Country report - Sweden

1
Country report - Sweden

• National Action Programme for ICT in Schools
  some evaluation results
• A new national strategy för ICT in Schools
• Strategy for soft infrastructure in education
  with - some examples

2
National Action Programme for ICT in Schools

• The Delegation for ICT in Schools is responsible
  for planning and implementing the programme which
  consists of the following seven components-
  in-service training for 75,000 teachers in
  teams- a computer for participating teachers-
  state grants to improve the schools
  accessibility to the Internet- e-mail
  addresses for all teachers and pupils- support
  for developing the Swedish Schoolnet and the
  European Schoolnet- measures for pupils with
  special needs- awards for excellent pedagogical
  contributions

3
National Action Programme for ICT in Schools
Some early quantitatively and qualitative results

• Both studies also give prominence to ITiS as a
  pedagogical communication process where teachers
  acquire new knowledge in interaction with each
  other
• the work teams do not perceive it as something
  imposed from above

4
Report from the evaluation of the programme for
strengthening the schools IT infrastructure
under ITiS.

• the number of schools with connections to the
  Internet is now high. The Agencys assessment is
  that virtually all schools are connected,
• pupils and teachers in nearly all schools have
  access to e-mail in the majority of cases the
  grant has been of great importance for building
  up the school infrastructure,
• the initiative has created ripple effects to
  other segments of municipal activities,
• in overall terms, municipalities have implemented
  plans in accordance with their applications for
  grants to strengthen the schools IT
  infrastructure under the ITiS initiative.

5
A new national strategy for ICT in Schools By
2005, this IT strategy is to have contributed to
a situation where

• All students have the ability, both mentally and
  technologically, to handle large amounts of
  information and orient themselves around it
• All teachers, even newly graduated ones and
  teachers working in pre-school education, will
  have sufficient competence to use IT in
  administering, planning, communicating, and
  implementing pupils and childrens learning and
  formation of knowledge
• There is an intensified consensus and dialog
  among teachers working in teams with the same
  pupils and there are more teachers who organize
  their work around this model
• Internationalization is a more tangible and
  natural part of the everyday school routine and
  more schools participate in international
  projects and activities
• Measures to better meet the knowledge goals of
  the curriculum with the aid of learning
  components will have been intensified and a
  framework for an international exchange of
  components will have been established
• All school leaders will have sufficient skills,
  feel secure, be trustworthy, and be capable of
  taking their leadership responsibilities in
  educational and administrative IT questions
• All Swedish municipalities will have access to
  advice, recommendations, and technical support,
  exchanges of experience with other
  municipalities, and the opportunity to
  participate in joint purchasing.

6
Strategy for soft infrastructure in education

• The goal of the national strategy is to
• establish standards and recommendations for the
  field of education
• develop infostructures in the fields of raising
  the competence of all pedagogical personnel
  teaching materials/teaching components course
  and other educational information and
  educational texts
• develop hub/brokerage services in the fields of
  competence raising, the exchange of experiences,
  conference/discussion group exchange, teaching
  materials/teaching components and education
• develop tools/services, such as a national e-mail
  catalogue and a library of teaching
  materials/teaching components