The final report of the IT Fitness Test 2021 can be downloaded HERE

Compared to last year, the results of the biggest testing of digital skills in Slovakia are worse. The authors attribute this to a higher number of respondents and schools involved in the testing.

27 436 respondents (in 2020 13,649) completed the test version for secondary schools and universities during the certified testing, with an average success rate of 40.18 % (2020-61.65 %). Teachers and teachers had a slightly better success rate, reaching 52.23 %. Students from 535 schools (2020-376 schools) participated in the test for respondents older than 15 years.

16 698 respondents (2020-7 246) completed the test version for primary schools during the certified testing. The average success rate of investigators aged 7-16 is 39.99 % (2020-64.98 %), reaching 36.72 % in the age group 7-13. The test sample of teachers and teachers had a better success rate — 57.61 %. 790 schools (2020-445 schools) participated in testing for Elementary Schools with pupils aged 7-16.

According to the authors of the IT Fitness Test 2021, who summarised their findings in the final report, it appears that in better-performing schools, the reduction in success rate is less highlite than last year. In schools with worse results, the differences are more pronounced. More active schools with learning process focused on IT perform better in testing.

From the history of past years, there is a clear trend that with a dramatic increase in number of respondents, the average success rate decreases. This is confirmed by this year’s results if we compare them with 2020. Among other factors, the authors also attribute this to the fact that a much higher number of schools with no experience with the IT Fitness Test have been involved in this year’s testing.

The deterioration of results is evident in basic IT skills and knowledge, but also in their connection with practice. According to the authors of the test, schools should focus more on the practical application of teoretical knowledge in several fields. Educators should assign tasks and projects to students, in which they must carry out activities requiring higher cognitive operations. When dealing with tasks, pupils and students should be more creative, and the problems should be analysed more thoroughly.

The authors of the report note that there is still a need to focus on developing critical thinking, evaluating information and assessing its quality, credibility and truthfulness. It appears that pupils have little practical experience and also that they have little understanding of the structure of the text document. They also have reserves in working with interactive graphs, understanding the displayed information and finding information according to the specified criteria.

According to the test authors, a number of factors are behind the downgrading of IT skills and may have manifested themselves to a different degree in each school. For example, during distance learning in some schools, there was a lack of teaching of computer science or was appried an inappropriate form.

In 2022, the IT Fitness Test again has a number of novelties ahead of it. The biggest is the export of this successful project beyond the borders of Slovakia, namely to Visegrad group countries. Thanks to the support from the Visegrad Fund and the cooperation of the national IT associations of the countries of the Visegrad Group, the test will be available in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. At the same time, English language mutation is being prepared for IT Fitness Test 2022 (V4).