An overview of the digitalisation of schools using the SELFIE tool
The school is undergoing a profound digital transformation. In the fireline we put a recommendation: mind the gap!
Our SELFIE results addressed Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational Technologies to discover the digital potential of the European schools Towards digital schooling: mind the gap! Results show that all schools are working to integrate traditional educational features with revolutionary technological innovations. Teachers, school leaders and students are actively transforming European education systems. However, in every aspect of this ongoing revolution, there is a gap between adults in schools and students’ perceptions. While we consider the younger generations to be the most digitally advanced, adolescents perceive themselves as much less competent than we think they are. How can we involve the younger generations in building the school systems of the future, rather than just in their passive use?
The focus should be on learning modalities and on relationship between pupils and teachers, not digital inputs avoiding the tendency to see technological solutions as a universal tool, suitable for all situations, an inevitable form of progress. It highlights the importance of identifying teaching methods that really work remotely and of continuing research on these subjects to inform public action to ensure that technology serves education, not the other way around.
Digital habits and well-being
The EU Council calls for the well-being of learners and educators to be strengthened in the development of national digital education policies and strategies and to increase their awareness of the need to balance time spent in front of a screen and away from it. Our DIGITAL HABITS results show that in Italy, the most popular social media platforms are Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. In Poland, Macedonia and Bulgaria, Instagram is the most popular social media platform among students, followed by TikTok. TikTok is also the most popular social media platform in Ireland, alongside Snapchat.
Most of the European teenagers in our sample spend between 2 and 5 hours online. In general our adolescents use social media to maintain remote contact with friends via messages or chat, seek entertainment, search for information, and observe others. They rarely use it to find new friends or romantic partners. It is boredom and negative emotions that drive them online!
And if they feel unsafe online? They turn to their parents and friends.
The attachment to the real world is revealed also from results about the Generalized Problematic Internet Use-2 Questionnaire that explores the preference for online social interaction. Even in today’s digitalised world, for students real-life relationships remain important and cannot be replaced!
Moods, affects and reflection: subjectivity as a resource to face the invasion of digital in teens’ daily life
Our results about mood regulation mediated by the online (subscale of the Generalized Problematic Internet Use-2 Questionnaire) emphasise the need to develop emotional competences among adolescents in all participating countries and to expand the range of alternative coping strategies (other than using social media) for dealing with unpleasant emotions.
Intimacy of our teens shows three relevant aspects:
● a moderate attachment to smartphones
● low levels of loneliness
● good reflective skills
Emotional resources and affective capabilities of the younger generation seem in contrast to the definition of “fragile adolescence” that has emerged inappropriately in recent years. Their subjectivity is a resource that should not be overlooked when working with them on digital transformation. However young people are happy to open up offline with close friends: being in love, shame and even secrets find more fertile ground offline. But their worries and often their love life are more shared online: from these results we can grasp an indication about transformations of intimacy of our teens. Their need for awareness and our adults’ attention have to find creative ways to face this new challenge.
Our findings, however, highlight the emotional effort young people put into keeping their online and offline lives in balance.
See all the results of the comparative reports below:
