The Information Society--A Challenge for Education Policies? Policy Options and Implementation Strategies.

Intended to clarify the nature of the curriculum debate and to indicate the issues that need to be considered when formulating curriculum policy, this paper begins with a review of the educational reasons for using the New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) and the thinking and experiences which lie behind them. Ways in which the existing educational infrastructure may be adapted to introduce the NICT are suggested, as well as some benefits of an NICT enhanced education, including the effective achievement of existing goals by computer-assisted learning, the development of information-handling and communication skills or prevocational skills in computer science and technical graphics, and the production of media by the students. A discussion of problems encountered when computers are introduced into the classroom is followed by consideration of the school-level policy and management issues involved in the implementation of such programs. The paper concludes with an examination of national policies for introducing computers into education with a special focus on software development and teacher training. The 105-item bibliography includes some materials in German. (MAB)