Low-income Students Are Less Confident In Digital Skills: Report

The students who are from low household income backgrounds are less confident in digital skills than their higher-income peers, reveals the Digital Skills and Technology In Secondary Education Survey of Capgemini. 

The global survey highlighted that when analysing secondary school students’ confidence in digital skills by their annual household income level, differences emerge between the students in the lowest and the highest income tier.

According to the report, only 38 per cent of students whose parents reported the lowest income are confident creating a presentation using charts and text (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides) compared to 52 per cent of their peers in the highest income category. Conversely, 72 per cent of low-income students say they are confident in understanding how to stop cyberbullying (e.g., not responding/retaliating, blocking, reporting) versus only 61 per cent of the high-income students in our survey.

Low-income students are less confident in leadership but more confident in creativity:

Research also highlighted one of the interesting points that students from low-income backgrounds are less confident in leadership but more confident in creativity and time management.  

Similarly, there are differences in confidence in soft skills between students in low-income and high-income households. 

The survey uncovered, 65 per cent of students with parents in the highest income tier say they are confident in leadership (i.e., taking initiative, motivating others, and leading by example) compared to 47 per cent of their peers in the lowest income tier. Conversely, 69 per cent of low-income students say they are confident in time management (i.e., managing their time effectively and balancing academic work and extracurricular activities) versus only 52 per cent of the high-income students in our survey.