8-Point Plan for Digital Learning: unclear effects on pupils’ digital skills

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research launched the 8-Point Plan for Digital Learning in June 2020, towards the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown. It envisaged standardizing and reducing learning and communication systems, providing both pupils and teachers with digital devices (e.g. notebooks or tablets) and expanding basic IT infrastructure in schools. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research disbursed EUR 140.88 million in connection with the plan in the period between January 2021 and August 2023. In its report on the “8-Point Plan for Digital Learning” („8-Punkte-Plan für eine digitale Schule“) published today, the ACA assessed the plan’s success. It is unclear whether the pupils’ digital skills have improved. Furthermore, the Ministry commissioned the so-called Digital School portal, which incurred costs of EUR 12.26 million until August 2023. For lack of traffic, it was eventually discontinued at the end of June 2023. The audited period essentially spanned the school years 2020/21 through 2022/23. In addition to the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the ACA audited the Lower Austrian and Carinthian boards of education as examples.

Pupils’ digital skills not surveyed

No outcome-oriented goals, such as a measurable increase in pupils’ digital competences, were defined for the projects of the 8-point plan. For lack of measurement, it is unclear whether the expenditure incurred by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research has had the desired effect. Soley the degree to which pupils in lower secondary education were equipped with digital devices was recorded. 95 per cent of schools eligible for receiving equipment participated in the device initiative.

The effects of the 8-point plan on pupils’ digital skills should be analysed on a regular basis. Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research has implemented a recommendation the ACA made in its report on “IT Support in Schools” („IT-Betreuung an Schulen“) published in 2018 for this purpose and participated in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) for the first time in 2023. The study compares pupils’ digital skills internationally.

Costs were mainly for digital devices

In the period from January 2021 to August 2023, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research disbursed EUR 140.88 million in connection with the 8-point plan. Digital devices accounted for the major part of the costs (EUR 119.67 million). The device initiative aims to provide students with appropriate equipment from fifth grade onwards.

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research did not set standards for the pedagogical use of digital devices. As a result, there were huge discrepancies in digital teaching. In some schools, it was already well established in teaching practices across all subjects. In others, it was still mainly limited to IT lessons.

37,000 pupils without digital device

The initiative offered schools the possibility to choose from six different device types. Due to delivery problems relating to a particular device type, around 37,000 pupils did not receive a device in the 2021/22 school year.

The ACA points to the logistical effort involved in distributing several device types and recommends evaluating whether six device types are necessary. In many cases, changing schools or repeating a grade led to device replacement and, in turn, to a higher administrative burden.

Devices purchased for teachers partly unused

In addition, all participating schools received so-called classroom devices – in total, 40,914 of them –, which were made available to teachers for their lessons. As part of the ACA’s audit, the Carinthian board of education had a survey carried out to determine whether the classroom devices had been set up in federal schools. The result: according to the board of education, four per cent of the classroom devices in federal schools (received in the school years 2021/22 and 2022/2023) were not set up until the survey in September 2023. No information could be obtained in the case of a further eleven per cent. Thus, 15 per cent of these classroom devices had not been verifiably activated in Carinthia before the ACA’s audit.

Lower Austria was not able to carry out such an analysis due to its decentralized administration. The ACA critically noted that the Lower Austrian board of education, therefore, did not have a centralized overview of the use of classroom devices.

No overview of teachers’ digital skills

Neither the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research nor the two audited boards of education were able to produce an overview of teachers’ digital skills. Therefore, it remained unclear whether they possessed the necessary skills to deliver high-quality lessons supported by IT. The online test “digi.checkP” allows teachers to voluntarily self-assess their digital skills.

The ACA recommends compiling an overview of teachers’ digital skills, employing tools that have already been developed, such as digi.checkP, for this purpose. Continuing education and training programmes should be adapted accordingly. The acquisition of digital skills should be emphasized as early as in the training stage.

Traffic on Digital School portal well below expectations

The aim of the Digital School portal subproject for the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research was to create a central platform. It was designed to consolidate digital communication channels between teachers, pupils as well as parents or legal guardians. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research commissioned a consulting firm for its implementation. The costs were initially estimated at EUR 3.16 million. Ultimately, EUR 12.26 million were paid in the period between January 2021 and August 2023.

In addition to the payments that were four times higher than estimated, the ACA also criticized the fact that the number of visits made to the Digital School portal was well below expectations. The potential total number of users of over three million, as stated by the consulting firm, remained entirely out of reach. Since the portal fell short of expectations, the Ministry bet on the development of a new platform. The Digital School portal website was shut down as of 30 June 2023. Since the 2023/24 school year, a technically redesigned multifunctional education portal has been available, for the time being to federal schools offering lower and upper secondary education. The new project was carried out by a federal provider and not a consulting firm.