ICT in Schools: A Boon or a Burden? A systematic literature review

We provide a systematic literature review on the role of Information and Com- munication Technologies (ICT) in schools, focusing on empirical studies that exploit International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) in European compulsory education. As ICT have become integral to students’ everyday communication, information access, and learning activities, understanding their relationship with students’ ex- perience and competences is essential. We examine the extent to which educational results in compulsory schooling hold across countries using evidence from 112 ILSA- based empirical studies. Despite the heterogeneity of the evidence, recurrent pat- terns can be identified. Firstly, it is evident that the mere availability of ICT cannot be considered a differential factor in the context of European countries. Secondly, the frequency of ICT use is of greater significance than its mere utilisation. The payoff to ICT use have been shown to exhibit a tendency for decreasing returns, often following an inverted-U shape. Thirdly, there is a clear positive relationship between students’ ICT engagement and ICT use.