Internet Access in Secondary Schools and Perseverance in Academic Work: Norway/Sweden Versus Finland

Perseverance in academic work is required to do well in secondary schools. However, the introduction of Internet in class can debilitate students´ concentration. Finnish students outperform their Norwegian and Swedish counterparts in PISA. This article explores statistical associations between time spent online at school and distinct quality aspects of teaching, and student perseverance in Finland versus Norway/Sweden via structural equation modelling. In contrast to Norway/Sweden, class time spent online in Finland is unrelated to students’ perceived conflict between school and net. In Norway/Sweden positive associations between quality aspects of teaching and student perseverance depend on students´ school attitudes. In Finland there are also direct associations. Finnish teachers teach and use Internet in ways that promote academic perseverance.