Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development THE STATUS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR COMPULSORY EDUCATION Marina Štibrić Branislava Baranović

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Knowledge based society and ICT innovations in ICT, networking and rapid expansion of the Internet - key factors of transformation into knowledge society ICT - a ground for effective usage and exchange of information and knowledge ICT - one of the key contemporary educational requirements

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Digital competence one of the key competencies necessary for work and life in the knowledge society in The European Key Competences Framework involves knowledge and skills in ICT, attitudes towards available information and a responsible use of the interactive media

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November ICT and compulsory education introduction of ICT into compulsory education was one of the most complex curricular innovations ICT - a significant part of transforming the teaching and learning process an agreement about the necessity of introducing and developing ICT in curriculum, but different countries have found different solutions

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November The Status of ICT in National Curriculum for Compulsory Education – the research results

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Research methodology aim: to find out what is the current status of ICT in compulsory education an analysis of national curricula in 16 countries ways of conceptualizing ICT in each country of the sample were compared to each other, and with the current situation in Croatia

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Research methodology criteria for choosing the countries: - members of EU - their educational heritage - achievements of their students in international comparative evaluations the status of ICT: - isolated as a separate subject - ICT taught as a part of a few different subjects - ICT as a cross-curricular area

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Finland, Sweden and Norway broad curriculum frameworks, with ICT being taught within mandatory subjects Norway - subject Art and Crafts –has the least ICT related content Sweden – subjects Crafts, and Technology Finland - subject Crafts, and cross-curricular themes Media skills and communication, and Technology and the individual

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Scotland, Ireland, England, Canada (Alberta), Australia (New South Wales) and New Zealand both national curriculum frameworks and a subject curriculum content of each subject and area is mandatory Scotland – cross-curricular area Environmental studies, and later a separate subject ICT Ireland – subjects Technology, and Technical drawing; cross-curricular areas Social, environmental and scientific education, and Art; ICT is a tool for teaching Science and Arts

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Scotland, Ireland, England, Canada (Alberta), Australia (New South Wales) and New Zealand England - interdisciplinary areas ICT, and Design and technology Alberta – subject ICT whose program of studies is structured as a ‘curriculum within a curriculum’, and it is infused within core subjects of English Language; Arts; Math; Science; and Social Studies

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Scotland, Ireland, England, Canada (Alberta), Australia (New South Wales) and New Zealand New South Wales - key learning area Science and technology, later Technological and applied studies, with a mandatory subject Technology; - connected with elective subjects Information and software technology; Design and technology, and Graphics technology

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Scotland, Ireland, England, Canada (Alberta), Australia (New South Wales) and New Zealand New Zealand - essential learning area Technology which has application to all subjects of the curriculum, but some make a particular contribution to learning in technology, such as Science; Mathematics; Home economics, Social studies, Workshop technology; Music; Art; Graphics and design, and The study of information systems

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Singapore ICT is separated into (mandatory) subject curricula Austria – subjects Technical education, and Technical education, textile education –Technical education contributes to each of the 5 educational areas: Man and society; Nature and technology; Language and communication; Creativity and shaping; and Health and exercise Hungary – subjects Technology and the way of living, and ICT

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Singapore Slovenia – cross-curricular area Information literacy; mandatory subjects Perceiving environment, and later Science and technology; Technics and technology, and elective subjects Robotics and technics; Electronics with robotics, and Electro technology Singapore – mandatory subjects Mathematics, and later Design and technology - in technical stream: Computer Applications; Technical studies; and elective subject Computing

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November The Netherlands, and USA (New York) flexible curriculum that has a high degree of decentralization the Netherlands - learning areas Technology, and Drawing, art and crafts New York - a curriculum based on the national learning standards –area Mathematics, science and technology which includes Standard 2 - Information systems, and Standard 5 - Technology with a Computer technology as its integral part

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Situation in Croatia a tradition of a centralized prescriptive subject based curriculum consisted of teaching programs for each subject between 5 th and 8 th grade - mandatory subject Technical culture - elective subject Information science a possibility for extra-curricular activity in the area of Information science in the first 4 grades

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Situation in Croatia in the curriculum for compulsory school it is recommended that while teaching the elective subject Information science, teachers should encourage the use of ICT in other subjects by planning to bring the focus on outcomes and to introduce ICT as a cross-curricular area, Croatian curriculum is coming closer to the world standards in education

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Conclusions most of the countries have national curriculum framework which serves as a base for developing detailed school curriculum Croatia still has fragmented subject based national curriculum Croatian curriculum still isn’t oriented towards learning outcomes as in most of the analyzed countries

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Conclusions using ICT through the curriculum is an example of the way to acquire digital competence even though approach to planning and curriculum control differs among countries, ICT is recognized as an important segment of education in all of the countries

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Conclusions while in some national curricula ICT is being taught as a separate subject, in other curricula it is a part of a few different subjects or a cross-curricular area acquisition of knowledge and skills is fundamental, but more and more countries are recognizing the advantage of using ICT in teaching other subjects

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Recommendations ICT should be included in national curricula as a compulsory cross-curricular area it can also be retained as a separate subject in the constantly changing environment there is a need to possess knowledge and skills, but also attitudes concerning ICT every curriculum should emphasize the digital competence

Institute for Social Research - Zagreb Centre for Educational Research and Development November Recommendations to elaborate the status of ICT in curriculum of every system to ensure adequate infrastructure and Internet access in every school to provide network and multimedia materials to develop teachers’ skills in using ICT teachers ought to be given support in getting those skills in order to fully exercise potential that ICT has in making learning easier