At Home in a Digital World

Young people grow up surrounded by digital media. Particularly at home, but increasingly at school as well, they have access to computers, the Internet and digital technology as well as information carriers such as video games and CD-ROMs. Some young people are more adept at using information and communication technology (ICT) than others. The growing amount of information and the increasing influence of ICT on people's daily lives have boosted the importance of digital skills. This growing importance forms the background for the study that is the subject of this report, on the acquisition of digital skills by more than 1,200 secondary school students.

The report describes how often and for what purposes students use a PC at home, at school and elsewhere. It also answers the question of where and how students have acquired their digital skills (at home, at school, from friends or by experimenting themselves). There are considerable differences between the ICT facilities available in schools, and the digital skills of teachers also vary widely. Overall, however, schools have little influence on the digital skills of students; differences in digital skills between students are mainly a question of environment and origin, and are much less the result of lessons at school (instruction) or the distribution of students in higher and lower school types (selection).
The study also shows that education is not helping students with weak digital skills to catch up.