According to a survey, Bavarian schools lag behind in a nationwide comparison when it comes to equipping themselves with digital devices such as laptops, tablets or smartphones. In a study commissioned by the Association for Education and Upbringing (VBE), eight percent of school management stated that they had class sets for all classes. Nationwide it was 15 percent, according to the study by the opinion research institute Forsa, which was presented on Monday. Eight percent of respondents in Bavaria said they had no class rates at all, and ten percent nationwide.
The Bavarian Teachers’ Association (BLLV) warned that Bavaria should not be left behind when it comes to hardware equipment. There is also a need to catch up in terms of infrastructure, such as broadband internet, and in the maintenance and support of the systems. It now takes a show of strength from the federal, state and local governments to ensure digitalization in schools sustainably, across the board and in the long term, said BLLV President Simone Fleischmann, with a view to the expiry of the School Digital Pact in May.
The Free State is doing better than the Germany-wide average of 25 percent when it comes to funding from the digital pact. 36 percent of those surveyed in Bavaria said that the funds for the digital infrastructure and equipment at their school were sufficient. Almost two thirds of those surveyed believed additional funds were necessary. 90 percent of schools in Bavaria and throughout Germany have already applied for appropriate funding. Bavaria is also above average when it comes to training. 62 percent of those surveyed said that almost all teachers in their school had taken part in at least one training course on the use of digital devices in class. Nationwide it was only 54 percent. However, school management still sees a need to catch up when it comes to training. 59 percent said that newly trained teachers were well or very well prepared for the use of digital devices in class, while 30 percent considered the preparation to be less good.
For the survey, 1,301 school principals were interviewed from September 15th to October 20th of the previous year, 251 of them from Bavaria. They could respond by phone or online using a customized link. One of the questions was: “There are sets of laptops, tablet PCs and smartphones for the students at our own school.” The following answers were available: “Yes, for all classes”, “yes, but not for all classes” or “no”.