The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022

Most school leaders are satisfied with their school's digital infrastructure

If a school is to use digital technology, this presupposes that they have a solid digital infrastructure which supports their pedagogical and administrative work. 'Solid digital infrastructure' means that schools have stable, adequate access to good quality networks, user support, equipment, software and services, while universal design, privacy protection and security are also safeguarded.

In the Norwegian survey, 'Spørsmål til Skole-Norge', from spring 2022, 7 in 10 school leaders of both primary and lower secondary schools and upper secondary schools stated that the quality of their digital infrastructure is of a good enough quality that teachers can carry out a wide spectrum of digital teaching (Bergene et al. 2022). One in five school leaders believes that the quality of digital devices, networks, programmes and teaching resources varies, while 6 per cent report that this quality is not good enough. Lower secondary school leaders are happier with this quality than school leaders in upper secondary and primary schools.

School leaders have also been asked if pupils' computers and other digital devices are of a good enough quality that pupils can participate in different forms of digital teaching (Bergene et al. 2022). 8 in 10 school leaders say yes, while 2 in 10 say that equipment varies in quality. Only 3 per cent stated that the quality of their pupils' digital devices was good enough.

In other words, a very low proportion of the country's school leaders believe that the quality of their infrastructure, including pupils' digital devices, are not good enough. School leaders' experience of the quality of their digital infrastructure has been roughly the same for the past two years.

Most pupils have their own digital devices

Pupils' access to digital devices, such as computers or tablets, is one of a number of indicators of how far we have come with the digitalisation of schools (Harper and Milman 2016). A 'one-to-one solution' is "a learning environment where each pupil has been given their own digital device by the school's owners, which they use in the physical classroom and can take home" (Gilje et al. 2020, p. 3). Today, most pupils in primary and secondary education have their own digital device.

In primary and lower secondary school, digital devices are most widely used at the secondary school levels. 98 per cent of lower secondary school pupils have been given their own digital device. For Years 5-7, this figure is 90 per cent, and 80 per cent for Years 1-4.

Trøndelag has the fewest pupils with their own digital devices

There are large geographical variations in one-to-one solutions between municipalities, which are reflected at county level. Trøndelag has the lowest coverage of digital devices compared with the national average. In Trøndelag and Vestland, it is less usual for pupils in Years 1-4 to have their own digital devices than in the rest of the country; 42 per cent of pupils in Years 1-4 in these two counties have not been given their own digital device. In Vestfold og Telemark, and in Rogaland, fewer than 10 per cent of Years 1-4 do not have a one-to-one solution for digital devices.

Tablets are most common at primary level, while PCs or Macs are most common at secondary school level

School owners can mainly choose between three digital devices for their pupils: Chromebooks, portable PCs/Macs or tablets.

On a national level, tablets are most commonly used in Years 1-4. In Years 5-7, the proportion of pupils with their own digital devices rises, and here, tablets are almost as widespread as PCs and Chromebooks combined. In lower secondary school, the picture changes significantly in favour of giving pupils a PC. In Years 8-10, more pupils have PCs that tablets and Chromebooks combined.

There are large geographical differences in relation to which digital devices are used in schools. In county municipal regions such as Oslo, Nordland, Viken, Vestfold og Telemark and Innlandet, 70-90 per cent of pupils in Years 1-7 use tablets. In Rogaland and Vestland, Chromebooks dominate in a number of large municipalities from Year 1 to Year 10.

 In many municipalities, pupils mainly start with a tablet, and switch over to a PC just before or during the transition to secondary school. In municipalities that choose Chromebooks, we can see that there is a tendency to use the same type of digital device and platform throughout the entire compulsory school period.

A school's choice of digital device can say something about the type of operating system and tools that are used, but these are not necessarily connected.