end of the target
grade. This overall skills-coverage index suggests that the highest expectations with
regard to students ICT skills exist in Denmark, Singapore, and Slovenia, while the lowest
expectations existed in Japan and the Russian Federation. South Africas index (42) is
among the lowest before the Russian Federation (the lowest with 21), Japan (34),
Cyprus (37), and Bulgaria (41).

Table 4.2 Expected acquisition of ICT-related skills by the end of the target grade, percentage of
students in lower secondary education
2. Word processing

4. Calculating with

6. Communicating

ICT skill coverage

3. Illustrating with

7. Use electronic
5. Writing simple
spreadsheets

programmes
1. Operating a

information
via e-mail
computer

graphics

Belgium-French* 82 49 32 14 26 32 35 39 (2.1)
Bulgaria 87 65 37 19 38 25 19 41 (1.7)
Canada* 95 94 49 44 9 51 76 60 (0.8)
China Hong Kong 94 85 42 43 59 55 55 62 (1.6)
Chinese Taipei 99 92 80 30 10 70 66 64 (1.3)

Cyprus 74 44 72 6 10 29 22 37 (5.0)
Czech Republic 96 93 62 66 22 33 36 58 (1.4)
Denmark 99 98 64 77 3 62 79 69 (1.2)
Finland 97 91 47 37 10 71 74 61 (1.6)
France 99 97 49 68 5 48 61 61 (1.1)

Hungary 98 89 65 53 51 28 44 61 (1.4)
Iceland 96 90 56 38 5 52 54 56 (2.5)

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Israel* 94 92 73 69 21 36 35 60 (2.2)
Italy* 89 83 23 61 50 29 27 52 (1.7)
Japan 75 64 51 20 11 13 7 34 (1.6)

Lithuania 88 67 53 34 42 39 33 51 (1.8)
Luxembourg 100 95 40 33 12 57 82 60 (4.8)
New Zealand* 99 98 63 58 10 46 67 63 (1.4)
Norway 89 88 25 61 4 49 70 55 (0.9)
Russian Federation* 42 21 27 19 30 4 6 21 (2.6)

Singapore 97 99 89 42 10 67 73 68 (1.7)
Slovenia 51 73 79 75 55 79 79 70 (1.9)
South Africa* 83 68 40 34 16 30 26 42 (3.0)
Thailand 90 80 36 28 12 10 10 38 (1.1)
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Notes: The last column presents average values and standard errors (between brackets) for indicators of ICT skill coverage.
Standard error (se): value +/-2*se provides 95% confidence interval for the population. *Country did not satisfy all
sampling criteria.

Internationally, in upper secondary education the majority of students were expected to be

able to operate computers (also true in the South African sample, 97%), to write with word
processors (South Africa, 93%), and to calculate with spreadsheets (South Africa, 76%). The
writing of simple programmes was expected from nearly three-quarters of students in
some countries (for example, China Hong Kong, Cyprus, Lithuania, and the Russian
Federation). This was certainly not the case in South African schools, where only 42% of
students were expected to write simple programmes. Countries varied considerably with
regard to electronic communication skills. For instance, only 54% of South African students
were expected to communicate via e-mail compared to 97% of students in Singapore
(see Table 4.3).

Table 4.3 Expected acquisition of ICT-related skills by the end of the target grade, percentage of
students in upper secondary education
2. Word processing

4. Calculating with

6. Communicating

ICT skill coverage

3. Illustrating with

7. Use electronic
5. Writing simple
spreadsheets

programmes
1. Operating a

information
via e-mail
computer

graphics

Belgium-French* 71 83 52 76 33 71 66 65 (2.3)
Bulgaria 92 86 48 60 61 26 19 56 (1.5)
Canada* 97 97 58 65 30 62 87 71 (0.9)
China Hong Kong 93 93 71 78 73 78 78 80 (1.7)
Chinese Taipei 97 95 60 63 50 88 82 76 (1.6)

Cyprus 97 97 76 76 82 38 55 74 (3.3)
Czech Republic 100 100 65 91 30 67 73 75 (1.2)
France 97 95 52 81 12 59 72 67 (1.2)
Iceland 99 99 34 94 11 78 84 71 (3.2)

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2. Word processing

4. Calculating with

6. Communicating

ICT skill coverage

3. Illustrating with

7. Use electronic
5. Writing simple
spreadsheets

programmes
1. Operating a

information
via e-mail
computer

graphics
Israel* 99 97 79 93 61 55 59 78 (1.9)

Italy* 82 83 46 71 53 48 58 63 (1.7)
Japan 71 73 22 60 28 21 14 41 (1.9)
Latvia 100 97 92 85 52 26 19 67 (1.8)
Lithuania 92 92 65 68 82 74 69 77 (1.0)
Luxembourg 98 98 77 98 58 94 96 88 (4.1)
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Norway 95 97 37 84 8 65 81 67 (1.0)
Russian Federation* 87 72 67 67 79 12 14 57 (2.6)
Singapore 98 98 69 76 46 97 94 83 (3.2)
Slovak Republic* 96 95 69 95 42 53 58 73 (1.6)
Slovenia* 89 93 64 64 15 66 78 67 (2.2)

South Africa 97 93 58 76 42 54 51 67 (2.5)

Notes: The last column presents average values and standard errors (between brackets) for indicators of ICT skill coverage.
Standard error (se): value +/-2*se provides 95% confidence interval for the population. *Country did not satisfy all
sampling criteria.

4.4 ICT-related learning outcome expectations and learning

opportunities
A critical issue is that of opportunities in ICT for students. The following categories of
indicators were distinguished, based on the perceptions of school principals or
technology co-ordinators regarding the following opportunities:
For using ICT applications;
For using e-mail or the Internet;
Related to the ICT and emerging pedagogical practices; and
Related to the ICT and traditionally important pedagogical practices.

4.4.1 Opportunities for using ICT applications

Respondents were asked to indicate whether a typical student would have used any of
the following technology applications at school by the end of the target grade:
1. Simulations of natural or man-made systems (e.g. work environments, human
and animal populations, etc.)
2. Dynamic modelling and graphical modelling of mathematical functions
3. Software for simple data manipulation and statistical analysis
4. Word processing/desktop publishing
5. Hardware and software for real-time data collection (data logging) and data
manipulation for science investigations
6. Spreadsheets
7. Software supporting creative works (music/arts)

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8. Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing

9. An interactive multimedia encyclopedia on CD-ROM
10. Software for learning programming skills.

The responses of technology co-ordinators at South African schools are summarised in

Table 4.4.

Table 4.4 Specific ICT applications used by a typical student by the end of the target grade,
percentage of students in South African lower and upper secondary education

Lower secondary Upper secondary

Simulation of natural or man-made systems 17 11

Modelling mathematical functions 11 18
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Software data manipulation/statistics 28 45

Word processing/desktop publishing 70 87
Hardware/software real-time data collection 5 19
Spreadsheets 47 76
Software supporting creative works 18 19
Computer-aided design/manufacture 10 19
Interactive encyclopedia CD-ROM 48 57
Software for programming 22 54
Applications coverage index 28 (2.3) 41 (2.3)
Notes: The last row presents average values and standard errors (in parentheses) as an indicator of application coverage.
Standard error (se): value +/-2*se provides 95% confidence interval for the population.

Word processing was the most popular application in all countries at the lower secondary
level, including South Africa, where 70% of students were exposed to it. Spreadsheets were
used in a large number of countries; usage was greatest in Denmark, Finland, France, and
Hungary, although less than half of South African lower secondary students used them.

Compared to other countries, South African lower secondary students were exposed to
few applications; with the exception of word processing, less than 50% of South African
students used other applications. This is clearly indicated by South Africas extremely low
applications coverage index. The index of applications coverage was highest in New
Zealand and Slovenia, and lowest in Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the Russian Federation; all of
the latter three were lower than South Africa. In the South African situation, it would
appear that our lower secondary students in computer-using schools generally use
computers primarily as advanced typewriters and that their exposure to other ICT-related
applications is minimal.

Word processing and spreadsheets were used by the majority of students in upper
secondary education. In South Africa a similar pattern as for lower secondary education
was found. However, a larger percentage (87%) used word processing and a significantly
larger percentage (76% compared to 47%) used spreadsheets (Table 4.4). The overall

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index on application coverage showed high values for Canada and Israel, and a relatively
low value for Japan. South Africas coverage index was below that of 13 other countries,
but above countries such as Japan, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Chinese Taipei, to name a few.

4.4.2 Perceived opportunities for using e-mail or the World Wide Web
For the average citizen, e-mail and the Internet have probably been the most visible
aspect of the technology revolution in the past decade. In SITES Module 1, a number of
questions were asked about the schools and students access to, and use of, e-mail or the
Internet for instructional purposes. The respondents were asked to indicate whether the
school (as an entity) had access to the Internet for instructional purposes. Questions were
also asked about whether e-mail or the Internet were actually used in the grade range for
instructional purposes, what percentage of students would have used this by the end of
the target grade, and what percentage of teachers from the grade range were using this
facility. The information about access (which is considered to be a characteristic of the
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ICT-infrastructure of schools) was reviewed in Chapter 3.

The use of e-mail or the Internet was most widespread in upper secondary education and
less widespread in lower secondary education. Lower and/or upper secondary level students
were most likely to be using e-mail or the Internet for instructional purposes in schools in
Canada, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, the
Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. The countries where students at this level were least likely
to be using e-mail and the Internet for instructional purposes were Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Japan, and Thailand. Only in Canada, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and Norway
were more than 50% of the students at either educational level using e-mail/the Internet
for instructional purposes. In South Africa, about 31% of lower secondary and 46% of
upper secondary students were likely to use e-mail/the Internet for instructional purposes.

Respondents who indicated that the school used e-mail or the Internet for instructional
purposes also answered a number of additional questions, namely:
1. What percentage of students (will) have used e-mail and/or the World Wide
Web by the end of the target grade?
2. What percentage of teachers (who teach in the grades range) use e-mail
and/or the Internet in their teaching in some way?
3. Will a typical student have done any of the following at the school by the
end of Grade [X]:
Communicating via e-mail with teachers within and/or outside the school
for learning purposes?
Communicating via e-mail with peers from other schools within and/or
outside the country?
Using e-mail or bulletin boards for group projects/collaboration within the
school and/or with other schools?
Using external databases to retrieve and extract information from different
sites across the Internet and/or the Web?
Designing and maintaining websites?
Disseminating information via the Internet and/or the Web
(e.g. publishing projects)?
Discussing, debating and exploring ideas by video-conferencing with
others (e.g. schools or experts) outside the school?
Other?

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A substantial number of students and/or teachers had at least some experience with the
Internet/the Web in the following countries:
Lower secondary education: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, New
Zealand, Norway, and Singapore.
Upper secondary education: Canada, Chinese Taipei, the Czech Republic, Iceland,
Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, and Slovenia.

South African teachers and students have limited exposure to both, as 69% of the teachers
and 68% of students had no access to e-mail or the Internet by the end of lower secondary
education and 56% of both had no access by the end of upper secondary education.

The most common use of the Internet in lower and upper secondary education was that
of external databases and e-mail. Other activities, such as publishing information and
video-conferencing, were not widely used (see Table 4.5).
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Table 4.5 Use of e-mail/Internet for specific activities, percentage of students in South African
lower and upper secondary education

Lower secondary Upper secondary

E-mail teacher inside/outside school 14 23
E-mail peers inside/outside school 20 29
Group projects inside/outside school 8 10
Information from external databases 16 27
Design/maintenance of websites 4 11
Disseminate/publish information 5 12
Discussion/video-conferencing 0 2
Other Internet-related activities 1 1

4.4.3 ICT-related opportunities regarding emerging pedagogical practices

School principals were asked to indicate to what extent certain practices had been
realised through ICT. The results for South Africa are summarised in Table 4.6.

Table 4.6 Principals perceptions that instructional activities had been realised a lot with the
assistance of ICT, percentage of students in South African lower and upper secondary education

Lower secondary Upper secondary

Independent learning by students 15 18
Additional instruction for weaker students 15 16
Differences in entrance level 10 12
Students learn information search 35 36
Emphasis on development skills 41 34
Same materials, same pace 15 11

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 ICT in South African Secondary Schools

Lower secondary Upper secondary

Teacher tracks student activities 21 29

Students responsible for own learning 14 12
Students work at own pace 28 20
Co-operative students projects 24 20
Students determine self-taking test 3 2
Students learn by doing 45 42
Parts of school subjects combined 8 16
ICT opportunities emerging 41 (2.6) 45 (2.5
ICT opportunities traditionally important 49 (3.0) 52 (2.6)
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Internationally, a substantial number of school principals indicated that ICT-assisted

schools achieved certain pedagogical practices. Overall, principals reported that ICT
contributed significantly to learning to search for information and learning by doing.
Furthermore, school principals in many countries reported that ICT contributed
substantially to independent learning. It would appear that ICT has the potential to
facilitate strategies related to active learning.

In South Africa, activities that had been realised among the highest percentage of lower
secondary students were students learn by doing (45%), emphasis on development
skills (41%), and students learn to search for information (35%). A similar pattern was
found for upper secondary students although there seemed to be less importance
attached to emphasising development skills (34%) (Table 4.6).

The items listed in Table 4.1 were condensed into an indicator of emerging ICT-related
opportunities. In this case, the attainment of certain education practices through ICT may
also be conceived as an indicator for opportunities for students to use ICT at school. The
definition of this indicator relied on the same items as were used for emerging
pedagogical practices (statements 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, and 13).

Figures 4.5 and 4.6 illustrate information about the median value and the dispersion of
the values across schools in each country.24 Relatively high values were observed in
lower secondary education in Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, Norway,
and Slovenia. The variation in South Africa appears greater than in other countries. On
average, South Africa was below 15 other countries, but comparable to Singapore and
France, and above countries such as Japan, China Hong Kong and Bulgaria. This meant
that South African students in computer-using schools had greater opportunity to use ICT
within an emerging practices paradigm than the latter. For upper secondary education the
highest values were evident in Canada, Chinese Taipei, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Latvia, Norway, and Singapore. The variation in South Africas index was smaller, which
tends to suggest that there is a growing tendency for schools to provide greater
opportunities for students to learn within an emerging paradigm than at the lower
secondary school level.

24 This value was calculated per school as a percentage of the sum of scores divided by the maximum possible score
across all activities in the list.

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Figure 4.5 Indicators for emerging ICT-related opportunities, lower secondary education
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za

Notes: Boxes range from 25% lowest to 50% highest value; the horizontal line in the boxes represents the median; tiles show
values for 10% and 90% of the cases. *Country did not satisfy all sampling criteria.

Figure 4.6 Indicators for emerging ICT-related opportunities, upper secondary education

Notes: Boxes range from 25% lowest to 50% highest value; the horizontal line in the boxes represents the median; tiles show
values for 10% and 90% of the cases. *Country did not satisfy all sampling criteria.

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 ICT in South African Secondary Schools

4.4.4 ICT-related opportunities regarding the traditionally important paradigm

The instructional activities listed at the beginning of this chapter included activities that
were seen as indicative of the traditionally important paradigm (items 5, 6, and 7).
Figure 4.7 suggests that in lower secondary education most percentages for the indicator
of traditionally important ICT-opportunities were slightly above or below 50%. This is also
true for South Africa at both education levels. In Figure 4.8 relatively high median values
were found in Chinese Taipei, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Singapore and
relatively low ones in Belgium-French and Norway for the upper secondary level. It
seems that ICT plays a role in realising both emergent and traditionally important ICT
opportunities according to the perceptions of school principals.

Figure 4.7 Indicators for traditionally important ICT-related opportunities, lower secondary
education
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za

Notes: Boxes range from 25% lowest to 50% highest value; the horizontal line in the boxes represents the median; tiles show
values for 10% and 90% of the cases. *Country did not satisfy all sampling criteria.

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Figure 4.8 Indicators for traditionally important ICT-related opportunities, upper

secondary education
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za

Notes: Boxes range from 25% lowest to 50% highest value; the horizontal line in the boxes represents the median; tiles show
values for 10% and 90% of the cases. *Country did not satisfy all sampling criteria.

4.5 Conclusion
The presence of both emerging and traditionally important ICT orientations varied greatly
across countries. Clearly schools in some countries, such as Canada and Norway, seemed
to have adopted and implemented the emerging practices across all levels of education to
a greater extent than schools in other countries. Additionally, according to Pelgrum and
Anderson (1999: 116), it appears that schools with high emerging practice conditions seem
to have low student:computer ratios. This trend was not apparent for the traditionally
important pedagogical practices. It appears that South African schools tended towards a
more emerging paradigm as the students mature in age (and probably experience). As the
students become more independent and confident, teachers themselves become more
confident in using emerging practices.

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Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za