Mathematics in middle schools in Western European countries

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement has conducted a number of cross-national studies in which Western European countries participated. Results from the Second International Mathematics Study regarding the content and outcomes of this study in some Western European countries, Japan and the U.S.A. are presented and compared. The results show that comprehensive systems do not differ systematically from non-comprehensive systems with respect to achievement measures of students. However, measures of the implemented curriculum show differences which are consistent with system characteristics. Consequences for the comparative methodology are discussed

The worldwide use of computers : a description of main trends

This paper examines some of the main findings from the IEA Computers in Education survey. The results show that with respect to the future of computers in education there is reason for optimism as well as for pessimism. The optimistic part of the story is that new technologies in the form of computers are nowadays available for many schools in most so-called developed countries, and that despite the complexity of this innovation educational practitioners and students are still very enthusiastic about this technology. The pessimistic part is that there is still much inequity of access to computers. Once computers are available they tend to be used most frequently as an add-on to the existing curriculum. It is probably this lack of integration of computers in existing curricula which is most challenging in determining our agenda for the future

Introduction of computers in education: State of the art in eight countries

In 1989, the IEA Computers in Education study collected data on computer use in elementary, lower- and upper secondary education in 22 countries. This paper presents some preliminary results for lower secondary education in Belgium-Flemish, Belgium-French, France, Greece, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S.A.\ud \ud The major questions that are addressed are related to the availability and the use of hard- and software, the problems experienced in introducing computers in schools and the attitudes of the principals towards computers. The results show that the number of schools equipped with computers and the number of computers available in schools increased dramatically over the past few years. Despite this fact, computers still are only used by a limited number of teachers, and mainly for teaching students about computers; the integration of computers in existing subjects is still limited. The major problems experienced in educational practice are the lack of sufficient software of high quality and insufficiently trained teachers

Generalizibility of instructional and school effectiveness indicators across nations

In a secondary analysis of the data base of the IEA second mathematics study, the association of school and instructional characteristics with mathematics achievement within and across 17 countries at the school and student level was investigated. The results indicate consistent positive associations of the factors ‘high expectations of pupils' progress’ and ‘opportunity to learn’ with achievement. Other factors, known from the literature on school and instructional effectiveness, showed more moderate and less consistent effects. The results of this study further indicate that, in each country, considerably more variance in pupils' mathematics achievement lies between classes than between schools when school and class are treated as independent variance components. It was established that specific variables defined at the class level explain more variance than specific variables defined at the school leve

Status of introductory computer education in the Netherlands: results of a survey

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) is conducting an international comparative study on educational computer use in more than 20 countries. This paper analyzes some of the Dutch results of the IEA survey on the use of computers in lower secondary schools. The findings show that at present computers are mainly used for introductory computer courses, but that the integration of computers into existing subjects is still limited. The main problems identified in the study are: insufficient availability of courseware and hardware, time constraints and a high need for teacher training

Influence of computer use on schools' curriculum: Limited integration

In the literature many claims are formulated about what might be accomplished in actual teaching practice when computers are used in a proper and intensive way. Therefore, in this study we analyse how three leading schools in the lower general secondary education sector in The Netherlands are using computers in their curriculum. The results show that these schools have hardly passed the stage of grassroot developments. To validate and possibly generalize these results we did, as a follow up study, a telephone survey with a larger group of leading schools. The survey confirmed the outcomes of the case studies