School ICT resources, teachers, and online education: evidence from school closures in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary statistics – remote education practices and ICT resources.

	Elementary School		Junior High School
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Panel A: Remote education practices
Days closed (min = 0, max = 61)	24.570	10.304	24.466	10.308
Live online class (dummy)	0.081	0.273	0.089	0.285
Live online communication with family (dummy)	0.094	0.292	0.103	0.304
Panel B: ICT resources
IT skill index – Proficient	-0.016	0.975	0.016	1.025
IT skill index – Lacking	-0.200	0.757	0.200	1.160
High-speed Internet (ratio)	0.674	0.431	0.682	0.444
Wi-Fi (ratio)	0.836	0.336	0.835	0.348
Presentation device (E: min = 0, max = 3) (JH: min = 0, max = 5)	0.958	0.425	0.745	0.506
Digital instructions (ratio)	0.574	0.447	0.643	0.440
Digital textbook (ratio)	0.095	0.230	0.100	0.257
Management software (ratio)	0.765	0.392	0.771	0.399
Security policy (ratio)	0.657	0.431	0.662	0.449

Notes: N = 1,711 for Days closed and ICT resources, corresponding to 19,603 elementary and 9,113 junior high schools. N = 1,693 for online education outcomes.

Figure 1. Overtime in 2020.

Table 2. Effect of ICT resources on remote education.

	School days closed		Live online class		Live online communication
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Elementary school	0.102**	0.0942**	−0.0110	−0.0118	−0.00982	−0.00869
	(0.0384)	(0.0399)	(0.00834)	(0.00862)	(0.00710)	(0.00735)
Teachers’ IT Skill
IT skill index – Proficient	0.00461		0.000248		0.00380
	(0.0162)		(0.00494)		(0.00454)
IT skill index – Lacking		−0.0188		−0.00219		0.00373
		(0.0311)		(0.00336)		(0.00440)
School ICT Equipment
High-speed internet	−0.179*	−0.175	−0.0205	−0.0202	−0.00964	−0.0102
	(0.106)	(0.106)	(0.0250)	(0.0249)	(0.0295)	(0.0291)
Wi-Fi	−0.0427	−0.0422	0.0294*	0.0295*	0.0277	0.0276
	(0.0801)	(0.0795)	(0.0161)	(0.0160)	(0.0169)	(0.0171)
Presentation device	0.0133	0.0112	0.0209**	0.0206**	0.00623	0.00739
	(0.0410)	(0.0403)	(0.00954)	(0.00898)	(0.00951)	(0.00908)
Digital instructions	0.00673	0.00469	0.0312*	0.0310*	0.00549	0.00579
	(0.109)	(0.110)	(0.0155)	(0.0155)	(0.0136)	(0.0137)
Digital textbook	0.105	0.104	−0.0220	−0.0220	−0.0185	−0.0192
	(0.182)	(0.182)	(0.0252)	(0.0252)	(0.0215)	(0.0214)
Management software	0.0889	0.0848	−0.0102	−0.0106	−0.0170	−0.0162
	(0.0595)	(0.0605)	(0.0328)	(0.0330)	(0.0335)	(0.0341)
Security policy	−0.0814	−0.0810	−0.0117	−0.0117	0.0349	0.0358
	(0.102)	(0.101)	(0.0302)	(0.0304)	(0.0303)	(0.0307)
$N$	3,422	3,422	3,386	3,386	3,386	3,386
$R^2$	0.007	0.007	0.008	0.008	0.005	0.005

Notes: Estimation results from linear fixed effect model at BoE level. Robust standard errors clustered at BoE and prefecture level in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Figure 2. Effect of teachers’ IT skills on overtime.

Figure 3. Effect of IT skills on overtime – elementary school.

Figure 4. Effect of teachers’ IT skills on overtime – junior high school.