The IEA is the international research organization that has just released the results of Icils, a measurement of eighth-graders' digital competence. The Swedish result showed that four out of ten students do not reach a basic level.
It's too high a proportion, a result one cannot be satisfied with, notes Dirk Hastedt from the office in Amsterdam.
Not too difficult
But Sweden is not the worst. Internationally, it's five out of ten students who have weak or very weak IT competence. Dirk Hastedt has been asked if the test was too difficult. His answer is no, and he shows one of the more difficult tasks – an advertisement about a product's excellence, with reference to a marketing department. Only 16 percent of all students, 27 percent of the Swedish, could motivate why the information must be taken with a grain of salt.
It's fully reasonable that eighth-graders can sort out credible information on the internet. The time is over when the teacher sent the students to the library and asked them to search for information in an encyclopedia, says Dirk Hastedt.
Advantages of tests
The IEA chief also hopes that the myth that the IT generation automatically becomes IT competent just because they spend a lot of time with digital tools dies.
My opinion is that students must get more education in computer and information literacy. Digital competence is mentioned in curricula, but it's very rare with tests or exams. And the lack of exams can be a partial explanation for the weak results. For teachers, they teach what is to be tested. And students, they learn what they know will be on an exam, says Dirk Hastedt.
Icils (International Computer and Information Literacy Study) examines eighth-graders' digital competence – being able to search and handle information on the internet, and knowing about phishing and other risks.
A voluntary part of the test deals with understanding the basics of programming.
The responsible party for the study is the international research organization IEA.
The Swedish National Agency for Education is responsible for the Swedish part.
The study was conducted in 2013, 2018, and 2023.
More than 30 countries have participated in Icils 2023. Sweden participated for the first time.
Icils is the first major test of Swedish students' digital competence.
Sources: IEA and the Swedish National Agency for Education
