40% of teachers report having helped students deal with problems that occurred while using the Internet, survey by Cetic.br indicates

Assistance was provided in cases of bullying, discrimination, harassment, and dissemination of images without consent, reveal unpublished data from the ICT Education 2017

The ICT Education 2017 Survey reveals, for the first time, that 40% of teachers in schools located in urban areas have already helped a student deal with uncomfortable situations that occurred while using the Internet, such as bullying, discrimination, harassment, and dissemination of images without consent. This indicator began to be collected in the 8th edition of the survey, released this Wednesday (22/8) by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) through the Center for Studies on Information and Communication Technology (Cetic.br) of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br).

The percentage of teachers who reported having assisted students in these situations is similar between professionals from public schools (39%) and private ones (44%), with emphasis among those teaching 5th-grade (41%) and 9th-grade (44%) elementary school classes, as well as younger teachers aged 31 to 45 years (45%).

Regarding actions promoted by the school, a large portion of pedagogical coordinators – 76% from public schools and 96% from private schools – stated that the institutions promoted guidance activities for students to face such situations. However, only 18% of public schools and 41% of private schools held lectures, debates, or courses on responsible Internet use in the last 12 months. "This result may indicate that discussions on safe, conscious, and responsible Internet use are treated sporadically at school and have not yet been regularly incorporated into the curriculum and extracurricular activities," evaluates Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

Use of computers and the Internet in urban area schools

The ICT Education 2017 shows that the use of computers and the Internet for school tasks is widespread among students, especially for surveys and assignments. On the other hand, data on the place of access show that less than half of the students use the Internet at school. "It is clear that a large part of these activities is carried out outside the school environment, as only 37% of public school students and 50% of private school students who are Internet users cite the school as a place to access the network," emphasizes Barbosa.

Among teachers, the study shows that the use of information and communication technologies in the teaching and learning process is not yet fully widespread: requesting exercises, for instance, using the computer and Internet, is an activity performed by 40% of Internet-using teachers.

Among the activities carried out by teachers, encouraging the creation of games and applications (2%), or even websites and pages on the Internet (3%), are little mentioned. The survey also points to a significant difference in the performance of these activities by public and private school teachers, especially concerning interaction with students via the Internet – only 36% of public school teachers answered questions online, while among private school teachers, this proportion is 66%.

Internet access in rural area schools

For the first time, ICT Education started to collect data from schools located in rural areas. The results show that only 36% of them had at least one computer with Internet access, a percentage that varies between regions: in the South, 81% of rural schools have at least one connected computer, while in the North region the percentage is only 18%.

The speed of Internet connection remains one of the major challenges to the use of technologies by the entire school community in rural areas: 61% of the schools connected to the Internet have speeds of up to 2Mbps, with 16% reporting speeds lower than 1Mbps. Among the schools with Internet access, 46% allow the school's computers and Internet to be used by the community living nearby or by the students' families. "It is observed that this percentage is higher precisely in regions with the greatest limitations to home connectivity, as is the case of the North region. In these locations, the school presents itself as a central space for digital inclusion," emphasizes Barbosa.

Among institutions that do not use the Internet, the lack of network access infrastructure in the region is the reason pointed out by 48% of directors or responsible parties. Another recurring reason is the high cost of connection, cited by 28% of directors or responsible parties.

About the survey

Conducted annually since 2010, the ICT Education investigates the access, use, and appropriation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Brazilian public and private elementary and high schools, focusing on the use of these resources by the school community and in management, teaching, and learning activities.

Data collection in schools located in urban areas occurred between August and December 2017. 957 directors were interviewed in person, who also answered for the conditions of infrastructure and use of ICT in the school; 909 pedagogical coordinators; 1,810 Portuguese Language, Mathematics teachers, and those teaching multiple disciplines (initial years of elementary school); 10,866 5th and 9th-grade elementary and 2nd-year high school students. Starting in 2017, the ICT Education survey began collecting data related to schools located in rural areas. 1,481 directors or school officials were interviewed by phone and in person.

To access the ICT Education 2017 in full, as well as review the historical series, visit https://cetic.br/. Compare the evolution of indicators through the available data visualization at: https://data.cetic.br/cetic/explore?idPesquisa=TIC_EDU.

About Cetic.br

The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, of NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, disclosing periodic analyses and information on the development of the network in the Country. Cetic.br is a Regional Study Center, under the auspices of UNESCO. More information at https://www.cetic.br/.

About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br

The Brazilian Network Information Center — NIC.br (https://www.nic.br/) is a private civil entity, non-profit, which besides implementing the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, has among its attributions: coordinating the domain name registration — Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/), studying, responding to, and handling security incidents in Brazil — CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/), studying and researching network and operation technologies — Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/), producing indicators on information and communication technologies — Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/), implementing and operating Traffic Exchange Points — IX.br (https://ix.br/), enabling the participation of the Brazilian community in the global development of the Web and supporting policy formulation — Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br), and hosting the W3C office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee is responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinating and integrating all Internet service initiatives in the Country, promoting technical quality, innovation, and dissemination of offered services. Based on the principles of multisectorality and transparency, CGI.br represents a democratic Internet governance model, internationally praised, in which all sectors of society equally participate in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://www.cgi.br/principios). More information at https://www.cgi.br/.

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