A couple of months ago, the results of the third ICILS study were published. ICILS is a large international quantitative study that examines certain aspects of eighth grade students’ technology comprehension by solving tasks and answering questionnaires. We have analyzed the Danish results, and again, as was also the case when the survey was conducted in 2018, there are significant differences between girls’ and boys’ attitudes and skills in this area.
All Children Should Learn to Understand Digital Technologies
Based on the Danish results from 2018, we have previously argued that it is a democratic problem that women do not want a future within ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)*, and that this is rooted in a culture and ideas that are already created when children are young. This is further explored in the article behind the results here, arguing that ICT plays a powerful role and affects all our lives and that everyone should therefore learn to understand digital technologies.
ICILS measures quantitatively, but the study does not provide any insight into why the differences exist. In order to understand the results in more depth, we decided to discuss them with the ones it is all about: the young people.
Specifically, we interviewed 44 Danish eighth graders in six focus groups based on three different findings from 2018: On average, boys use ICT for more technical things than girls. More boys than girls are interested in a future within ICT. And girls have on average lower confidence in their own ICT skills – despite the fact that on average they actually perform significantly better than boys in the computer and information literacy part of the survey and equally good in the computational thinking part of the survey.
The questions regarding ICT use have not been asked in 2023, but the other results have now been repeated in 2023.
ICT is About Gaming and Programming
We have written in-depth about the analysis and results in this article, but overall, several of the participating students see ICT jobs as something that involves sitting in front of a computer and programming.
For example, one student says: “But when I read about a future in ICT, I think I’ll be part of some kind of Coding Pirates or something we’ve learnt about before, and that wouldn’t be a very cool future for me.” Later, the same student reflects on the fact that it is a culturally constructed idea: “And ICT in movies and stuff, it’s always just someone sitting at a computer and like, ‘Let me hack, blah blah blah.’ […] ICT has somehow also become a bit of a joke that it’s some kind of nerd with glasses who sits and hacks something …”
Moreover, some believe that the differences in ICT use and confidence in their own abilities are also caused by more boys than girls playing computer games. One says: “I think it’s also because a lot of boys play computer games.” And another reflects that: “They [the boys] know a lot of shortcuts because that’s what they do. Of course, there are also girls who play, but it’s a stereotype that many boys play […]”
Do the students think this is a problem?
However, the fact that more boys than girls are interested in a future within ICT is not seen as a problem by all students. For example, they mention that girls should not be forced to like ICT, that they should be allowed to freely decide and that there is nothing wrong with this difference – it does not harm society. One student says: “Well, if there are many girls who don’t want to do it, then they should just be allowed to do what they want to do, and then the boys can do what they want to do.”
In other words, students are not aware of or concerned about the consequences that a limited understanding of technology can have for themselves and society – they see it as the right to choose, which of course is a sympathetic view, but that is not what we see is the issue in this case. Rather, we find that the culture we have created as a society limits the individual’s free choice. As a society, we have taught children that ICT is a subject area for boys.
Other students, however, reflect that it should change. They argue, for example, that it may be harder for women to get ICT jobs. One student states: “But then [if it is not changed] it can be difficult for a woman to get a job in the ICT industry, for example, if the norm is that it’s more likely for men to have such jobs. So it would be very cool to perhaps equalize …”
School Plays a Key Role
If stereotypes are to be changed, students are quite clear that school plays a key role. One student says: “If you have lessons about it, a little more in-depth.” And another: “For example, having a subject in school where you get an understanding of ICT, so you know what it’s really about.” A third points out that: “ICT is not just one thing, because I feel that in all the attempts that schools in particular make to attract us to ICT, it’s with coding, and, and I think that’s probably the most boring part of ICT, and it is a really broad area. So if we also get to see a few more sides of it, I think it offers a lot more possibilities […]”
Therefore, it is also worrying that technology comprehension is only becoming an elective subject and an integrated part of other subjects in Danish compulsory education. That it will not become a subject for everyone. With the gender differences of interest reflected in ICILS, it is reasonable to assume that more boys than girls will choose such a subject, which will not solve the problem, but perhaps even reinforce ICT as a stereotypical subject for boys.
Co-author: Jeppe Bundsgaard
*The international study uses the term ICT (information and communication technologies), and therefore we have used this term here. In the interviews, however, we have used IT (information technologies) because this is the term we see most commonly used in Denmark.
Translated with help from DeepL.com (free version)
