The status of information and communication competence in national curriculum for compulsory education

Changes brought by the knowledge society have pointed out the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) and made it one of the key contemporary educational requirements. Introduction of ICT into compulsory education was unavoidable, but at the same time it was one of the most complex curricular innovations. Although there is an agreement about the necessity of including and developing ICT in the curriculum, different countries have found different solutions, depending primarily on guidelines for the development of their educational systems. In order to find out the current status of ICT in compulsory education, a comparative analysis of national curricula in sixteen countries was conducted. While in some national curricula ICT is taught as a separate subject, in other curricula it is part of other subjects or is a cross-curricular area. Although the acquisition of knowledge and skills is fundamental, more and more countries are recognizing the advantage of using ICT in teaching other subjects. There is a notable approach to curriculum based on educational outcomes or competences all students should posses by the end of each program or stage of their schooling. By planning to bring the focus on outcomes and to introduce “ Information and communication technology” as a cross-curricular area, Croatian curriculum is coming closer to the world standards in education

Evaluation of the ICT Test Bed project: final report, June 2007

The report describes three strands of evaluation used in the review of the 2006 outcomes from ICT Test Bed and the findings from each strand. a) Quantitative data: Benchmarking of changes in performance on national tests against matched comparator schools and national averages; b) Qualitative data: Site visits including classroom observations, interviews with local authority managers, head teachers, teachers, administrative staff, technicians and students; and c) Document analysis