Gender and Territorial Gaps in the Digital Competences of Young Italian Students: The Results of IEA-ICILS

With the pervasive integration of digital tools and platforms in both formal and informal learning environments, proficiency in navigating and utilizing technology has emerged as a fundamental requirement for students to thrive academically and professionally. In this work, we focused on the results of the large-scale survey International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) conducted in 2018 on four continents by IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) on digital skills at the end of the first cycle of compulsory education (grade 8). We analysed the performance along the entire proficiency distribution. The results show that most Italian students possess only basic level of digital competences, and the differences are more evident in the South Italy. Also, girls outperform boys, and this is especially true for the lowest quantiles of the score distribution.