ICT in primary education

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ICT in primary education
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Introduction

• The evolution towards an information society
  marks a new step in the history of civilization
  and it always brings profound and fast changes in
  all the fields of social and economic life. These
  changes accelerate globalization but at the same
  time they cause an increasing divide.
• The information society (IS) represents an
  economy and a society in which the collection,
  storage, processing, transmission and the use of
  knowledge and information, using electronic means
  including interactive communication techniques
  play a very important role.
• The information society represents a new
  life-style and work-style, a new way of working
  in the economy and the development of a new
  society, a new era in the human civilization.

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• Information society has begun to shape itself
  once the information and communication
  technologies (ICTs) started to increase
  exponentially and so did the use of these
  technologies.
• Education has to be therefore continuously
  preoccupied to create information handling skills
  and abilities amongst the pupils, students and
  teachers, so that they have a better quality of
  life and a better civilization standard in the
  Romanian society through equal access to the
  national and global information resources.
• The actions undertaken in education have to
  belooked at as part of a new and complex policy
  of developing and valuing human resources, from
  the point of view of the information society and
  the knowledge based economy.

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• Taking into consideration the ideas mentioned
  above, the educational reform in Romania has
  looked at the introduction of Information and
  Communications Technologies in more than one
  direction, ensuring that there is a legal
  environment that would allow changes in the
  national curriculum for university and
  pre-university education, the initial and
  in-service training of teachers, open education
  and distance learning, post-graduate courses in
  informatics, attracting private sector and civil
  society in the process of equipping schools and
  training teachers, informing the informational
  system of the national education and the
  extension of the communications network
  RoEduNet.

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• The Ministry of National Education has adopted
  and approved the Programme for the Implementing
  of Information and Communications Technologies in
  pre-university education (www.edu.ro/prtinf.htm)
  which is part of the National Informatisation
  Strategy and the Implementing in an Accelerated
  Rhythm of the Information Society approved by the
  Romanian Government under Decree no 58 of
  02.02.1998.
• The general objectives of the project are to
  support the reform in the pre-university
  education through ensuring a good technical and
  informational environment, the creation of the
  necessary infrastructure for communication and
  documentation at the educational level, the
  training of the teachers and auxiliary staff in
  schools so that they have the skills to use
  modern information systems, the development of
  educational materials (software) according to the
  new curriculum.
• The financial support for this project has not
  been yet identified, but some of the objectives
  have been achieved or are currently under work. 

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Information and Communication Technology in
national curriculum

• Informatics represents a tradition in Romanian
  education. Before the introduction of the new
  curriculum plan, informatics was studied in high
  schools or in special classes.
• The new curriculum plan of pre-university
  education brings along the development of
  Informatics through the introduction of the
  following subjects Informatics for the
  mathematics-informatics special classes
  (compulsory), Information Technology in lower
  secondary (optional) and in theoretical and
  vocational high schools (compulsory),
  Informatics Computer Assisted Technologies for
  technological high schools (compulsory) and the
  Technology of Information Processing and Applied
  Informatics for vocational high
  schools(compulsory) (Minister's Order no
  3207/03.02.1999, 3420/12.03.1999,
  3540/02.04.1999, 3788/10.05.1999,
  3879/26.05.1999, 5086/15.12.1999)

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• The general objectives set in the study of the
  subjects mentioned above were related with those
  of other European countries developing
  capabilities to use a computer system and a range
  of well-known software, making some applications
  using certain algorithms,developing communication
  skills in an active individual or team
  environment, using information sources and
  processing means in order to access, process,
  present and understand information, technological
  development and its implications on environment
  and society.
• From the content point of view the subjects
  mentioned are related to other subjects from a
  series of European countries the role and
  functions of computer systems, the main functions
  of an operating system, word processing, design
  packages, spreadsheets, Internet and additional
  services, algorithms, basic elements of
  programming languages, practical applications,
  informatics and its impact on society.
• The new curriculum plan for the pre-university
  education allows some extra-curricular classes
  where Information and Communications Technologies
  can be used.

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• In universities, the system has mainly kept the
  Informatics as it was, but there are a few new
  subjects in connection to ICT in different
  faculties and their departments.
• In the next few years, universities will have to
  be prepared for the new profound changes that
  seem to be approaching on global level
  (multimedia techniques and the virtual
  university).
• This way, we will insure extensive training in
  the use of computers, of the Internet and in
  general informatics of the young generation from
  the university and pre-university education.

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The informatisation of the informational system
of the national education

• Within the Reform Programme of the Pre-university
  education, Management and Finance Component, and
  again through its sub-component of Informational
  System of Pre-university Management, some clear
  objectives can be pointed out the modernization
  and extension of the informational educational
  management system and its informatization,
  improving quantity and quality of the use of
  information regarding education form its decision
  making level for medium and long term planning.
  This programme has been funded through the World
  Bank and aimed at creating a good information
  infrastructure by providing equipment and
  software to the 42 School Inspectorates and to
  the Ministry of National Education.
• The university education has access to
  international funding through the PHARE programme
  HER9601 for improving university management.

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The RoEduNet communications network

• RoEduNet is a communications infrastructure that
  comprises data of national interest, defined and
  developed within the national education system.
• The data communications infrastructure RoEduNet
  is opened to all non-profit organizations, with
  legal Romanian status, that develop educational,
  research and/or cultural activities.
• ICD ReduNet is in charge with the National
  Ministry of Education strategy in the
  communications field and provides information to
  all institutions in the national education system.

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• The connecting of schools of the education system
  to this large and comprising network ensures
• access to scientific/educational information
  available on the Internet
• access to the necessary applications needed in an
  education based on multimedia technologies
• the development of open and distance learning
• structured and clear dissemination of the
  necessary information needed for the system to
  function
• the functioning of applications that the
  managerial and decision making process as a
  whole, access of information on both ways, from
  the centre to the last school and the other way
  around
• a good integration with the other educational
  institutions of the public administration system
  on specific information flows
• distance access of citizens (parents, pupils,
  students, etc) to public information offered by
  the system.