Information and Communication Technologies pot

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Compiled by the Research Programme on Human Resources Development,
Human Sciences Research Council
Published by HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
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© 2005 Human Sciences Research Council
First published 2005
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Contents
List of tables and figures v
Preface ix
Executive Summary xi
List of Abbreviations xix
1. Introduction 1
1.1 The Information Age 1
1.2 Africa, the Information Society and globalisation 1
1.3 ICT curriculum policy and employment 3
1.4 ICT in education in South Africa 5
1.5 The South African policy context 8
1.6 ICT in South African schools 12
1.7 Introducing SITES 15
1.8 Structure of the report 17
2. Background to SITES 19
2.1 Background to the project 19
2.2 Development of the study 20
2.3 Conceptual framework 20
2.4 Indicators 22
2.5 Design and sampling 25
2.6 Instruments 30
2.7 Communication by the Web 31
3. ICT infrastructure 33

3.1 Introduction 33
3.2 Hardware in schools 33
3.3 Software in schools 45
3.4 Schools’ investments in hardware and software 52
3.5 Conclusion 54
4. Curriculum and pedagogy 55
4.1 Introduction 55
4.2 Pedagogical practice paradigm 57
4.3 ICT-related instructional objectives 59
4.4 ICT-related learning outcome expectations and learning opportunities 64
4.5 Conclusion 71
5. Staff development in ICT at schools 73
5.1 Introduction 73
5.2 Qualifications of teachers 73
5.3 Policies concerning staff development 73


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5.4 Methods of transferring ICT-related knowledge 77
5.5 Availability of ICT training courses 78
5.6 Self-ratings of technology co-ordinators 80
5.7 Conclusion 82
6. Policies and usage of ICT in schools 83
6.1 Introduction 83
6.2 School principals’ attitudes and beliefs about ICT 83
6.3 Explicit school policies 85
6.4 Monitoring student progress and school administration using ICT 90
6.5 Problems realising ICT goals 93

6.6 Summary and reflections 94
7. Successful practices with ICT 97
7.1 General overview 97
7.2 Coding 97
7.3 Analysis of South African examples of their ‘most satisfying experience
with technology’ 100
7.4 Examples of the ‘most satisfying experience with technology’ in
South African schools 102
7.5 Towards cross-national case studies of innovative pedagogical practices
using technology 105
8. Conclusion 107
8.1 Introduction 107
8.2 Summary of findings 107
8.3 The way forward in South Africa 109
References 111


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Tables
Table 1.1: Countries participating in SITES Module 1 16
Table 2.1: Education in the Industrial Society and in the Information Society 21
Table 2.2: Estimated percentage of students at ICT-using schools, definitions
of target grades and grade ranges, sample sizes, and response rate
per educational level, by country 27
Table 2.3: South African Schools in SITES Module 1 sample, by former
education department 29
Table 2.4: South African schools in SITES Module 1 sample, by province 29
Table 2.5: Study topics with summaries of questionnaire content 30

Table 3.1: Student:computer ratios, lower and upper secondary education 34
Table 3.2: Average percentage of computers equipped with various processor
types and operating systems in SITES schools in South Africa 36
Table 3.3: Computers not in use, percentage of students in South African
lower and upper secondary education 39
Table 3.4: Available peripherals, percentage of students in South African lower
and upper secondary education 40
Table 3.5: Existing or planned access to the Internet and e-mail for instructional
purposes, percentage of students in South African lower and
upper secondary education 42
Table 3.6: Types of content available on schools’ homepages, percentage of
students in South African lower and upper secondary education 44
Table 3.7: Obstacles to achieving the school’s ICT objectives, percentage of
students in South African lower and upper secondary education 45
Table 3.8: Availability of particular types of software, percentage of
students in South African lower and upper secondary education 48
Table 3.9: Availability of software for school subjects, percentage of students
in South African lower and upper secondary education 51
Table 3.10: Software obstacles to achieving the school’s ICT-related objectives,
percentage of students in South African lower and upper secondary
education 52
Table 4.1: Instructional objectives that were considered to be very important by
principals, percentage of students in South African lower and upper
secondary education 61
Table 4.2: Expected acquisition of ICT-related skills by the end of the target grade,
percentage of students in lower secondary education 62
Table 4.3: Expected acquisition of ICT-related skills by the end of the target grade,
percentage of students in upper secondary education 63
Table 4.4: Specific ICT applications used by a typical student by the end of
the target grade, percentage of students in South African lower

and upper secondary education 65
Table 4.5: Use of e-mail/Internet for specific activities, percentage of students
in South African lower and upper secondary education 67
Table 4.6: Principals’ perceptions that instructional activities had been realised
‘a lot’ with the assistance of ICT, percentage of students in South
African lower and upper secondary education 67
Table 5.1: Goals regarding the training of teachers and their realisation,
percentage of students in lower and upper secondary education 74
List of tables and figures
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Table 5.2: The transfer of ICT knowledge among teachers, percentage of students
in South African lower and upper secondary education 77
Table 6.1: Average values and standard errors of principals’ attitudes towards
ICT, percentage of students in lower secondary education 83
Table 6.2: Average values and standard errors of principals’ attitudes towards ICT,
percentage of students in upper secondary education 84
Table 6.3: Policy regarding the use of computers for educational purposes
by students, percentage of students in lower secondary education 86
Table 6.4: Policy regarding the use of computers for educational purposes by
students, percentage of students in upper secondary education 86
Table 6.5: Existence and realisation of common vision on the use of computers
and the Internet, percentage of students in lower secondary education 87
Table 6.6: Existence and realisation of common vision on the use of computers
and the Internet, percentage of students in upper secondary education 88

Table 6.7: Existence of measures to regulate computer-related activities,
percentage of students in lower secondary education 89
Table 6.8: Existence of measures to regulate computer-related activities,
percentage of students in upper secondary education 90
Table 6.9: Computer usage to track student data, percentage of students in
lower secondary education 91
Table 6.10: Computer usage to track student data, percentage of students in
upper secondary education 91
Table 6.11: Computer usage for administrative activities, percentage of students
in lower secondary education 92
Table 6.12: Computer usage for administrative activities, percentage of students
in upper secondary education 93
Table 6.13: Obstacles in realising the schools’ ICT-related objectives, percentage
of students in lower and upper secondary education 93
Table 7.1: Computer-related student learning activities, lower and upper
secondary education 100
Table 7.2: Most satisfying experiences with computer-related technology,
lower and upper secondary education 101
Table 7.3: Most satisfying examples of curriculum domains, lower and upper
secondary education 101
Table 7.4: Most satisfying examples of the impact of ICT-based learning
activities, lower and upper secondary education 102
Figures
Figure 1.1: Schools with electricity, 1996 and 2000 13
Figure 1.2: Schools without telecommunications facilities, 1996 and 2000 14
Figure 2.1: Main conceptual framework for SITES Module 1 22
Figure 3.1: Availability of multimedia computers, lower secondary education 35
Figure 3.2: Availability of multimedia computers, upper secondary education 35
Figure 3.3: Computers accessible at the grade range connected to a local network,
average percentages in lower and upper secondary education 37

Figure 3.4: Schools having access to the Internet for instructional purposes,
percentage of students in lower and upper secondary education 41
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Figure 3.5: Schools using e-mail/Internet for instructional purposes at the grade
range and having a homepage, percentage of students in lower and
upper secondary education 42
Figure 3.6: Types of information on the homepage averaged across countries,
percentage of students in lower and upper secondary education 43
Figure 3.7: Availability of types of software for use at the grade range, lower
secondary education 47
Figure 3.8: Availability of types of software for use at the grade range, upper
secondary education 47
Figure 3.9: Software coverage of school subjects for use at the grade range,
lower secondary education 50
Figure 3.10: Software coverage of school subjects for use at the grade range,
upper secondary education 50
Figure 3.11: Average expenditure in the last two school years for hardware and
software items, lower secondary education 53
Figure 3.12: Average expenditure in the last two school years for hardware and
software items, upper secondary education 53
Figure 3.13: Average expenditure on hardware across countries by level of
student:computer ratio, lower secondary education 54
Figure 4.1: Organisational levels of educational systems 55
Figure 4.2: Framework for curriculum and ICT indicators 56

Figure 4.3: Emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices paradigm,
lower secondary education 58
Figure 4.4: Emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices paradigm,
upper secondary education 59
Figure 4.5: Indicators for emerging ICT-related opportunities, lower
secondary education 69
Figure 4.6: Indicators for emerging ICT-related opportunities, upper
secondary education 69
Figure 4.7: Indicators for traditionally important ICT-related opportunities, lower
secondary education 70
Figure 4.8: Indicators for traditionally important ICT-related opportunities, upper
secondary education 71
Figure 5.1: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the grade
range take basic ICT courses, percentage of students in lower
secondary education 75
Figure 5.2: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the grade
range take basic ICT courses, percentage of students in upper
secondary education 76
Figure 5.3: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the grade
range update their ICT knowledge regularly, percentage of students
in lower secondary education 76
Figure 5.4: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the
grade range update their ICT knowledge regularly, percentage of
students in upper secondary education 77
Figure 5.5: Available in-house and external courses from a list of 12, average
percentage in lower secondary education 79
Figure 5.6: Available in-house and external courses from a list of 12, average
percentage in upper secondary education 79
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ICT in South African Secondary Schools
Figure 5.7: Average values of self-ratings from technology co-ordinators regarding
the adequacy of preparation for supporting general and pedagogical
ICT-related activities, lower secondary education 81
Figure 5.8: Average values of self-ratings from technology co-ordinators regarding
the adequacy of preparation for supporting general and pedagogical
ICT-related activities, upper secondary education 81
Figure 7.1: Example of coding 99
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The last time an international evaluation of Information Communication Technology (ICT)
in education was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement (IEA) was in the early 1990s (Pelgrum, Janssen, Reinen & Plomp
1993). Since then there has been a dramatic expansion of ICT around the world, with the
advent of new and faster technologies. Therefore, by the late 1990s it seemed appropriate
to the initiators of the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) to
re-evaluate the status of ICT in education. This project was run on a comparatively
small budget both internationally and nationally, as well as on a tight timeframe. It offers
an overview of the status quo in ICT across 27 countries. This is the first time that
South Africa has participated in this kind of study with regard to ICT in education; the

comparison of South African data to that of other countries provides the reader with some
interesting insights.
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) joined the IEA in 1994. Since joining, the
HSRC’s Group Education participated in two international projects, namely the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and now the Second Information
Technology in Education Study. The HSRC paid the national costs of the study as well as
funding the international participation costs. The study was funded internationally by the
Japanese government, the Norwegian government and the Dutch Science Foundation.
Many people contributed to the project both internationally and nationally. It is
appropriate to acknowledge the role and support of the international co-ordinating centre
under the leadership of Dr Hans Pelgrum, who supported the South African team
throughout the project. Secondly, I wish to acknowledge my colleagues on the project, in
particular team members Mrs Nkhensani Mnisi, Mrs Mmamajoro Shilubane and Mrs Elsie
Venter. I would also like to thank Dr Hans Pelgrum for his assistance during the
compilation of the report and with the South African data, Prof Tjeerd Plomp for his
comments on drafts of this report, and Karin Pampallis for her editorial skills. Finally, thanks
to Ledile Kabuzie who contributed to Section 2.5.4 on the South African sampling strategy.
Sarah J Howie
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Preface


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The Second Information Technology in Education Study
The Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) is an international
comparative study managed under the auspices of the International Association for the
Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The study follows the previous IEA study,
(Pelgrum & Plomp 1993) conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. SITES was intended
to serve as a basis for participating countries to compare developments in information
and communication technology (ICT) in education, and to provide for future
developments to be judged against the baseline information gathered in 1998–1999.
The entire SITES project comprises three modules, two of which have now been
completed. The first of these aimed to provide an overview of ICT in education in
primary and secondary schools across 26 countries by means of a survey conducted in
1998–1999. The second module was an in-depth study of ICT in selected schools
(1999–2003), whereby case studies were conducted in schools that had implemented ICT-
based curriculum innovations. The third module is planned as a survey of schools,
teachers and students (2004–2006), to assess the changes accruing since Module 1.
Module 3 will focus specifically on the assessment of students, and will evaluate the
opportunities offered by teachers and schools to students in the field of ICT in education.
SITES Module 1 is therefore an international cross-sectional survey with the primary aim
of evaluating the status of information and communication technologies in schools in
relation to the instructional activities of teachers and/or students. Funding for the
international overheads of Module 1 was provided by the Japanese National Institute for
Educational Research (NIER), as well as the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science,
Sports and Culture, the Norwegian Ministry of Church, Education and Research, and the
Dutch Science Foundation. Further funding came from the participation fees provided by
the 26 countries taking part in the study.
This report focuses on the results of Module 1, in which South Africa and 25 other
countries from Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America participated.
The main aims of Module 1 were to:
• Ascertain the extent to which education systems adopt and implement objectives

that are considered important cornerstones of education in the Information Society
and how this process develops over time;
• Determine how ICT facilitates the implementation of schools’ objectives;
• Ascertain the extent to which ICT is used in education systems and its development
over time;
• Identify the differences in ICT-related practices existing within and between systems,
and explain these;
• Determine the impact of ICT on educational organisations, processes and outcomes
in different education systems; and
• Identify innovative practices in ICT in education.
The designers of SITES developed a number of research questions for which empirically-
based answers were sought in Module 1 (and which will also be investigated in Modules
2 and 3). These were:
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Executive Summary


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• To what extent have education systems adopted and implemented objectives that are
considered important cornerstones of education in the Information Society? How
does this process develop over time?
• To what extent is ICT facilitating implementation of objectives that schools intend to
achieve?
• How, by whom, and to what extent is ICT used in education systems, and how does
this develop over time?
• What differences in ICT-related practices exist within and between systems and how
can these differences be explained?

• What is the impact of ICT on educational organisations, processes, and outcomes in
different education systems?
• Which innovative practices exist that may offer educational practitioners new targets
within their reach?
Curriculum, infrastructure, staff development, and management and organisation were
used to describe and compare ICT-related activities in education. Indicators were
developed for all of these four key elements. However, the curriculum was considered
the focal point of the study. A number of additional indicators, such as school
characteristics, were also developed.
Research design and sampling
The study focused on three student populations, and three different types of
questionnaire items were developed to distinguish between:
• Those referring to a single target grade;
• Those referring to a grade range that included the target grade; and
• Those referring to the entire school.
School populations were defined in terms of the characteristics of students attending
schools. Countries had to be able to collect data in at least one of three populations in
order to participate in the study, and Population 2 was regarded as the core population.
Those countries participating in only one population were encouraged to select
Population 2.
The population definitions were as follows:
• Population 1: The target age was ten years in the eighth month of the school year.
The grade range was defined as the three grades within a school containing the
most students who would be ten in the eighth month of the school year. Therefore,
the schools in Population 1 were those schools containing all three grades of
the range;
• Population 2: The target age would be 14 years in the eighth month of the school
year. The grade range was defined as the three grades within a school containing
the most students of the target age. Therefore, the schools in Population 2 were
those schools containing all three grades of the range. South Africa concentrated on

Grade 8 students; and
• Population 3: Population 3 was defined as the final grade of secondary education,
with the grade range being the penultimate and final grades. South Africa
concentrated on Grade 12 students.
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For this report, Populations 1, 2, and 3 are be referred to, respectively, as primary
education, lower secondary education, and upper secondary education.
The base criteria for national sampling were as follows:
• Schools using ICT were to be selected on the basis of a probability proportional to
the number of students from the desired target population; and
• The response rate was to be at least 85% after one replacement, 70% in situations
with no replacements for non-responding schools, and 70% for complete enumeration.
The minimum sample size was to be 200 ICT-using schools per population level.
However, a number of countries, including South Africa, did not meet these criteria at the
lower and upper secondary levels. At lower secondary level, 109 South African schools
participated (43% of initial sample) and 113 schools (46% of initial sample) participated at
upper secondary level. South Africa did not participate at the Population 1 level.
The instruments for SITES Module 1 consisted of two questionnaires:
• A questionnaire for school principals; and
• A questionnaire for a technical support person in the school who was
knowledgeable about the ICT facilities and their use. For purposes of consistency
this person will henceforth be referred to as the ‘technology co-ordinator’.
Finally, SITES Module 1 was the first IEA study to rely completely on the World Wide

Web, or the Internet, for communication between participants.
The main areas of data gathering and analysis are summarised below.
Infrastructure for ICT
The study collected and analysed data with regard to computer hardware in schools such
as the student:computer ratios, multimedia facilities, processors and operating systems,
internal networks, peripherals, access to communication facilities and perceived obstacles
to hardware infrastructure. Furthermore, the study looked at the availability of general-
purpose and subject-specific computer software as well as obstacles to the use of
software. The schools’ investment in hardware and software was also explored.
Generally, huge differences exist between schools in different countries regarding access
to ICT equipment and facilities such as the Internet. This may be because some
governments have the resources and will to establish ICT infrastructure in schools to a
much greater extent than others. On the other hand, these patterns of access often derive
from the initiative of individuals or specific communities which have the motivation and
the means to obtain and utilise ICT. In South Africa, for instance, many private schools
had the finances to establish the necessary infrastructure. Under apartheid, a number of
then ‘white’ government schools were targeted preferentially by provincial education
departments. The patterns of school ICT access in South Africa are markedly skewed as a
consequence of apartheid discrimination and on account of the capability of advantaged
communities to sustain their advantage in the post-1994 period. More recently, initiatives
of private companies and international donor organisations have supported former
disadvantaged schools across the country in establishing ICT.
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Against this background of inequity, schools in South Africa compare with countries such
as the Russian Federation, Bulgaria and Lithuania with reference to the provision of
hardware and software. However, compared to Western Europe, Canada and Singapore,
South Africa has a long way to go.
One of the major obstacles that schools saw hampering the attainment of ICT-supported
learning goals was the simple lack of a sufficient number of computers. For political
decision-makers it may seem that the number of computers actually available ‘is never
enough’. However, the frequency of complaints about lack of equipment tended to
decrease markedly in those schools that had increased their student:computer ratios
(Pelgrum & Anderson 1999: 153). In schools where the student:computer ratio was 25 or
higher, approximately 80% of the respondents complained about a lack of equipment.
However, this dropped to 50% in those schools with student:computer ratios of ten
or lower.
Curriculum and pedagogy
A key focus of the study was curriculum. The IEA makes a distinction between the
intended, the implemented, and the attained curriculum so as to describe curricula in a
cross-national, comparative way:
• Intended curriculum (macro-level): the curriculum plans which may be set out in
official documents or which may exist as shared conceptions of what constitutes
important curriculum content;
• Implemented curriculum (meso-level): the content, time allocations, and instructional
strategies that teachers actually realise in their lessons; and
• Attained curriculum (micro-level): the competencies, aspirations and attitudes of
students that occur as a result of teaching and learning.
The school survey of SITES Module 1 differentiated between:
• School-intended curriculum: This is the curriculum that schools aim to realise.
It can be described in terms of ICT-related objectives, achievement targets, and
intended educational processes (instructional processes, roles of teachers,
evaluation procedures); and
• Implemented curriculum: This consists of perceptions of school principals of the

educational processes that take place at the teacher and student levels. It can be
described in terms of the learning opportunities offered to students.
ICT is understood to have the potential to facilitate changes in education that would
better prepare citizens for the Information Society. The conceptual framework of the
study distinguished between the ‘traditional’ teacher-dominant paradigm of education that
was appropriate in the Industrial Age versus the ‘emerging’ paradigm which emphasises
active and interactive learners appropriate to the Information Society.
An attempt was made in the study to probe the extent to which schools had adopted
particular pedagogical practices. It sought to do so by ascertaining what the ICT-related
instructional objectives were, and what skills were acquired by the target grade. Data
were collected on whether learning outcomes and learning opportunities for using ICT
applications, such as e-mail or the Internet, reflected the emerging pedagogical practices
or the traditionally important paradigm as defined by the school principal.
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The presence of both emergent and traditionally important orientations to the application
of ICT in learning varied greatly across countries. Clearly schools in some countries, such
as Canada and Norway (among others), seemed to have adopted and implemented the
emerging practices approach across all levels of education to a greater extent than
schools in other countries. Additionally, according to Pelgrum and Anderson (1999: 116),
it appears that schools with high emerging practice conditions seem to have low
student:computer ratios. This trend was not apparent for the traditionally important
pedagogical practices. It appears that South African schools tend towards a more
emerging paradigm as the students mature in age (and probably experience). As the

students become more independent and increasingly confident, teachers themselves
become more confident in using more emerging practices.
Staff development in ICT at schools
The teacher is pivotal in determining the extent to which innovations are adopted and
implemented in educational practice. Therefore, the training and regular upgrading of
teachers is important for the integration of technology into daily educational practice.
SITES wanted to ascertain the extent to which school principals and technology co-
ordinators experienced the level of staff qualification in ICT as problematic. The study
therefore investigated the extent to which facilities for training teachers were available
inside and/or outside the school. Perceived problems, priorities and financial investments
of schools in the area of ICT-related staff development were also explored.
It would appear that the lack of ICT-related knowledge among teachers is perceived as a
major obstacle to achieving the ICT-supported learning objectives of schools. It is
understandable, therefore, that most schools had adopted a policy whereby all teachers
should receive training for using ICT in their instructional practice. However, in the
majority of schools this policy had not yet been satisfactorily realised. Despite this, a
substantial number of teachers had attended basic ICT courses. For most of the schools in
this study there appears to be a need for additional and continuous staff development
regarding ICT. This may be difficult given the shortage of training courses in most
participating countries, with the exception of Singapore, where ICT-related training
facilities for teachers were quite favourable. However, for most participating countries,
including South Africa, the challenge will be to determine how to improve teachers’
abilities to use ICT for instructional purposes given limited budgets.
Policies and usage of ICT in schools
The extent to which school principals promote the use of ICT in their schools depends
largely on how useful they consider these technologies to be. The study investigated a
number of issues related to principals’ attitudes towards ICT:
• The extent to which their schools explicitly adopted ICT policies (such as the
regulation of computer-related activities);
• The extent to which ICT was used to monitor student learning progress and for

school administrative work; and
• The extent to which principals were aware of, and attempted to deal with,
organisational problems associated with the introduction of ICT into their schools.
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Overall it would seem that schools in many of the countries participating in the study are
doing a lot to develop their ICT-related policies, visions, and attitudes. Schools in South
Africa and other countries appear to be using computers increasingly for student
monitoring and school administration. However, it would also appear that there are
schools in a number of countries that still have some way to go in the development and
successful realisation of their policies. In general, principals (including those in South
Africa) are positive towards the use of ICT in their schools, although clearly there was a
broad range of attitudes in this regard. Internationally, about 50% of the schools in this
study have developed school policies concerning the use of ICT, and many schools were
found to address at least half of the policy issues listed in the questionnaire.
Across countries generally, many schools appeared to be using computers for school
administration, which may mean that computers are already providing much support for
routine school administrative work. Teachers may be expected to gain considerable
benefit from monitoring students’ progress using a computer. However, the study shows
that while some schools do use computers for monitoring, many do not. About one-fifth
of South African schools in the sample did not use a computer for this purpose.
Large percentages of principals, especially in eastern and central Europe, reported major
obstacles. Some of these included the lack of resources, notably insufficient teacher-time
for preparing computer lessons, and not enough time to work with computers. These

issues were considered less of an obstacle for South African schools at the lower
secondary level than at the upper secondary level.
The study reveals that the staff in schools (including in South Africa) have to be
encouraged and need to be shown how they, their instruction and students’ learning can
benefit by making greater use of computers. Schools have to find solutions for problems
that they encounter when implementing ICT.
Successful practices with ICT
School principals were asked to give ‘an example of the most satisfying experience of a
learning activity in their school in which students use computer-related technology, which
gives students the most useful, effective and advanced learning experiences with
technology’. Each country was asked to provide a maximum of ten examples at each
educational level to be reported on as part of the international comparative SITES study.
The selection process aimed to exclude examples that emphasised only computer
programming, ICT basic skills (taught in a separate course), and the use of technology for
drill and practice, because they were seen as fitting more into the traditionally important
paradigm and less into the emerging paradigm.
An analysis of eight lower secondary and five upper secondary examples from South
Africa were included in the international database. The characteristics of the South African
set of examples is summarised as follows:
• Across the grades, the examples seemed to show an emphasis on communication
and collaboration activities with students working in pairs or groups. There were
also differences between the activities at lower and upper grades, with a
concentration of basic ICT skills at the upper level. None of the examples focused
on remediation and practice.
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Executive Summary
• At lower secondary level, the most satisfying experiences with technology seemed to
lie with information retrieval and presentation. At upper secondary level, ‘most
satisfying experiences’ were more evenly distributed across word processing,
presentation, web design and graphics, all of which were included by students in
their ‘most satisfying experiences’ rating.
• While the examples at lower secondary level concentrated more on specific
curriculum domains, those at upper secondary level tended to have a more cross-
curricular nature (combining mathematics and science, language and biology,
science and computer studies, or art, geography, and music). At lower secondary
level, domains represented in the most satisfying examples for students were
science, language and computer studies.
• At lower secondary level, activities involving improving knowledge and skills were
commonly found among the examples selected. The examples varied from
increasing motivation and interest to increasing creativity, self-esteem and
collaboration. At upper secondary level, the examples emphasised knowledge or
skills and increasing self-esteem.
Internationally, a great deal of similarity was evident between examples within lower and
upper secondary levels of education. Social studies, science, and mother tongue were the
domains that elicited the most satisfying examples (Voogt 1999). Most of the examples
given concentrated on a multidisciplinary approach where subjects were combined. In
general, students’ activities focused on information processing, production or
communication, combined with word processing, technology for seeking information and
facilitating communication. General-purpose application and communication software was
more commonly used than subject-specific software.
Conclusion

In conclusion, the main findings for the study were as follows:
• The majority of countries had developed policies for strengthening the role of ICT in
education;
• Governments internationally were aware of potential negative outcomes such as
illiteracy and unequal access to technology;
• In South Africa, quite a few schools had policies in place, but in many cases these
were not being implemented;
• In most countries, there were programmes to improve the infrastructure of ICT in
education;
• There were substantial differences in the quality and functioning of ICT equipment
between schools, including those in South Africa;
• Countries and schools differed in their access to the Internet for instructional
purposes;
• A considerable variation was found in the presence of emerging pedagogical
practices, both across and within countries;
• According to the principals in most countries, including South Africa, teachers’ lack
of ICT knowledge was a major obstacle in realising the schools’ ICT goals;
• Significant numbers of schools in the study used computers for monitoring students
and for administration;
• The implementation of ICT to enhance education was hampered in many cases by
insufficient time for preparing these lessons, as well as teachers simply not having
enough time to work on computers; and


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• Most of the examples from schools about their ‘most satisfying use of technology’
involved information processing and knowledge production activities of students.
Co-operation and collaborative activities were also very common.

Given that less than 15% of the schools in South Africa have access to computers for
teaching and learning, and that very few can be described as being well-resourced in
terms of computers, there are obviously severe constraints on what is being achieved
nationally at present in the field of ICT in education.
A number of factors were identified in the SITES Module 1 study that constrained the use
of computers for teaching and learning. These include:
• Financial constraints (lack of funds, insufficient number of computers);
• The lack of computer literacy among teachers;
• A lack of training regarding the integration of ICT into different learning areas; and
• The absence of a properly-developed curriculum for teaching computer skills.
These findings highlight the importance of the pre-service training of teachers in this field.
There are few, if any, teacher-training institutions that offer a comprehensive programme
of ICT in education. Although it is hampered financially in terms of supplying all schools
with equipment, the government could be proactive in this area.
In addition to the factors that enhance effective learning using ICT, the IEA is interested
in identifying best pedagogical practices using ICT. It is for this reason that it has initiated
the second phase in SITES (Module 2), where the focus is on case studies investigating
these practices. This study, in which South Africa also participated, took place from
1999–2002 and involved up to 12 cases per country.
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AISI African Information Society Initiative
CAD Computer-Aided Design
CAL Computer-Assisted Learning

CAM Computer-Aided Manufacturing
COLISA Confederation of Open Learning Institutes of South Africa (Unisa,
Technikon SA, Vista)
CompEd Computers in Education
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
DACST Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
DBSA Development Bank of Southern Africa
DET Department of Education and Training
DFEE Department for Education and Employment [UK]
DoC Department of Communications
DoE Department of Education
ELSEN Education for Learners with Special Education Needs
FOTIM Foundation of Tertiary Institutions in the Northern Metropolis
FRD Foundation for Research Development
HOA House of Assembly
HOD House of Delegates
HOR House of Representatives
HSRC Human Sciences Research Council
ICC International Co-ordinating Centre
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IEA International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement
ISETT Information Systems, Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies
IT Information Technology
LAN Local area network
LCD Liquid-crystal display
LSEN Learners with Special Education Needs
MAP Millennium Africa Recovery Programme
NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NIER National Institute for Educational Research [Japan]

NRC National Research Co-ordinator
NRF National Research Foundation
OAU Organisation of African Unity
OCTO Centre for Applied Educational Research [Netherlands]
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List of abbreviations


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OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PC Personal Computer
PICTA Partnerships for ICTs in Africa
SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation
SGT Self-Governing Territories
SITES Second Information Technology in Education Study
SRN School Register of Needs
TBVC Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ciskei
TELI Technology Enhanced Learning Initiative
TIMSS Third International Mathematics and Science Study
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
UNISA University of South Africa
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal
ICT in South African Secondary Schools
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1. Introduction
1.1 The Information Age
Much has been written about the impact of the Information Age on global economic
development. However, this literature refers primarily to the growth of information and
communication technology (ICT) among developed nations. An integral part of the global
economy is the Internet, which enables the generation and retrieval of knowledge and
information and allows both productivity and flexibility due to the power of technological
networks. Given the severe underdevelopment of the technological infrastructure in
sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations, the developing world risks falling
even further behind. Access to education, educational achievement of learners, and
technological literacy among others are unequally distributed around the world. This is
now further exacerbated in the developing world by the advent of the Internet. While the
Internet has diffused into more than 40% of society in Scandinavia and the USA, and
25% in the European Union, it is only so for about 3% of the world’s population
(Castells 2000: 5). Developing-country governments must prevent their countries from
falling too far behind and provide their citizens with the opportunities that ICT might
offer. Thus the challenge for developing nations is to design and develop policies and
plans that allow them to implement ICT in a systematic and cost-effective way.
The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the broader context within which
the SITES Module 1 study can be understood. Firstly, it is necessary to provide a brief
overview of the prospects for generating ICT access and infusing ICT-mediated learning
into classrooms on the continent. As elsewhere in Africa, large sections of the South
African schooling population lack access to ICT or the infrastructure upon which ICT
usually depends.
Secondly, the SITES Module 1 study has been undertaken in a period in which
considerable policy development has taken place in South Africa. The new developments

will be reviewed to provide a perspective on the gaps between current ICT provision and
the vision of the future education system.
Thirdly, since the SITES Module 1 fieldwork took place, the Department of Education
(DoE) has published the results of the system-wide second School Register of Needs
(SRN) survey which was undertaken in 2000 (Department of Education 2001). The SRN
surveys conditions in all public schools and enables comparison with the baseline survey
(Human Sciences Research Council, Education Foundation & Research Institute for
Education Planning 1997). This provides a useful context for the results of the SITES
Module 1 study.
1.2 Africa, the Information Society and globalisation
The current and future capacity of developing countries to harness ICT in order to
generate and sustain participation in global markets is an important development priority.
In his keynote address on ‘Information Technology and Global Development’ to the
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in May 2000, Professor Manuel
Castells (2000) warned of imminent and catastrophic fragmentation, inequality, poverty
and social exclusion for the South in the new global networked economy. The problem
of social exclusion as it relates to information technology is a dimension that functions
both between and within national contexts (Hendry 2000).
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ICT in South African Secondary Schools
The recently published Human Development Report (UNDP 2001) focused on ‘making
new technologies work for human development’. The importance of technology is
recognised in the report through the creation of a new index, the Technology
Achievement Index, according to which countries are ranked. Although the index adopts

a set of dimensions that assume a broad definition of technological innovation and
supportive infrastructures, it is dominated by measures related to information technology.
The following African countries are ranked (number in parentheses) in terms of this
index: South Africa (39), Tunisia (51), Egypt (57), Algeria (58), Zimbabwe (59), Senegal
(66), Ghana (67), Kenya (68), Tanzania (70), Sudan (71) and Mozambique (72)
(UNDP 2001: 45–49). Other African countries could not be ranked due to incomplete
data. What is quite apparent from this ranking is the marginal status of most of Africa in
terms of participation in the innovation and information technology fields.
Concerns have been raised with respect to the actual contribution of information
technology to economic growth, but it is difficult – if not impossible – to separate the
effects of technology from the political, social and economic context within which it is
embedded. This publication will not entertain these debates, but will share the view of
Castells that the core element of concern is ‘not related to technology or to globalisation
per se, but to the institutional conditions under which globalisation proceeds and the
information technology revolution expands’ (2000: 5).
Castells makes a plea for the implementation of a ‘technological Marshall Plan’ to assist
developing countries in generating the human and technical infrastructure for achieving
‘information development’ (2000: 6–20). In particular, Castells emphasises the importance
of human resources for sustaining ‘connectedness’ to the global economy, arguing that
‘human resources are critical the essential infrastructure without which technology
means nothing’. As education and technological literacy become more important
development resources, ‘countries lacking these resources become locked in their
backward conditions’ (Castells 2000: 4–5). This observation is supported by Cogburn and
Adeya who argue that low levels of human resources development are ‘crippling the
ability of Africans to exploit the new generation of ICTs’ (1999: 13). Similarly, Madon
observes that the ‘toughest challenge’ for inserting the networked economy in developing
contexts is ‘training users’, which needs to take place on a large scale for the economic
benefits to be felt (2000: 99–101).
The response from Africa to the challenges of globalisation, driven through the primary
medium of information technologies, is growing. Synergies are becoming evident among

several initiatives at the continental and regional levels to ‘catalyse a massive continent-
wide effort to apply ICTs to greatly accelerate Africa’s economic and social development
and economic development during the first decades of the twenty-first century’ (Adam
1998: 4). This aim is to be carried forward via Africa’s five sub-regions. Key to this drive
is the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), which was conceived and politically
endorsed by Africans to produce a visionary statement on how Africa can make use of
ICT for development. AISI, which is co-ordinated by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA), provides the framework for partnerships among AISI
members; they are linked through Partnerships for ICTs in Africa (PICTA) which include
African and international private sectors, international aid agencies, bilateral development
assistance organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the field.
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Introduction
The first African Development Forum held in 1999, supported by UNECA, identified the
key theme of ‘Globalisation and the Information Economy: Challenges and Opportunities
for Africa’. In a wide-ranging paper prepared for this forum, Cogburn and Adeya identify
the importance of ‘international harmonisation of policy and regulatory frameworks’
(1999: 9) on policy issues relevant to the development of the Information Economy and
electronic commerce, which include communications infrastructural development, content
development and regulation, technical standard and inter-operability, and education
and employment.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration, which was adopted in September 2000,
pledged the support of member nations across the globe for Africa’s efforts to address the
continent’s underdevelopment and marginalisation. African leaders have resolved to take

joint responsibility for devising a strategy to achieve sustainable development in the twenty-
first century. This took the form of the Millennium African Recovery Programme (MAP) as
presented at the OAU Heads of State summit in July 2001. ICT is a ‘priority sector’ for
MAP, with its dedicated programme for fast-tracking. The MAP document observes that
‘Africa has been unable to capitalise on ICT as a tool in enhancing livelihoods and
creating new business opportunities, and cross-border linkages within the continent and
with global markets have been constrained’ (Department of Foreign Affairs 2001: 12).
The MAP document specifies that human resource development initiatives in education
should include the objective of ‘working for improvements in curriculum development,
quality improvements and access to ICT’, while related concrete action must involve
establishing a task team ‘to accelerate the introduction of ICT in primary schools’
(Department of Foreign Affairs 2001: 19–20). According to MAP, infrastructural initiatives
in the field of ICT must include the objective ‘to develop the production of a pool of ICT-
proficient youth and students from which Africa can draw trainee ICT engineers,
programmers and software developers’. Related concrete action must undertake to
‘promote and accelerate existing projects to connect schools and youth centres’
(Department of Foreign Affairs 2001: 20–21).
The MAP initiative evolved into the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad)
which has prioritised ‘Bridging the Digital Divide: Investing in Information and
Communication Technologies’ as a key infrastructural sector. The Nepad document shares
the same focus and language as the earlier MAP interpretation of the strategic importance
of ICT (Nepad 2001: 24–25).
1.3 ICT curriculum policy and employment
The integration of ICT into the curriculum can benefit learners in at least two important
ways. Firstly, exposure to ICT will provide learners with valuable hands-on experience
and the opportunity to learn skills that will be useful in an increasingly technology-
saturated work environment. Secondly and very importantly, integrating ICT across the
curriculum makes it possible for learners to become creators of knowledge in their own
right, for example, through seeking for information on the Internet and then synthesising
this information in the form of a presentation or project. The skills associated with

personal information management, self-regulated learning and working, and research
capability in combination with communication skills and teamwork are highly prized in
global and local labour markets. Through the use of ICT, the learning of these skills can
be accelerated and sharpened.
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ICT in South African Secondary Schools
There have also been important changes in curriculum emphasis. Pelgrum and Anderson
(2001), Fullan and Smith (1999), and Voogt and Odenthal (1999) characterise the
paradigm underlying this shift as a process in which students become actively involved in
their own learning. This paradigm is sometimes referred to as lifelong learning or as a
constructivist vision of teaching and learning. This approach is characterised by the
participation of educators as facilitators who guide learners to independent and self-
regulated learning, which involves engaging actively and collaboratively on research-
based real-world problems and tasks.
Such an approach to teaching and learning is seen as appropriate to inform national
education and training strategies and the supply of adequately trained human resources
both in the information societies and in developing countries that seek to avoid being
caught on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Although the importance of utilising information technologies in schools has been
established in research emanating largely from education systems of the North, in the
overwhelming majority of schools in the South many learners have never interacted
with a personal computer. The extreme underdevelopment of global technological
infrastructure is the major obstacle, especially in countries where poverty and lack of
basic amenities such as electricity preclude access to ICT either at home or at school.

There is pressure to construct education transformation policy that takes account of the
ways in which the new information and communication technologies differentially and
unevenly affect societies and economies across the globe. Although much attention has
been given to ICT in schools in Europe, North America and Asia, little is known about its
current and potential influence in the education trajectory of developing countries.
The need to develop information economy competencies in the African workforce has
not been comprehensively explored. The paucity of skills has not been properly exposed,
partly because the penetration of ICT into African economies has been very localised so
far. There have been urgent calls to develop information technology competencies from
African universities and research and library systems (Madon 2000: 86–88). It is in this
sector that the need for appropriately-skilled library and information specialists is
articulated strongly (Chisenga 2000; Thapisa 1999). What emerges from this work is not
merely the need for high-level skills, but also the need for the schooling system to lay the
foundations by providing earlier opportunities for learners to interact with ICT. It is also
clear that broadening the base of access to ICT at the school level will assist in
ameliorating the current pattern in developing contexts where only the privileged elite
benefit from technology (Madon 2000: 90–101). Furthermore, programmes which have the
potential to counter social inequality may present the opportunity in the formative
environment of the school to bring about greater gender equality.
The development of well-elaborated national policies on ICT education in the African
context still seems to be in the making, if the situation in southern Africa can be taken as
representative of the general state of affairs. Butcher observes that, ‘Despite the range of
approaches used to establish education-specific ICT policies, the overwhelming sense
within the [southern African] region is that very few policies exist. Where they do, they
tend to remain vague and make little reference to implementation’ (2001: 5).
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Introduction
The process of globalisation should not be assumed to bring about a homogenising effect
on policy. As Castells points out, there ‘is not a single necessary path that all countries must
follow to the informational society but there is a comprehensive global structure based
on the rules of the informational society that affects all countries in one way or the other’
(1994: 55). Moreover, the policy analysis of Selwyn and Brown (2000: 679) – and of Butcher
(2001) in southern Africa – suggests that there are divergent trends in policy, and that this:
policy divergence does not reflect an evolutionary model of technological progression
with some countries merely more advanced than others in their implementation,
but rather reflects fundamental differences in political economy. It is therefore
imperative that these variations in educational information infrastructures are
recognised and explored.
In a similar way, the notion of the ‘digital divide’ needs to be taken beyond the rhetorical
assumptions of a binary logic which separates cleanly those who ‘have’ from those who
‘have not’. Damarin (2000) argues cogently that this framing of the problem blurs the
important gradations between the different types, quality and locations of technologies. In
addition, an understanding of the ‘differences in levels at which individuals can work
comfortably with technologies [is] suppressed’ (Damarin 2000: 18). This recognition
requires the investigation of the use of computers and related technologies in educational
settings across the continuum. This is of particular importance in developing contexts,
such as in Africa, where a wide and divergent range of circumstances prevail.
1.4 ICT in education in South Africa
Attention has focused on technology-enhanced learning in the hope that it may offer
some solutions to the challenges of education in South Africa. The White Paper on
Education and Training (DoE 1995) focuses on outcomes-based education, developing
problem-solving skills, and providing a creative environment in which new technologies
are harnessed to produce knowledge products. Furthermore, the White Paper states that
the DoE aims to integrate technology into these education strategies in order to advance

the country’s ability to adopt new technologies to facilitate its growth and development.
More government support is to be found in the White Paper on Science and Technology
(Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology [DACST] 1996), which stresses that
access to ICT is crucial to national competitiveness and popular empowerment. The
White Paper proposes a National System of Innovation
1
that will support and promote the
attainment of national objectives by the creative use of the outputs of the science and
technology system with regard to new knowledge and new technologies. In pursuit of
this idea, the DACST believes that: ‘the knowledge, technologies, products and processes
produced must be converted into increased wealth, by industry and business, and into an
improved quality of life for all members of society’ (1996: 12).
Through the Universal Service Agency, there is a focus on community information and
learning centres around South Africa; these centres will be equipped on a large scale with
appropriate mass media and technology. Some have already been established.
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1 ‘The process of transforming an idea, generated through research and development, into a new or improved product
which relates to the real needs of society and which involves scientific, technological, organisational or commercial
activities’ (DACST 1996).


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