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Germany is known for lagging behind in digitization. Now the students have technical problems because the schools remain closed. But even countries with a better track record are struggling with distance learning.
Like all German students, Eric Grabowski cannot go back to school after the Christmas holidays. With a nationwide lockdown just extended due to continued high rates of coronavirus infections, the 10th grader will likely have to stay home until the end of January.
Right now, Eric should have a French class online, the 15-year-old tells DW over the phone. “I am sitting in front of my laptop, trying to access my school’s learning platform. But again, nothing works at all. ”
Eric’s comprehensive school near Kaiserslautern in southwestern Germany is not the only one struggling with the transition to distance learning. In many parts of the country, students and teachers report similar difficulties.
“These server problems just need to be resolved,” says Eric. The tenth grader is an active member of the student council in his home state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Support school closings while infection rates remain high.
“But we don’t even know if we will be able to go back to school in February. I don’t even know if I will be able to take my final exam this year. Digital lessons just have to work. It can’t go on like this, ”he complains.
‘Incredibly bureaucratic’
Germany still appears to be lagging behind in remote learning, nearly a year after the country’s first coronavirus case and more than nine months after the first school closings in March 2020.
German schools have long been struggling with digitization, says Nina Brandau of the German IT and telecoms industry group Bitkom. An existing school digitization plan was beefed up in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in July 2020, bringing joint state and federal efforts to roughly 7 billion euros ($ 8.6 billion).
“But it takes time for this financial aid to get to the schools,” Brandau tells DW. “The application process is incredibly bureaucratic.” A large number of federal, state and local authorities are involved in the procedure in Germany. “Other countries are doing much better,” says Brandau.
Laptops are not enough
Before the pandemic, there were only six computers for every 10 students available in German schools. OECD 2018 figures show that in other industrialized countries the number was much higher with up to nine computers for 10 students.
Lately, many German schools have focused on buying laptops. Eric Grabowski says his school finally got 120 laptops last fall that were given to those who didn’t have their own devices at home.
“But it is not limited to buying laptops,” says Brandau. “We need teachers to be able to use digital tools and create meaningful educational programs with them. For this, we need more training. And that is missing “.
Another problem is the lack of fast and reliable Internet connections. “If you live in certain areas of Germany, your four children simply cannot attend hybrid classrooms simultaneously. Furthermore, many schools also lack high-performance Internet connections, ”says Brandau.
Nothing rotten in Denmark?
When asked about the European countries that were doing the best, Brandau names Denmark and Estonia. “They have used digital media in education for quite some time, with Wi-Fi available in all schools. Teachers and students were prepared to use these tools. “Countries such as Finland or the Netherlands are also regularly cited as role models in Europe.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has been a shock even for countries considered pioneers in Europe when it comes to school digitization. Danish media researcher Jesper Taekke from Aarhus University says the pandemic had revealed that teachers in the country still lacked the IT skills necessary for a good digital education.
“They have a hard time adapting to the digital media environment. There is a lot of anguish, “Taekke tells DW. “The government has invested huge amounts of money in hardware. Teachers have whiteboards, networks, computers, and all that. But they have very little time to prepare lessons and come up with ideas for digital education. “
Taekke says his research shows that 8 out of 10 elementary school students in the country did not have access to real digital lessons during the pandemic, but were simply sent homework that they had to do on their own.
Computer shortages from north to south
The problems in other European countries are more serious. Reports have emerged of down servers and hardware shortages in many countries, including Italy and Greece. And in the UK, a study by the charity Teach First suggested that nearly three in four school heads say their students don’t have enough access to digital devices and the internet.
The UK Department of Education says English schools are “well prepared for distance learning”, with 560,000 laptops and tablets delivered to schools last year and another 100,000 this week.
However, in the UK and many other European countries, concerns persist that children will be forced to start school without access to these devices or without any proper strategy for them to engage in online learning.
Young students need help
Digital learning, it seems, remains a challenge for both students and teachers, even in the richest countries in Europe. But it is especially difficult for younger students.
Oliver Best, an IT distribution professional, says his four sons are lucky because they have a good team and he can help out when a problem arises. Her 8-year-old son is in second grade and had his first schooling video session this week, after his school in Ludwigshafen, in the southwestern German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, did not reopen after the Christmas holidays .
But most of the youngsters struggled, Best says. “This morning my 8-year-old son was the only one in his group who managed to get the video conferencing going,” he tells DW by phone. “Some of his colleagues were unable to log in, some repeatedly lost their connection, and some were only able to hear the audio.”
Oliver Best is glad that your son enjoyed his first distance learning session. But, like so many other parents, he hopes that this year he will return to normal school life.
Politicians from the main German parties have repeatedly said that young children should be the first to go back to school when infection numbers start to decline.
