Some national and regional frameworks for integrating information and communication technology into school education

Integration of information and communication technology (ICT) has become a priority in national educational policies worldwide. Meaningful integration requires a number of pre-conditions such as economic opportunity, political will, availability of suitable equipment, support infrastructures, professional development and others. Meanwhile, schools are computer-deserts compared to homes and work-places in Australia as elsewhere (Moursund & Bielefeldt, 1999, p 5). The author examined the dichotomy between school-based educational computing and the potential of home computers for learning by interviewing ICT policy-makers in several countries. Policy for ICT in education has generally been justified by reference to expected economic benefits, either by improving the efficiency of education or by more adequate preparation of students for the world of work. The implementation of cross-curriculum ICT frameworks in England, the USA, Canada and Australia has taken a variety of different, and yet similar, paths. The broader perspective reveals a commonality of three distinct phases for computers in education. Most countries are concentrating on the second of these phases, but there appears to be much activity leading to the third phase in which the home computer could be a crucial ingredient. This paper concludes by discussing national progress towards a third phase of educational computing in terms of apparent readiness and current initiatives.