Measuring the impact of technology donations

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St Johns Park High School

St John’s Park High School is located in Fairfield LGA, NSW. The LGA is

considered as one of the most disadvantaged in NSW, ranking the 4th most

disadvantaged in the state 1. As a result, it is unsurprising that St John’s Park High

School serves a low socio-economic community, with 63% of students being

recorded within the lowest quartile of socio-educational advantage2.

A key contributor to Fairfield’s heightened disadvantage is the proportion of low

income households. Approximately 23.5% of Fairfield households are classified

as low income, in comparison to the NSW average of 19.7%1.

In addition, Fairfield residents often do not have equitable access to ICTs that

would benefit education, with the LGA recording an ADII score of 693. This is

further highlighted by 22.2% of households not having access to the internet1.

These trends are reflected in the school’s survey results, with 60% of laptop

recipients surveyed indicating that they do not have access to reliable internet at

home or their place of study.

36

Survey 1

Respondents

36

Laptops

Distributed

28

Survey 2

Respondents

As a result, it is clear that lack of internet access is a key barrier for St Johns Park

High School students. Similarly, access to a computer is another barrier for

students at this school, with 75% indicating they do not have access to a

computer after school hours. These results have led to 86% of the students

surveyed claiming that they frequently, often or occasionally have difficulty

completing school work.

After a 9 month period since receiving the laptops, 96% of students indicated that

the laptop has supported them in their school work, with 86% of students

indicating they saw an improvement in their grades that they believe can be

attributed to their new laptop.

Specific skills students feel their new computer has helped them develop include

71% in basic operational, 46% in digital communication.

In addition, students on average rated themselves a 3.4 out of 5 for their

confidence level in the ability to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with

their laptop. Students rated themselves 4.1 out of 5 in their overall confidence in

using a computer. This indicates that there is further work needed to be done to

support students in their digital ability.

OVERVIEW

1.

Profile.id, 2021, Fairfield City, Home | Fairfield City | Community profile (id.com.au)

2.

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2022, St Johns Park High School, Home | My School

3.

ADII, 2021, The national picture, The national picture (digitalinclusionindex.org.au)

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