67,000 Participants Complete 3rd IT Fitness Test in Czechia
67,000 Participants Complete 3rd IT Fitness Test in Czechia
November 19, 2024, Prague – The comprehensive test of digital competences IT Fitness Test 2024 for pupils, students and teachers once again reached a large number of people. In the Czech Republic, a total of 83,156 people took part in the test during its third year, with 67,610 respondents successfully completing the test. Across the Visegrad Four countries where the test was conducted, a total of 183 750 respondents took part and 148 293 completed the test. There was a difference of more than 20 percentage points between the results of secondary school and vocational secondary school students.
This follows from the first results of the IT Fitness Test, which were presented today by representatives of the Association for Applied Research in IT – AAVIT, J. Hanzal, M. Čermák and N. Benedicty at a press briefing. Detailed results will be presented at a panel discussion to be held by AAVIT in early 2025.
This year’s event in the Czech Republic is hosted by the Association for Applied Research in IT – AAVIT with the contribution of the volunteer community Česko.Digital. The national testing partner for 2024 was Google for Education. Other partners of the initiative are Alza, Eset, ÁMOS vision and the UčiteléUčitelům initiative.
The IT Fitness Test project is the most comprehensive free online digital skills test in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The main goal of the project is to measure digital literacy and to get a true picture of the level of IT skills of the tested respondents, both pupils and students and IT teachers.
The host of the initiative for the Czech Republic this year was the Association for Applied Research in IT (AAVIT). “We are extremely pleased to have been able to repeat the excellent numbers tested last year. As an association that fights for the interests of the digital economy, we are clearly aware of the importance of digital competences for building it. The bar of minimum digital skills, necessary not only for functioning in the labour market but in society in general, will be continuously raised,” says Jaromír Hanzal, Director of AAVIT.
“We are extremely pleased with the feedback from Czech teachers on the testing, which is overwhelmingly positive. This year’s test is quite different from last year’s. It is more difficult and there are new questions testing the ability to use artificial intelligence in practice. Therefore, the success rate of Czech pupils and students has decreased compared to last year. However, this phenomenon can be observed in all four countries where the testing took place,” added Nicole Benedicty, Project Director of the IT Fitness Test in the Czech Republic.
30,510 primary school pupils and 32,902 secondary and university students completed the testing. The average pass rate for the primary school version of the test was 47%, while the average pass rate for students who took the secondary school and university versions was 39%.
In total, 1,091 primary schools and 666 secondary schools participated in the testing. As in the previous year, Prague was the best in the combined assessment of both tests, while the Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem regions were the worst.
The following partners have again taken over the professional patronage of the project for this year: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic and also the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic for Digitalization and Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš.
Lack of digital competences is a long-standing problem for Czech companies. “We often hear from our members that even people from the younger generation who are entering the labour market are unable to operate, for example, modern digital machines. For workers from the older generation, the problem is often that they are more difficult to keep up with the increasing demands for digital competences. That is why we welcomed the IT Fitness Test initiative, as it has helped to map the current situation and provide solutions,” says Ondřej Ferdus, Director of the Digital Economy and Technology Section of the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic.
The IT Fitness Test is originally a Slovak initiative that started in 2011. “The development of digital skills and computer and information literacy is one of the fundamental objectives of the European Union in the Digital Decade 2030 plan. An important tool in this direction is coordinated international cooperation, which is exemplified by the testing of digital skills of pupils and teachers IT Fitness Test in the Visegrad Group countries. Young people need to learn how to work responsibly with digital technologies, which will help them in the labour market, where digital skills are now an absolute necessity and 90 per cent of all professions cannot do without them. In the National Coalition for Digital Skills and Professions of the Slovak Republic, the organiser of the testing, we are very proud that with the help of partners we have managed to test 355 thousand pupils over the last three years and to show pupils and teachers that digital skills are a complex issue, they are constantly evolving and it is necessary to be constantly educated in this area,” said Mário Lelovský, chairman of the National Coalition for Digital Skills and Professions of the Slovak Republic (Digital Coalition), on the occasion of the IT Fitness Test.
“As a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions, ESET has long been dedicated to education and prevention of cyber threats. We see education as the key to a safer digital world. Our partnership in the IT Fitness Test project allows us to monitor the level of knowledge not only in the area of personal data and device protection, but also to highlight new challenges brought by modern technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Based on the results of this year’s IT Fitness Test, we saw a decrease in our overall security scores, highlighting the importance of educating users across all age categories. Our goal is to support users to be able to use new technologies, including AI tools, safely and effectively so they are prepared for the pitfalls of the digital world.”
Ing. Vítězslav Pelc, Senior PR Manager ESET Czech Republic
This year’s edition of the IT Fitness Test was also commented by principals and teachers of primary and secondary schools:
“Our school has many teachers who are interested in news in the field of digitalization. Last week, we had a whole class take a course on AI in education. There is certainly a need to keep up with the fast pace of today. We want to give our students everything that children from big cities know. That’s why we – teachers – have to keep learning. The IT Fitness Test was a good opportunity to test our knowledge. Thank you for that.”
Mgr. Markéta Ulrychová, Director, Primary School and Kindergarten, Chvalkovice, district Náchod
“In our computer science classes, we focus on various topics, and participating in the IT Fitness competition seemed like a great opportunity to test the students knowledge in various IT areas in a short time. I wanted to see how they would cope with different tasks and where they might have room for improvement. The test provided me with useful feedback.”
Ing. Jaroslav Štěpánek, Gymnasium Kroměříž, Masarykovo nám. 496, 767 01 Kroměříž
“Participation in the IT Fitness Test is very beneficial for schools as it provides an overview of the level of digital skills of students and teachers. It is also interesting to compare the results between students and teachers. Although I did not focus 100% on my test, I still expected to be the best in our school. And I was surprised when the students in my class outperformed me. So I will have to identify my strengths and weaknesses in using digital tools not only in my students but also in myself and we will develop the necessary competences together.”
Mgr. Jaroslav Poláček, Lidická Primary School, Hrádek nad Nisou
The mapping and improvement of digital skills for the needs of the Ministry of Education and individual education actors are supported by the Digital Education pillar of the Digital Czech Republic strategy, as well as by the European strategy and legislation that are part of the Digital Decade 2030 programme. International cooperation with EU member states is also an important part of the implementation of the digital education goals.
