Comparative Analysis of ICT in Education Between China and CEECs

Abstract

China is located in the east of Asia and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak, Slovenia are located in central and eastern Europe (hereinafter referred to as CEECs)

19.1 Overview of the Country

19.1.1 Area, Population, and Official Language

China is located in the east of Asia and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak, Slovenia are located in central and eastern Europe (hereinafter referred to as CEECs). According to the latest data showed in National Statistical Office of each country and National Statistical Office of each country and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the general situation of China and 17 CEECs, such as area, population, and official language are listed as follows (Table 19.1).

Table 19.1 Area, population, and official language of China and CEECs

19.1.2 Economic Development Level and Rates of Growth of Real GDP

For analytical purposes, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019 (WESP), published by United Nation, classifies all countries of the world into one of three broad categories: developed economies, economies in transition, and developing economies. According to this classification, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak, Slovenia belong to developed economics; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia belong to economies in transition; and China belongs to developing economic.

During the decade from 2010 to 2020, China, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Albania are the six countries who always achieve the positive rate of growth of real GDP. Among all the China and CEE countries, China is the only country in which rate of growth of GDP keeps more than 6. Compared with the growth rate of 2010 and 2020, Latvia is the country in which rate of GDP grows most, increasing 7.9 from −3.9 to 4.0 (Table 19.2).

Table 19.2 Economic development level and rates of growth of real GDP

19.2 Overview of the Educational Development

19.2.1 Education System

In China and CEECs, Education system generally consists of kindergarten/pre-primary education, primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education, post-secondary non-tertiary education, higher education, special education, and adult education. Compulsory education generally includes primary education and secondary education, with specific years ranging from 8 to 13 years, and the average compulsory education period is about 10 years. In China and CEE countries, Hungary and North of Macedonia have the longest compulsory education period of 13 years. Croatia and Serbia have the shortest compulsory education period of 8 years. Compulsory education in half of these countries includes pre-school education, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Romania, which has led to earlier compulsory schooling ages in these countries. For example, in Hungary, its compulsory education includes three years of pre-school education, so its official schooling age is much earlier than most countries, which is 4 years old.

In terms of free education, more than 2/3 China and CEECs have longer free education years than their compulsory education years. Among them, Latvia is the longest, which is 18 years, and Croatia is the lowest, 8 years. The average period of free education in these countries is about 13.2 years (Fig. 19.1).

Fig. 19.1

Source UIS Stat

Total Number of years of free education and compulsory education guaranteed in legal framework.

19.2.2 Government Expenditure on Education

The proportion of government expenditure on education to gross domestic product (GDP) can reflect to a certain extent the importance that a country’s government attaches to education as well as the efforts of the whole society to develop education. According to the data collected (Fig. 19.2), the average value of public education expenditure in GDP in China and CEECs was 4.31%. In terms of the minimum standard of 4% of government expenditure on education in GDP advocated by UNESCO (Education 2030, UNESCO), about 2/3 of countries are above this level.

Fig. 19.2

Source UIS. Stat, European Commission, National Bureau of Statistics of China (mainly based on the data of 2016)

Government expenditure on education as % of GDP.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), its education system is financed from entity, cantonal, and municipal budgets. The share of education in financing from the state budget is very small. Republika Srpska allocates about 4% of its GDP for education, Federation of BiH issues about 6% of GDP while Brčko District for education allocates 11.2% of the total budget of the District.

19.2.3 Students and Teachers’ Profiles

19.2.3.1 Student–Teacher Ratio

According to the data shown in Fig. 19.3, the average level of student–teacher ratio in regular primary schools of China and CEECs is around 14.41. Among the 18 countries, 10 countries’ student–teacher ratio is below average. The student–teacher ratio in Greece is the lowest, being around 9.27; while Romania is the highest—over 19. The student–teacher ratio in China is about 16.55, being just lower than Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Albania, Czech and Romania.

Fig. 19.3

Source UIS (mainly based on the data of 2016, except Poland (2017), North Macedonia (2015), Czech Republic (2013)); ICT in Education in Montenegro (Montenegro (2018))

Pupil-teacher ratio in primary education.

There is a main challenge that most China and CEECs encounter with teachers aging and a lack of novice teachers. However, the main challenge in Slovenia is the oversupply of teachers and the demand for teachers has fallen in recent years due to a population decrease.

19.2.3.2 Average Class Size

As shown in the following Fig. 19.4, the average class size in the primary school of these 18 countries is around 20.48, of which 13 countries are below the average level. Lithuania and Latvia have the smallest class size, with 15 students in each class while the class size in China and Bosnia and Herzegovina is relatively high—with at least 30 students in the same class. Generally speaking, the reasonable class size is closely related to the teaching quality, taking the overall situation of average class size in China and CEECs into account, it can be seen that reducing class sizes is still the urgent requirement for China’s educational reform.

Fig. 19.4

Sources Eurostat (2012); OECD (2013); Edufile; Albania: Albania Education Policy Review: Issues and Recommendations

Average class size

19.2.4 Teachers’ Professional Development

19.2.4.1 Teachers’ Profile

In CEECs, from the perspective of numbers of male and female teachers in all education levels (pre-primary, primary education, lower secondary, upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education) there is a clear dominance of female over male teachers. For example, in the stage of pre-primary education, in some countries, such as Bulgaria, Czech, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, the proportion of male teachers is even less than 1%. According to the statistics collected in the following Table 19.3, in 2017, CEECs’ average proportion of male and female teachers in primary education stage is about 1:5.9, in lower secondary stage 1:2.8, and in upper secondary stage 1:1.9. Therefore, it is noticeable that with the increase of education levels, the proportion of male teachers is gradually increasing. Especially in tertiary education, most of the CEECs have more male teachers than female teachers, with the ratio of 1.2:1.

As for China, the problem of gender imbalance among teachers also exits. According to the latest statistics collected by the Ministry of Education of China, in 2017, there were in total 2378.3 thousand full-time female teachers in pre-primary schools, accounting for up to 97.79%, and in primary, junior, senior schools and universities, the female teachers account for, respectively, 67.15%, 55.64%, 53.07%, and 49.83%.

Table 19.3 Number of teachers in China and CEECs, 2017 (thousands)

19.2.4.2 Minimum Qualification to Enter the Teaching Profession

Referring to relevant conditions and requirements on teachers’ educational level or their academic qualification, the qualification for a teaching job is an important part for choosing teacher candidates, which has been constantly established and perfected in the world’s teacher professionalization movement. In China and CEECs, the minimum academic requirements for a teaching job are different in different education stages, except Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, North Macedonia, and Romania, in which countries, the minimum academic qualification standards for pre-primary, primary, general lower secondary, and general upper secondary teachers are all the same. Besides, there are 13 CEECs, that is, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, in which pre-school teachers need minimum higher education degree or Bachelor’s.

Compared with the minimum entry qualifications for primary and secondary school teachers in CEECs, China does not set high requirements on academic qualifications for teachers. Therefore, on January 20th, 2018, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued “Suggestions for Deepening the Reform of Teachers’ Team Construction in the New Era,” which has mentioned that the entry standards for primary and secondary school teachers should be gradually improved. Integrated with the reality, academic qualifications for kindergarten teachers will be upgraded to non-university higher education sector; primary school teachers’ qualifications will be improved to teacher education graduates from non-university higher education sector or non-teacher education undergraduates; secondary school teachers’ qualifications will be changed into undergraduates, and upper secondary teachers’ will be promoted to postgraduates where the conditions permit (Table 19.4).

Table 19.4 Minimum qualifications to enter the teaching profession

19.2.4.3 Teachers’ Professional Development

Programs on teachers’ professional development are set to help teachers maintain a high standard of teaching. In China and CEECs, types of professional development are mainly divided into training courses, qualification programs, individual or collaborative research, mentoring or peer observation and coaching, etc. The requirements for initial teachers and in-service teachers are varied. Teachers with higher qualifications receive longer periods of professional development, and they are required more highly to complete these programs. As the important part of teacher’s professional development, ICT-related training programs are not covered in all the 18 countries. Therefore, training projects focusing on more effective use of ICT in teaching need to be enhanced (Table 19.5).

Table 19.5 Teachers’ professional development

19.3 New Progress of ICT in Education

19.3.1 ICT Development Index

ICT Development Index (IDI) is a comprehensive evaluation index to measure the development level of ICT in countries and regions, which bases on 11 ICT indicators, grouped in three clusters: ICT access, ICT use, and ICT skills. ICT access includes five indicators: fixed-telephone subscription rate, mobile-cellular telephone subscription rate, international internet bandwidth (bit/s) per internet user, percentage of households with a computer, and percentage of households with Internet access. ICT use includes three indicators: percentage of individuals using the internet, fixed-broadband subscription rate, and active mobile-broadband subscription rate. ICT skills include three indicators: mean years of schooling, gross enrollment ratio, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio. The higher the score, the higher the level of development is in this area.

According to Measuring the Information Society Report Volume 1 (ITU, 2017), Estonia was the country which had the highest level of ICT development with the highest IDI value of 8.14 among China and CEECs and ranked 17th among the estimated 176 countries, and Albania was the lowest, with the lowest IDI value of 5.14 and ranked 89th. Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak, and Slovenia were all among the Top 50 of 176 countries. As to China, with the IDI value of 5.6, ranked the 16th among the 18 countries and 80th among 176 countries (Table 19.6).

Table 19.6 ICT Development Index

19.3.2 The Networked Readiness Index

Networked Readiness Index (NRI) is a set of indicators system launched by World Economic Forum in 2001 and significantly extended in 2012. The NRI is a composite of three components: the environment for ICT offered by a given country or community, the readiness of the community’s key stakeholders (individuals, businesses, and governments) to use ICT, and finally the usage of ICT amongst these stakeholders.¹ Through scoring and ranking the effectiveness of ICT in promoting economic development and competitiveness of major economies in the world, NRI seeks to better comprehend the impact of ICT on the competitiveness of nations.

According to “The Networked Readiness Index (2016),” Estonia ranks first among China and CEECs, with the value of 5.4 and ranking 22nd among the estimated 139 countries, while Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks last with the value of 3.6. The Top 5 Networked Readiness Index countries are Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech, and Slovenia, all belonging to the high income and advanced economies. Among the upper-middle-income economies, North Macedonia achieved the best performance with the value of 4.4 and the ranking of 46. As the upper middle level among emerging and developing Asian countries, China ranks 12th among the 18 countries with the value of 4.2 and 59th out of 139 countries (Table 19.7).

Table 19.7 Networked readiness index

19.3.3 Government Success in ICT Promotion

The indicator of “Government Success in ICT Promotion” is measured on a 1–7 (best) score among 139 countries. According to the scores, the level of government success in ICT promotion in China and CEECs are mostly lower medium. Only the score of Estonia, North Macedonia, Lithuania, and China exceed the average value of 4.1 among the 139 countries. Estonia, with the value being 5.6, was placed in the 7th position among the 139 countries, ranking first among the 18 countries, which means this country still takes the lead in government’s promotion in ICT. China, with the value being 4.5, ranked the 4th among the 18 countries; while Bosnia and Herzegovina was ranking last for its government to promote ICT, with the lowest score of 2.3 (Fig. 19.5).

Fig. 19.5

Note In your country, how successful is the government in promoting the use of ICTs? [1 = not successful at all; 7 = extremely successful]. Sources The Global Information Technology Report (WEF, 2016)

Government Success in ICT Promotion.

19.3.4 Infrastructure

19.3.4.1 Internet Access in Schools

According to the Global Information Technology Report (WEF, 2016), the average value of internet access in schools in these 18 countries was 4.93. Among them, Estonia and Lithuania achieved the largest scale of popularizing the internet in schools for learning purposes, indicating that ICT-based learning environment was excellent in these two countries. Slovenia, Slovak, Latvia, Czech, and North Macedonia also achieved remarkable performance in applying internet in schools for learning purposes. In Slovak, all primary and secondary schools have access to the internet at present. While in Serbia, Greece, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the value of the internet access in schools was the worst, with the lowest value of 3.9. With the value of 4.8, internet access in school in China was also a bit below than the average (Fig. 19.6).

Fig. 19.6

Note In your country, to what extent is the Internet used in school for learning purpose?[1 = not at all; 7 = to a great extent] | 2014–15 weighted average.. Source The global information technology report (WEF, 2016)

Internet access in schools.

19.3.4.2 Computer-Student Ratio

According to the collected statistics of 16 China and CEECs except Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the average computer–student ratio in these 16 countries is around 0.58. With the ratio of 1.02, almost each student in Czech has his or her own computer for learning. In Slovak, Lithuania, and Latvia, computers have also been widely used learning tools for students. However, in Greece, Romania, Poland, Montenegro, Croatia, and Albania, the computer–student ratio is considerably lower than the regional average. China, with the ratio of 0.46, also belongs to the lower middle level (Fig. 19.7).

Fig. 19.7

Note China refers to the four PISA-participating China Provinces: Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong. Sources PISA 2015 Results (Volume II): Policies and Practices for Successful Schools.^©OECD 2016

Computer-student ratio

19.3.5 Internet Users Ratio and Digital Skills Among Population (1–7)

According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2018, Estonia had the largest Internet users’ population and digital skills population among the 18 countries. 87.2% of population in Estonia would use Internet, which led this country to achieve the 21st position among 140 countries. In Slovak, Latvia, Hungary, and Czech, Internet were used wildly, with respectively 80.5%, 79.8%, 79.3%, and 76.5% of population in these countries being Internet users. However, in 18 countries, internet users’ population in China was the small percentage, only taking 53.2%, ranking 82nd out of 140 countries.

As to digital skills among population, the difference of the ranking of 18 countries among the 140 countries was very huge. With the ranking of 10th, Estonia still took the lead in the 18 countries. While digital skills among population in Hungary were the weakest, with the lowest score of 41.1 and the ranking of 115th out of 140 countries (Table 19.8).

Table 19.8 Internet users ratio and digital skills among population

19.3.6 Information Technology Courses

According to the data in the following table, all the China and CEECs have IT courses, mostly taught in primary and secondary schools. The focuses of IT courses in these countries are on students’ practical use of computers and their development of logical and abstract thinking. Although in Montenegro, ICT courses have a profusion of varieties, covering algorithms, computer audio and graphic programs, business informatics, web graphics, etc., the amount of courses in most China and CEECs is generally monotonous, which is mainly divided into Informatics and Programming (Table 19.9).

Table 19.9 Information technology courses

19.3.7 ICT Integration into Practice

19.3.7.1 Application of ICT in Teaching and Learning

With the rapid development of ICT in education, computer technology, telecommunication as well as network technology have been wildly used in teaching and learning process. The ways and means of applying ICT in education mainly include introducing novel tools to support teaching, learning, and management. For example, in Slovenia, teachers and other educators may assess their own pedagogical digital competences and find various possibilities to upgrade them by using self-assessment tool TET-SAT. In Poland, computers and the Internet can be used in the learning process in the informatics labs, libraries with public access to computers and the Internet, classrooms, and lecture halls. In Hungary, an online diagnostic assessment system was introduced to primary school to assess the mastery of curricular materials, measure the skills of applying knowledge in new contexts, and monitor students’ psychological (domain-specific and general thinking skills) development. In Serbia, 88% of secondary schools have their own website, 6% of the schools are using online learning management platforms. Among these online systems, Moodle is the most popular and widely applied online learning community in many countries, through which better mastery of learning materials in class and better communication with teachers after class can be achieved.

Besides, some states have made great progress in renewing teaching model in classrooms and exploring the technology associated with using new tools in classroom teaching. In Czech, mobile classrooms have penetrated in its major primary schools, middle schools, and universities. In Estonia, every fifth classroom has an interactive whiteboard, and video projectors are installed in 65% of the classrooms.

As to China, the development of new technologies such as educational robots, educational data, artificial intelligence, internet of things, learning analysis technology, and block chain technology has brought new opportunities for the development of educational informatization. In the future, the development of ICT in education will focus on promoting the deep integration of information technology and education, creating a wise learning environment, building large educational resources, improving the information literacy of teachers and students, transforming the mode of talent cultivation, educational service, and educational governance from the integrated application to the innovative development.

Despite all of these development and achievements, the process of applying ICT in education has also met some obstacles in some areas—either the lack of ICT skills or the lack of willingness to apply ICT in education has bothered some states. As for ICT skills for teaching, 18.6% of Slovakia teachers have highlighted the need for further professional development in this area; in Czech, though a compulsory subject has been a compulsory part of the curriculum for schools, it is still not enough since users’ skills to use a computer are not sufficient for study and work. As for the willingness to apply ICT, in Croatia, over 60% of teachers believe that ICT negatively impacts writing or social skills, with 51% believing that ICT only stimulates copy-pasting information from other sources.

19.3.7.2 Capacities of Teachers and Students to Use ICT

In the Information Age, many countries have put forward new demands on teachers and students’ abilities to apply ICT to solve related problems. In China and CEECs, teachers and students’ professional development abilities vary greatly.

According to related studies, in some CEECs, excellent performances of using ICT have already been achieved, which is characterized by that teachers hold a quite positive attitude towards adopting ICT in teaching and ICT skills are better commanded by teachers and students. Romania is the leader in Europe, and sixth in the world, in terms of the number of certified IT specialists. According to Microsoft (who acquired since 2003 Romanian Antivirus Technology), Romania has a clear potential in IT, an area in which Romanian students, researchers, and entrepreneurs excel. In Poland, more than half of teachers have expressed their willingness of introducing ICT tools to their classes and they have had the experiences of e-learning in the form of online courses, educational projects, post-graduate studies, training courses, IT courses, or language courses. Lithuanian teachers are reported to be very active in ICT training—the majority (68%) of teachers have learnt to apply ICT during the lessons and 43% of them have improved their digital qualification. In Estonia, teaching ICT competences of mathematics and natural sciences teachers is considered the best. In total, 78% of teachers use computers and 70% of teachers use presentation tools regularly in their teaching. In Bulgaria, teachers universally hold a curious attitude towards ICT and their participation in ICT pedagogical use courses is also above the EU average level, and this country is said to have enough confidence that it could easily measure with the best European practices. In Latvia, ICT in educational establishments are used very widely for developing database for teachers, preparing documents and organizing and managing study process (e-class). In Slovakia, the use of ICT by teachers is higher at all grades with considerably more teachers using ICT.

However, in some other CEECs, teachers and students’ abilities of using ICT are limited. Croatian teachers’ attitudes towards the use of ICT in education are less positive, with only 54% of them believing in ICT’s role of creating better learning results for students. Bosnia and Herzegovina has already admitted that in their country, there are no specially designed training courses for teachers or their preparation for the use of ICT in the educational process. In Hungary, the situation has not so many differences, in which ICT skills are not automatically part of the teacher training courses, because they are only available in a few higher education institutions.

In accordance with the teachers’ ability of applying ICT in teaching process, students in some countries own excellent abilities to command digital learning resources—the abilities of students in North Macedonia to use ICT tools to solve problems at all education level are reported to be on very good level. Lithuanian pupils’ information and computer literacy (CIL) is similar to their peers abroad and is around the basic level, with over 60.2% of students in grade 8 are using their own computers and mobile phones for learning. In Romania, digital tools are provided to improve quality assessment in pre-university system, while in Montenegro, all schools provide e-mail addresses and 57% of students are using smartphones at least weekly for learning in courses.

In some other countries, the situation with students’ ability of applying ICT is not so much remarkable. In Slovenia, the level of digital education is lower than that in the period 2010–2016. Students’ confidence in their digital competence has been reported (on the scale up to 4) with 2.9 Information and data literacy, 3.2 Communication and Collaboration, 2.7 Digital Content Creation, 2.8 Internet Safety, 2.7 Problem solving. More than 70% students reported about none coding or programming activities at school. In Serbia, though email addresses and websites have been universal for primary and secondary schools, learning management systems and other ICT tools are still rare in this state. According to The ICILS 2013, among 21 countries, Croatia ranks 14th on the list, with very few Croatian students (1%) in the highest literacy level. Besides, Hungarian students’ ICT literacy and skills of working in technology-rich environments are below the international norms.

As to China, in the past 40 years of economic reform and opening up, this country has made remarkable achievements in the development of ICT in education. Teachers have significantly improved their ability to use digital tools and software for teaching and informationization-supported teaching has gradually become the norm. Universities, primary, and secondary school principals have generally promoted the leadership of informationization, and a number of specialist principals have emerged, playing an important role in promoting the process of informationization in school education.

With the popularization of ICT in primary and secondary education, Chinese students’ information literacy has also improved significantly. More and more students have mobile terminals such as smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and so on. Blended learning is gradually becoming the main learning mode in universities, primary, and secondary schools. Students improve their ability of using information to carry out collaborative learning, inquiry learning, research learning, and so on. With the implementation of STEAM and Creator Education, innovation guided learning is gradually favored by students.

19.4 ICT in Education Projects

According to case studies of China and CEECs, their projects of ICT in Education are collected as follows (Table 19.10).

Table 19.10 ICT in education projects

19.5 ICT in Education Related Policies and Strategies

In China and CEECs, there are huge differences in the understanding of the importance and urgency of implementing the strategies and policies of ICT in education. Most countries have realized the significance of ICT in education and have launched a series of strategies for ICT in education. In China, Slovenia, Serbia, Poland, Hungary, Czech, and Bulgaria, strategies of ICT in education are placed in a crucial position, while some countries have not yet realized the importance of these strategies. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is still no strategy for the development of information communication technologies in society as well as in education.

As for the content of strategies for ICT in education, the emphasis of each country varies. For example, Czech, Hungary, Estonia, Poland, and Slovakia emphasize the improvement of digital competence, while in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Macedonia, and Montenegro, more attention is paid to the construction of ICT infrastructure (Table 19.11).

Table 19.11 ICT in education related policies and strategies

19.6 ICT Financing Resource

For some European Union (EU) member states, such as Estonia, Hungary, Serbia, and Poland, financial assistance from EU is the most important and largest funding resource for the development of ICT. Over half of EU funding for the construction of ICT is issued through European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), since network is a priority area in structured finance. Besides, European Social Fund (ESF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), as well as European Investment Bank (EIB), also have played a crucial role in investing in education infrastructure in Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovak.

Additionally, Ministry of Education and the National Budgets of each country are the main resources for the application of ICT in education. In Czech, ICT projects are generally supported by public budgets and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. While in certain countries, there are some special sources of funding. For example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its ICT in education is mostly financed by public funds of the entities, cantonal, district of Brčko, and the municipal budgets, partly financed by local ministries or private institutions. In Bulgaria, financing support from America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF) has largely promoted the development of ICT. In Montenegro, World Bank is of great significance in investing projects for higher education, research and competitiveness.