ABSTRACT
Summary: The author examines the lessons learned from developments in recent years in the uses of information and communication technology in schools in the UK. He outlines the achievements of the national Microelectronics Education Programme, but does not see government support as motivated by educational considerations alone.
Grassroots movements, particularly the demand from the primary sector, have helped to develop an awareness of the importance of content-free or ‘tool’ software. A framework for analysis of the educational potential of such software is provided, but there are also wider perspectives, drawing upon technologies such as electronic mail, video storage and satellite transmission. As yet, we are only at the beginning of potential change, and we must anticipate major re-orientations in our thinking about the teacher-learner relationship and about the institutional structures of education.
