Are Germans Afraid of Digitalisation? – Results of the ifo Education Barometer 2017

Digitalisation is increasingly changing and shaping our working and living environment. Does this trend tend to inspire confidence or stoke fears among Germans? How do you think the education system should prepare individuals for digital changes? What other trends can be seen in the educational policy opinions of the German population? These are the issues addressed by the ifo Education Barometer 2017, an annual representative opinion poll of over 4,000 adults in Germany. As far as digitalisation is concerned, Germans are surprisingly confident: 54% see themselves as the winners of digitalisation, versus only 16% as the losers. A relative majority is also of the opinion that, overall, there are more winners than losers from digitalisation; and that it will not tend to lead to greater inequality in the German education system. Evaluations of the time that should be spent at a computer in lessons have risen over the past two years. A far larger majority of survey participants believes that the government should equip all schools with broadband internet and WLAN, and all school pupils with computers. The majority of Germans surveyed also believes that schools should use digital communication methods to inform parents and students of test and exam results, and that digital and media skills should be taught as earlier as primary school. Germans, by contrast, are more critical of teaching digital competences in kindergarten and the use of smartphones. Another focus of this year's ifo Education Barometer is how the opinion of German citizens on education policy issues has changed since the first survey in 2014. There are upwards trends in areas like, for example, the approval of higher spending in education and nationwide final examinations. The evaluation of schools, by contrast, deteriorated slightly compared to previous years. Overall, however, Germans' opinions on educational policy have proven astonishingly stable over the last four years.