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The claim was high and the result so far sobering: if possible by 2021, every student should have a "digital learning environment" at school and be able to use the Internet, as the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) decided at the end of 2016.
But as late as 2021, almost half of the teachers described the IT equipment as insufficient.
By the beginning of 2022, only ten percent of the planned funds from the »Digitalpakt Schule« funding program launched in 2019 had actually reached the schools.
A research group from the University of Hildesheim and the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) concludes that "based on the current state of research, it can be considered certain" that the KMK "did not achieve this ambitious goal for the past year".
In the study "The Implementation of the Digital Pact for Schools 2022" presented on Monday, the scientists examined the problems with the implementation of the digital pact.
To do this, they conducted expert interviews in seven federal states - with those responsible in the schools, but also with people in the administration who are responsible for the implementation of the digital pact on the part of the school authorities.
Information on the study »The implementation of the Digital Pact for Schools 2022«
AreaWho conducted the studyexpand
The study entitled "The implementation of the DigitalPakt School: Effects and possible problems" was carried out from August 2020 to March 2022 at the Institute for Social and Organizational Pedagogy of the University of Hildesheim Foundation in cooperation with the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB).
The Max Traeger Foundation funded the research project.
The trade union for education and science (GEW) supported the scientists with field access.
AreaWhat was examinedexpand
Using a qualitative methodological approach, the study examined how the digital pact for schools is implemented in the interaction of the different control levels (federal, state, municipal school authorities and individual schools).
The survey is based on 21 guided interviews with experts from school practice and from municipal school authorities, which were evaluated with a qualitative content analysis.
The study included general education public schools in Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Saxony.
The results were classified in the current state of research on school digitization.
Qualitative studies are not representative, but are intended to get to the bottom of causes that cannot be found out so well in standardized surveys.
It turned out that the often lamented bureaucracy or the confusion of competences between the actors at federal, state, local and school level is not the only problem.
The status quo of a school is perpetuated by the digital pact
This is shown by the example of Saxony, which was very quick to submit the application but still received hardly any funds, according to the report.
The fact that the payment is linked to further investment measures, such as a broadband connection that cannot be financed via the digital pact, could play a role.
The result: the status quo continues through the digital pact.
Schools that already relied on digitization before the funding due to committed school management or teachers are making good progress.
Schools with previously rudimentary equipment would need correspondingly longer to catch up.
The differences were also found in relation to the school types.
more on the subject
Survey: Teachers complain about digital equipment in high schools
Survey on digital teaching: Almost half of the teachers consider IT equipment to be insufficient
School Digital Pact: Slowly the money flows by Miriam Olbrisch
Digital learning formats are used primarily in grammar schools and comprehensive schools, much less often in other secondary schools and only to a very small extent in primary schools - this is highly relevant in terms of education and social policy, said Michael Wrase, head of the study, when the report was presented in Berlin.
»The learning conditions for the students are very unequal, also with a view to digitization.«
»Blind spots in the implementation of the digital pact«
"The investigation also uncovers some blind spots in the implementation of the digital pact," Wrase said.
Reasons for the fact that the funds would not be distributed according to needs are among others
Lack of monitoring
: The federal and state governments have committed themselves to publishing a comprehensive progress report with all the information collected »annually«.
Almost three years after the start of the digital pact, this has not yet happened.
Partially non-transparent coordination processes between the administrative levels: It
is fraught with conflict that the schools have to determine their needs and create appropriate concepts, but the decision on the measures lies with the school authorities.
"Here, there is often a lack of adequate communication and a transparent approach on the part of the school authorities," write the scientists.
Shortage of skilled workers
: There is not only a lack of educators and administrative staff.
The implementation is sometimes also dependent on external factors for which schools or school authorities cannot be held responsible, such as companies from the IT and construction industries.
In addition to improvements in the areas mentioned, the scientists recommended that the current situation in the schools should be taken into account in the future.
If the digital pact, which expires in 2024, is relaunched, pent-up needs or available resources of the schools should be taken into account so that the gap does not widen further.
"Children's education must not be dependent on the financial situation of individual municipalities or on an accidental affinity for digitization of individual teachers," said Anja Bensinger-Stolze, board member for schools at the Education and Science Union (GEW), which supported the scientists.
Funds from another digital pact would have to flow in particular to the previously disadvantaged schools, she demanded.
"Unequals must be treated unequally," said Bensinger-Stolze.
The countries would have to ensure the appropriate framework conditions.