New Zealand’s ICT-In-Education Development (1990–2018)

Abstract

New Zealand’s development of ICT-in-education has been something of a haphazard affair, following the ebbs and flows of political ideology and whim since digital devices first appeared en masse in schools and other educational institutions in the late 1980s. This chapter discusses how government policy from 1990–2018 has affected the attempts of New Zealand’s education institutions to effectively integrate digital technologies into curriculum, focusing on the major themes of this book, namely ICT infrastructure and resourcing, teacher professional learning and development, classroom practices and student outcomes. The chapter maps key initiatives in these areas across three distinct phases in New Zealand’s ICT-in Education development: 1990–1999, 2000–2008 and 2009–2018. Acknowledging the uniqueness of New Zealand’s education context, along with statistical information, the chapter presents illustrations of projects that detail implementation and impacts at an institution and classroom level. While generally New Zealand educational institutions are making reasonable progress in their ICT integration efforts, the effects of a past legacy of poor support, direction and decision-making lingers, with many issues and barriers to effective ICT integration in New Zealand classrooms identified nearly 30 years ago, still being present today.