Students, Computers and Learning: e Making the Connection. Country note Spain

Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection  . Spain

• In 2012, schools in Spain had almost one computer available for every two 15-year-old students. The students-per-computer ratio of 2.2-to-1 is the 9th lowest among the 34 OECD countries. In general, however, countries that have invested heavily in ICT for education have seen no appreciable improvement in student achievement in reading, mathematics or science over the past ten years. • 

• Students in Spain perform significantly below the OECD average in digital reading (466 points on the PISA digital reading scale), and below students in other countries with similar performance in print reading. In the PISA assessment of digital reading, about one in 20 students in Spain (4.6%) did not navigate at all to find the information needed to solve a problem, and those who did navigate got lost more often than students in other countries, on average.

 • Students in Spain also perform below the OECD average in computer-based mathematics (475 points on the PISA mathematics scale).

• Students in Spain browse the Internet for schoolwork, at or outside of school, more often than students in other OECD countries, on average. Students who reported that they browse the Internet for schoolwork at school tend to perform better in the PISA digital reading test than students who never browse the Internet for schoolwork.

 • Regardless of socio-economic status, students in Spain spend about 2 hours and 20 minutes on line every weekend day, on average – more than the OECD average. In their leisure time on line, advantaged students (those among the top 25% in socio-economic status) are more likely than disadvantaged students to search the Internet for information or read online news, and less likely than disadvantaged students to chat on line or upload pictures or videos.

Who are the best online readers?


To be proficient in online reading, students must be able to plan and execute a search, evaluate the usefulness of information, and assess the credibility of sources. Most students cannot develop these skills through casual practice alone; they need explicit guidance from teachers and high-quality educational resources to master these increasingly important skills.