Teachers aged 46-55 years old are most frequent internet users

Teachers aged 46-55 years old are most frequent internet users, while teachers under 25 years old are least frequent users.

These findings were released today from a survey conducted by the industry-led website Teachtoday to investigate teachers’ use of online technology in class and better help them tackle related risks.

More than 500 teachers responded online to one of the six language versions available, challenging some commonly held myths in the process.

It appears that younger teachers are less frequent internet users because they mostly work with pre-school and primary school groups and do not feel the need to use new digital technologies for their work. Less computer equipment is often available and less emphasis is placed on new technologies in the curriculum of the schools in many countries.

Nevertheless, 72% of respondents use the internet every day, regardless of their location or type of connection. Another highlight in the findings is that 96% of responding teachers use a digital tool in class: 24% of teachers use interactive white boards, 22% virtual learning platforms and 19% services such as Google Maps and Skype during the lesson, or run a class/school blog.

In addition, teachers surveyed believe that children’s online safety is a responsibility that they need to assume: almost 95% of teachers consider that educating students about the safe and responsible use of technology is part of their responsibility, while less than 5% partially disagree or do not agree at all with this statement.

However, in one in three schools online safety is not a priority. Identity theft rated highest amongst teachers’ concerns (top concern for 63%), not surprisingly followed by their fear of pupils taking photos in class and disseminating them online (46%).

The survey results show that www.teachtoday.eu is clearly a website that provides important information and tools for teachers, encouraging them to build on their colleagues’ experience in using digital technologies in the classroom and dealing with a variety of online threats.

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Anna van Densky

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