Glimpses of educational transformation: Making choices at a turning point

Abstract

This paper is based on the study of four separate evaluations of the implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies in schools in England during 1998-2002. The education system was in transition with new equipment coming into schools and patterns of computer use changing radically as a result of the Internet and school intranets. The most significant impact appeared to result from children's extended access to computers in the home. Children were using ICT in exploratory and innovative ways for leisure activities through which they were rapidly acquiring advanced skills. They also had the kind of sophisticated understanding of the role of computers in today's world that is a necessary condition of being able to envisage possible ways of using ICT for maximum benefit. The paper comes to the conclusion that a more radical approach to re-structuring the education system is necessary. © 2003 by Springer Science+Business Media New York.