Information and Communication Technologies
in the Education System

Action plan for 1998-2003.

The Ministry of Education hereby publishes the combined strategies and action plans for the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the education system in the period 1998-2003. The strategy describes five central areas, where quite a number of ICT-initiatives will be implemented during the next five years. The areas are:

• The pupils and ICT
• The teachers and ICT
• The subjects and ICT
• Equal and flexible access to lifelong education
• Coordination of ICT-based research and education

The strategy has been worked out on the basis of a large number of development projects, which have been carried out within the ICT-area over many years, and which are an extension of the government's action plans within the area. In 1997 the Folketing received the blueprint "Information Technology and Education". The blueprint was an invitation to debate about a total Danish ICT-education strategy. As part of the follow-up on the blueprint the Ministry commissioned an international evaluation of the ICT-status in the Danish education system (Morgan/Lieberg: "Information and Communication Technologies in the Danish School System. A state of Art Evaluation in 6 Areas of Government Action"). The report constitutes the starting point of this ICT-action plan of the Ministry of Education. It contains the key points in the ICT area, which it is our aim to implement within the next five years. The development within ICT continues to move very quickly, and naturally the action plan will have to be supplemented and revised in the following years in order to support the aim of the government that the Danish education system is to be among the 5-10 best in the world.

The Ministry of Education, September 1998.

Towards an action plan for the period 1998 - 2003.

The blueprint from 1997 "Information Technology and Education".

The integration of EDP in education has been known since the 1970'ties. The development has been intensified since the beginning of the 90'ties concurrently with the fact that information and communication technologies (ICT) have become generally available. In 1994 the Dybkjær-Christensen committee launched the report "The Information Society in the Year 2000". It contained a number of recommendations with the view of making Denmark an information society. Both "The Information Society in the Year 2000" as well as the government's subsequent yearly ICT action plans from 1995 and onwards have had specific sections directed towards the education sector.

In 1997 the Minister of Education worked out a blueprint to the Folketing, "Information Technology and Education". The blueprint was an invitation to debate about a total Danish ICT education strategy. The blueprint defines a number of central strategic objectives and focus areas for the education system of the future.

The Danish education system is to ensure:

• State of art qualifications in the information society
• Integration of new pedagogical possibilities
• Equal and flexible access to education
• An efficient and flexible structure and organization

It is not the objective to engage in massive investments in ICT in education just for the sake of ICT. The effort in this area has two equally important main purposes: ICT is to improve the teaching and learning process, and the students are to attain the basic ICT qualifications, which are necessary in the society of today and of the future.

State of art qualifications

In the information society the ICT qualifications, such as processing and handling of information, are becoming as important as the traditional basic qualifications: Reading, writing and arithmetic. Therefore the students have to be ICT users. Furthermore, the rapidly increasing production of information in society makes a number of demands on the personal qualifications of the students. It is among other things a question about the ability of the individual to transform information into knowledge, to sort information, to cooperate, and to enter into a process oriented working method. Simultaneously it becomes necessary to revise the traditional idea of the role of the teacher. The role as organizer and distributor of knowledge is to be developed so that the future teachers can also act as guides and sparring partners (coaches) for the pupils. At the same time the teachers have to be able to master the ICT tools themselves. In that connection it is also important to focus on the specific pedagogical possibilities, which become available with the use of ICT in the teaching.

Integration of new pedagogical possibilities

New pedagogical possibilities are to be explored and tried. Research and development are to be focused on and at the same time the means of exchanging information among students, teachers and management on the educational institutions are to be provided. Therefore all the educational institutions are to be connected electronically via the Sektornet over the next few years in order to ensure access to knowledge and cooperation across the education sector. Moreover, Danish digital teaching materials are to be developed; materials which are based on Danish pedagogical principles.

Equal and flexible access to education

Regardless of age, educational background and geographical location, all citizens are to have the opportunity of participating in a wide range of educational activities on a continual basis. This can become a reality through virtual educational programmes, where the physical presence is not imperative.

An efficient and flexible structure.

The public education system must continue to be the main supplier of new qualifications for the students. Therefore the education system must be able to compete in relation to the increasing supply of private and foreign offers of education. Also in this area the commitment of the management plays a central role.

An International Evaluation of the Danish Education System According to ICT-standard.

As part of the follow-up on the blueprint "Information Technology and Education", the Ministry asked two educational experts to carry out an ICT state of art evaluation in six specific areas. The main purpose of the evaluation was to enable the Ministry to further develop and improve the integration of ICT in the education system. The two experts were Sigmund Lieberg from "Nasjonalt læremiddelcenter", (Norway) and Jeff Morgan from "the National Council of Educational Technologies" (now BECTA), (UK).

The report emphasized among other things that Denmark has developed a coherent strategy for ICT in the education system, which only a few other countries have done to the same extent and with the same qualitative success. The Sektornet is set off as a unique ICT-project on the European scene. At the same time the report points out a number of areas, where a renewed effort is needed.

Generally speaking there is a need for a more joint and systematic evaluation of the way in which the aims and action plans of the Ministry are being implemented on the individual institutions. Thus the Ministry ought to improve its feedback mechanisms in relation to the other agents of the education system. The report also asks for a higher degree of coordination between the many ICT-initiatives, which are ongoing in different areas within the education sector.

Furthermore, it was the recommendation of the experts that the Ministry poses clear-cut aims for the ICT-qualifications, which the education system is to impart to the students. Identical aims are to be posed for the ICT-qualifications of the teachers.

The report conveyed the fact that there is a need for a comprehensive effort as to research within the area of examining and developing the use of ICT in the education sector. ( A summary of the report appears as supplement 1.)

Action Plan 1998 - 2003

On the basis of this the Ministry will continue the work of developing an ICT-strategy, with specific focus on :

The pupils and ICT

The greatest importance will be attached to the articulation of a number of clear-cut aims for ICT-qualifications on the various educational levels.

The teachers and ICT

The teachers are to be educated concurrently with the increase in ICT-use. It has to be examined which qualifications a teacher is to possess in order to meet the aims of the students' ICT-qualifications.

The subjects and ICT

There is a need for a clarification of the importance of ICT to the content, didactic and methodic of the subjects, including the consequences of an increased ICT-integration on the organization of the teaching.

Equal and flexible access to lifelong education

There has to be a development of the public supply of education programmes, which are independent of time and place.

Coordination of ICT-based research and education

The use of resources has to be more efficient, and a clearer outline of the results of the development process in the ICT-field ought to be established.

Moreover, the use of ICT ought to be introduced in the reforms of the education programmes, in the teaching, in the structural and institutional conditions etc.

The following will contain a more detailed account of each of the five areas, and it will outline concrete initiatives in connection with the individual objectives, which may participate in implementing the aims of the Ministry in the ICT-area.

1. Pupils/students and ICT

Denmarks adjustment to the information society has among other things meant that knowledge is becoming one of the country's strategically most important resources, whereas learning is becoming the most important process - for the individual, for business and industry, and for society. The rapid technological development means that knowledge is no longer a "once in a life time" experience for the individual. It is rather an asset, which constantly has to be updated. Therefore recurrent education will gain increasing importance for young people as well as for adults with a view to maintain and develop earlier acquired qualifications.

From an overall point of view it is the object of the education system to qualify the individual human being for working life and for life in general. Thus, it is not solely the aim of the education system to qualify young people and adults to acquire and reproduce the knowledge, which is disseminated by their teacher. The crucial new factor in connection with the information society is that young people and adults are to be qualified creatively to sort, select, process and use the great amount of information, which ICT give access to. Moreover, in connection with the basic education they are to acquire new methods of learning processes in order to enable them to take a material responsibility for a continual and lifelong updating of their qualifications.

The education system also has to take into account the so-called less advantaged groups of pupils, which for various reasons run the risk of becoming marginalised in the "ordinary" education system. It is therefore necessary to initiate ICT-based projects with the aim of developing new methods and teaching materials, which can support the learning processes of these groups. There can e.g. be focused on individualized teaching programmes with a starting point in the specific needs of the individual pupil. In coorporation with other agents in the educational field, it will be the object of the Ministry of Education to create the most suitable ICT-environment for the students.

Areas of special priority will be:

• To ensure the quality of the ICT-qualifications and -competencies of the pupils/students, and to ensure a coherent development of the same through the entire education system.
• Access to inexpensive and rapid network connections from the educational institutions as well as from the distance workplace.
• Development of and access to a comprehensive supply of quality services for educational purposes via network.
• Continual development of ICT-based teaching programmes and materials, which can generally support the learning processes on all levels, including especially the learning processes of the so-called less advantaged group of pupils.

Therefore we will:

1. Develop and continually maintain a system designed to describe, which general ICT-qualifications and competencies are to be attained after respectively 3., 6., and 9. form of the Folkeskole as well as by the end of the youth education programmes. Describe guide lines as to how the general ICT-qualifications and competencies are being implemented on the various class levels and in the various subjects, and continually evaluate the need for a revision of orders and curricula. It is the intention of the Ministry to set up an internal committee at once, with among other things these objects in view. The committee is to have finished the work by the end of 1998.
2. Continually follow the technical and financial development in the network field with a view to adjust the chosen strategy in order to be able to offer an educational network solution of a high quality and at low costs. It could be a possibilityduring the planning period to consider to make a new tender on the Sektornet services. Also the possibility of a distribution on more suppliers will be considered. In continuation of this a whole or a partial transition to joint public purchases of network capacity and services as a substitute for a public Sektornet could be a possibility.
3. Ensure that the services, which are being developed with public subsidies to be used on the Sektornet, can be applied to other network solutions.
4. Shift the balance in the public subsidy on the network field from the technical network - and thereby increase the payments of the educational institutions for the use of the network - to further support the development and operation of educational services on the network. This also includes an increased focus on international cooperation with the purpose of developing educational network services.

2. The teachers and ICT.

The teachers are to be educated concurrently with the increase in the use of ICT. New knowledge based on the latest research and new interpretations of existing knowledge can in a few seconds be distributed globally with the use of information technology and electronic communication. Knowledge is constantly changing or is becoming obsolete so rapidly that the distributors of knowledge - the teachers - can hardly be constantly updated. Knowledge is not static but dynamic and it moves at lightning speed in the information society. The very speed in which the amount of knowledge is increasing globally makes other demands on the teachers of today and of the future. Therefore it is necessary to revise the traditional understanding of the role of the teacher in the information society's education system.

The role of the teacher as organizer and distributor of the teaching has to be developed concurrently with the integration of ICT in the education programmes, because as a parallel to the development there will be an increasing need to sort information and to process collected information to serviceable knowledge. In the future the teacher also has to be capable of acting as adviser and sparring partner for the pupils. This new interpretation of the traditional distribution of roles between teacher and pupils is necessary if the pupils are to take a greater responsibility for their own learning and have the opportunity of displaying greater independence in the learning process. For a long time this has been the case within tertiary education, where learning is the responsibility of the individual student, and the teachers are advisers and inspirators. A similar development can be expected within the other educational areas; however, the demand that school is also an important factor as a place of socialization for children and young people still contributes to uphold many of the traditional teacher virtues as highly necessary. It may be more precise to talk about the extended role of the teachers than about their changing role.

The education system is to satisfy the needs of all the target groups - from children to adults. Children and young people have the need to be guided through the learning process to a far greater extent than adults have and that factor also needs to be taken into consideration in the discussions about teaching and learning.

The fundamental importance of the information technology for the activities of the individual human being in society demands a new orientation of the educational policy.

Pupils and students are to use ICT on a par with reading, writing and arithmetic and it asks for a special effort within educational policy on all levels of the teacher training and in-service training in the ICT-area. Like other groups in society, the teachers have to personally master the ICT-tools and their possibilities concurrently with the fact that ICT is used as an integrated part of the individual educations and subjects. In addition to this a massive effort within in-service training is to be implemented with the purpose of focusing on the pedagogical possibilities, which lies in the use of ICT, including the importance of ICT to the content, didactic and pedagogical principles of the subjects. In that way a fundament is created, which makes it possible for the teachers to use ICT both in the personal planning process and as an integrated element in the teaching and in the learning process.

The starting point for the updating of the teacher and in-service training is that the teacher group in the education system is not a homogeneous group. The teacher groups on the various educational levels have a widely different educational background. Therefore the overall transverse objectives of the educational policy have to be supplemented and strategy and action plans have to be worked out, describing the updating of the teachers' ICT-qualifications on the individual educational levels. However, in the future there will be an increasing demand on the individual teacher to independently acquire new knowledge and methods within the ICT-area, just like other members of the labour market have to do.

This requires that the management are responsible for ensuring that the teachers have the qualifications, which are necessary for the teaching in question, but also that each individual teacher is responsible for keeping his or her general qualifications on a state of art level.

In this connection, it is necessary to look at the distribution of the teachers' working hours and find out if it is posing barriers to an effective ICT-integration.

Areas of special priority will be:

• Ensuring that the general and basic ICT-qualifications of the student teachers in the beginning of the course of study are brought to that sufficiently high basic level, which the education necessitates. Formulation of clear-cut aims for the student teachers' general and subject-related ICT-qualifications.
• Formulation of minimum requirements as to ICT-qualifications, both general as well as subject related qualifications as a prerequisite for employment as a teacher.
• Formulation of requisite minimum requirements as to ICT-qualifications among the existing teacher groups. It is the aspiration that all teachers will be able to meet the minimum requirements at the end of the period.
• Uncovering possible problem areas in connection with the teachers' production of teaching materials, with special focus on the copyright of the teachers to material produced within working hours.

2.1. Specify the provisions in the new order on the teacher training programme concerning the integration of ICT in the teacher training. Specify the general and basic ICT- qualifications of the students by publishing guides on ICT in the education programme and in its subjects as well as in an ongoing dialogue through relevant institution directed fora. Adjust the educational provisions for the pedagogical teacher training programme for the Gymnasium (upper secondary schools) , the vocational schools and adult educa tion so that these also have general ICT-qualifications as a prerequisite for admission.

2.2. Enter into a debate with the Ministry of Research about a revision of the appoint- ment order for VIP's (scientific personnel), concerning their basic ICT-qualifications as a prerequisite for employment on equal terms with the demand in relation to peda- gogical qualifications.

2.3. To estimate the need for in-service training in the ICT-area in cooperation with school owners from the Folkeskole, the Gymnasium, the social and health education pro- grammes and other relevant parties, as well as discussing a schedule for the point of time when the objective for general ICT-qualifications for the entire existing teacher group can be fulfilled. Furthermore, it is to be jointly discussed in which way it will be possible to develop, organize and supply relevant offers of educational updating for both the individual teacher and also as part of a reorganization of the institutions.

2.4. Develop network based course programmes and subsequently make them available on the Sektornet or other future network solutions as publicly supported educational- related services.

2.5. Strengthen research and development within the research area "ICT-supported learning" as a follow-up on the government's "national intermediate strategy for ICT-research". The research area is to be rooted more firmly - it might be in the form of one or more future ICT-competency centres. In future there has to be a closer cooperation between agents in the field in order to obtain the best possible synergy and optimum effect.

3. The subjects and ICT

The concept of subjects are a part of the picture everywhere in the education system. In the school area and of course especially within the areas, which are based on research, theoretical thinking and philosophical abstraction, the subject notion is an operational way, in which to handle and categorize the scientific main areas.

Within the areas of research and science, subjects are also a scientific theoretical concept, as it is usual to operate with the subject notion within an "education", characterized by a certain collection of "subjects".

When we speak colloquially about the integration of ICT in education and teaching, we speak primarily about the ICT-integration in the subjects (and the teaching/dissemination of them). It is therefore a crucial question, whether the integration of ICT has bearings on the self understanding and development of a subject and if it has, which ones and to what extent. The following areas is of special interest in this connection:

• A scientific basis and understanding (i.e. how to formalize and generalize within a scientific branch), which paradigms are the basis of the understanding of a subject, which values/conceptions are causing the fact that some theories are more acceptable than others, a general understanding of what is "normal" within a subject,
• Aims for qualifications and proficiencies (i.e.which qualifications are the subject to provide - presumably this is also the proficiency dimension in a characteristic of the subject), and
• A dissemination aspect, which is a common or generally accepted way of representing/disseminating a subject.

The education system is build on the subject as the principal element. The composition of the subjects are rarely discussed, but the content of the subjects - topics, concepts, methods - are often debated. There is of course an interdisciplinary cooperation, but mostly with the basis in one or more subjects, which guarantees the total quality of the interdisciplinary projects.

Even though many and relevant attempts to describe the influence of ICT on the methods and contents of the teaching are taking place, there is a need for a general discussion about whether, and if so, how, the new information technology affects the objectives of the education programmes at all levels. Moreover, such a discussion will necessarily involve the question of the organisation, content, arrangement, methods and pedagogical means of the teaching. There will probably be a need for a level divided analysis of these circumstances, as there can hardly - not even today - be made any meaningful observations on subject-related quality and choice of methods, prevailing for the entire education sector.

Areas of special priority will be:

• An examination of the influence of ICT-integration on the content, method, didactic and evaluation methods of the subjects.
• An examination of the influence of ICT-integration on the composition of the subjects in various parts of the education system.

3.1 Send out a publication about the problem area with a description of the influence of ICT on the content, didactic and examination methods of the subjects. 3.2. Initiate a number of projects to elucidate the above mentioned problem areas and a discussion of the "core" of the education programmes, which is to illustrate,

1. whether the presence of ICT has any influence on the character and qual- ity of the ongoing teaching,

2. whether the subject as a concept is still going to exist or if new ways of describing "groups of knowledge, qualifications and proficiencies" are to be thought of,

3. whether it is possible to create "a leitmotif" of scientific theoretical logic, which exists in the entire education programme- in the same way that the concept of subject does today.

4. Equal and flexible access to lifelong education

Regardless of age, educational background and geographical location, it is to be ensured that everybody have the opportunity of participating in a wide range of educational activities after the Folkeskole on a continual basis. An ICT educational policy strategy in this area among other things include a strong development of virtual educational programmes, where physical presence is not imperative, and where the advantage of programmes, which are independent of geography and time, can be implemented. There is already a number of programmes within adult education, but in the future there ought to be an additional focus on increasing the ICT-qualifications of the entire population, among other things through a strengthening of adult education.

Many employers have already seen the advantage of encouraging the employees to become acquainted with the use of the new technology, which is seen in the large distribution of home computers combined with a basic introduction to the use of ICT. This has increased the general knowledge of ICT. In future it will be increasingly demanded that the employees themselves know how to acquire new tools and methods.

By means of information technology education can be delivered outside working hours, in the weekend, during working hours in a cooperation between companies and educational institutions, as well as from quite another place than where the education takes place. In that respect education has become "without boundaries".

Today virtual educational programmes from foreign educational institutions compete with corresponding Danish programmes, just as the competition in Denmark about still fewer students can be expected to be further intensified. Equally, Danish companies also establish their own educational units with a view to cover their need for adult and in-service education. Large foreign companies also establish their own virtual educational centres. Therefore there is also need for innovative thinking in this area, so that our educational institutions also in the future are the main suppliers of new qualifications for the working life and life in general. New ways of organization and cooperation within the education system have already now had consequences for the educational institutions and their geographical coverage and supply of education programmes.

Therefore it is the intention to use the opportunity to adhere to a geographical decentralization of the Danish education system. By means of distance teaching in tertiary education and in adult and in-service education it is possible to offer education to local communities where otherwise there would not be a sufficient number of inhabitants to warrant the establishment of the relevant education programmes. At the same time the information technology gives the possibility of a higher degree of internationalization of the education programmes, if the formation of virtual education programmes with international participants is concentrated on.

Areas of special priority will be:

• An increased and comprehensive supply of flexible high-quality courses, which can be attended independently of time and/or place. The courses are to be developed and primarily offered under Open Education in order to limit the user's fee. The courses should be based on state of art ICT- technology.
• Provided that Danish educational institutions do not provide a sufficient number of flexible quality courses within a subject area, it should be possible to offer grants under Open Education for student participation in flexible courses provided by other course suppliers, including non-Danish educational institutions.
• With a view to a wide supply of flexible high-quality courses of education, the cooperation in terms of development between various educational institutions and between educational institutions and professional organisations, ought to be stimulated.
• The citizens ought to be ensured of a quick outline of the supply of flexible courses, and there ought to be simple procedures of enrolment, also based on state of art ICT.

4.1. Give a higher priority to the development of courses under Open Education, which are based on state of art ICT-solutions.

4.2. Initiate a development work for a quality evaluation of courses, which are supplied as distance teaching with technology support. Among other things the development work are to deal with the professional quality of the teaching material, the pedagogical organization and financial aid schemes for pupils during the programme.

4.3. Initiate a development work with regard to a bench marking of Danish distance teach- ing programmes with technological support seen in relation to foreign programmes.

4.4. In connection with the committee work on adult and in-service education we will con- sider to change the act on Open Education in order to warrant financial aid schemes for pupils to attend foreign distance teaching programmes, when a sufficient and adequate number of Danish courses are not supplied. The limitations and administration of a potential system are to be clarified before a prospective bill is introduced.

4.5. Stimulate joint development work between various educational institutions by giving priority to such applications as well as by adjusting grant regulations etc. in such a way that development organizations, established by a plurality of institutions within an edu- cational area with a view to develop distance teaching in common, will have the same status as educational institutions with regard to development grants and loans and possi- bly also with regard to the supply of programmes.

4.6. Make it possible for the institutions and the above mentioned development organiza- tions that may wish to do so, to raise development loans (under Open Education) to the development of distance teaching programmes of their own choice.

4.7. To further develop the adult education information system VIDAR in order to give the citizens access to an adequate and continually updated outline of the supply and con tent of the distance teaching programmes as well as access to electronic means of enrolment.

4.8. To adjust the examination regulations, so that examinations in programmes organized as distance teaching, can also be passed in this way.

5. Coordination of ICT-related research and education

Research, development and counselling are sides of the same problem. In general we know too little of the new ICT-based education and teaching methods. Interim reports from a large number of pilot and development projects, which the Ministry of Education has initiated, show that education and teaching - and the derived organization of them - go through substantial changes. The sparse experience from recent projects, which the Ministry of Education has started, is only to a limited extent being gathered and processed.

Therefore there is a need for a strengthening of the research effort within education and teaching methods in general, including a special effort within the new ICT-based education and teaching methods. In that way a systematic gathering and development of new pioneering education and teaching methods are ensured; this factor may form the basis of the development of the education sector, the education programmes and the teachings on the institutions of the 21. st. century.

At the beginning of 1998 the government adopted a national intermediate strategy for the ICT-research, where among other things it was pointed out that the research area "ICT-supported learning" ought to be strengthened. The research environments of today are very dispersed and therefore generally too small to generate sufficient synergy and dynamic ( i.e. critical mass) to bring the area into the world élite. Today initiatives in this area primarily comprise the establishment of a centre for learning processes at Aalborg University and Odense University, respectively. Furthermore, the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies has established a research centre for ICT-pedagogy.

Besides this, the Ministry of Education has initiated various development projects within the area in the last 2-3 years: Centre for Technology Supported Education (CTU) with an allocation of 100 mill. DKr over five years, as well as various development activities in UNI*C (The Danish Computing Centre for Research and Education), DEL ( The National Institute for the Educational Training of Vocational Teachers) and ORFEUS.

To ensure a sufficient volume - and thereby surmount the difficulty of critical mass within the area - it seems obvious to coordinate these research and development initiatives in a combined large research and development initiative, which can help to organize the accumulation of experiences, to focus on innovative thinking, and to develop new forms of education and teaching, which will position Denmark as a pioneer country within educational research.

The government has - as a consequence of bottleneck problems in e.g. the ICT- and telecommunication sector - decided to appoint a fast working committee, which, before 15. October 1998, is to come up with suggestions as to how ICT-research and education can be strengthened in general. In the committee's terms of reference special emphasis is put on producing suggestions to a combined strengthening of comprehensive as well as state of art ICT-education programmes, which to a greater degree will satisfy the user circles in the business community and at the universities. The committee is to come up with suggestions to both the content of such an initiative (i.e. education programmes and areas of research) as well as to the organization of it (i.e. the institutional basis and management of the initiative).

Areas of special priority will be:

• A strengthening and coordination of the counselling directed towards educational institutions, public authorities and professional organizations in order to quickly make use of research, development work etc., Danish as well as international, in a Danish context, and, as far as possible, to avoid establishing identical research projects.
• A continual analysis of the schools' equipment distribution etc. (geographical ICT-map), and a development of indicators to illuminate ICT in the teaching.
• Coordination or development of close cooperative relations between the general ICT-research and -development and the education related ICT-research and -development.

Therefore we will:

5.1. Advance the evaluation of CTU. With a point of departure in this evaluation, we will look at the total supply of counselling and assess if there is a need for an increased coor- dination of research and knowledge dissemination on the educational related ICT-area as well as the future placement of this task. In connection with this, the centres for learning processes at Aalborg and Odense universities, the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies,the National Institute for the Educational Training of Vocational Teachers, UNI*C and ORFEUS will also be assessed as to assignments and possibilities of development. The connection to the planned ICT-højskole should also enter into the considerations.

The Ministry will soon initiate the evaluation of CTU, and towards the end of the autumn 1998 the Ministry will appoint a committee with the above mentioned broader basis of assignment. It is the aim that the committee is to submit a recommendation in the middle of 1999, so that possible consequences of the work of the committee can become part of the Budget deliberations for the year 2000.

5.2. Develop methods to a continual analysis of the ICT-equipment situation on all the educational institutions etc. with a view to a systematic collection of infor- mation from 1999. Registrations of traffic etc. from the Sektornet can form part of the data collection. Moreover, indicators are to be developed for the illumination of the use of ICT in the teaching. The aim is to produce annual status surveys on both area and institutional level. It is the expectation that the total amount of information is to be placed in a publicly available data base in order to make it possible for other schools, parents, public authorities etc. to make comparisons between the ICT-status of the indi vidual schools.

5.3. Ensure coordination and systematic evaluation of initiated and implemented ICT- projects.

Supplement 1

Information and Communication Technologies in the Danish School System. A State of Art Evaluation in 6 Areas of Government Action

A summary of the report.

In July 1997 Sigmund Lieberg, Nasjonalt læremiddelcenter in Norway and Jeff Morgan, National Council of Educational Technology in UK were asked to evaluate the work of the Danish Ministry of Education with six selected areas of information and communication technologies.

The remit was to produce a report for the Ministry, which was to focus on the following areas: The pedagogical use of information and communication technologies (ICT), ICT in the Folkeskole, the teacher training education and the vocational schools sector, policy strategies and objectives and finally the equipment and technical infrastructure situation. Comparisons with the work and results of other countries on these areas were to be made where it was possible.

During the last couple of years the Danish Ministry of Education has developed a coherent strategy for ICT in the education system, which only few countries have done to the same extent and of the same quality. The Ministry should also be credited with the far-sightedness and imagination in creating the concept of the Sektornet.

Any country that wants to develop a high quality educational system has to take central initiatives and use a combination of centrally and locally based strategies and support them on a long term basis as well. The result will be sustainable innovations, in existence at least until there is feedback from the system that support is no longer needed.

The combined central and local strategies, which have been initiated through large-scale projects such as KOM.IT and through CTU have resulted in a very promising development in Denmark.

However, changes are needed within several of the focus areas when it comes to strategy, action and volume, if the specified aims are to be reached.

• The Folkeskole has the need for a national programme such as KOM.IT, which may best be achieved through an expansion of the CTU authority to encompass the Folkeskole as well.
• There is a need for nationally accepted standards for the content and the skills which the teachers are expected to possess within the ICT-area as a basis for the basic education as well as for the in-service training.
• There should be nationally defined standards on the teacher training colleges for the equipment and the infrastructure, which are to be available for the students and the teachers. The teachers on the teacher training colleges should be qualified in the ICT-area.
• There is a need for systematic evaluations of what is actually happening on the schools and the teacher training colleges within the ICT-area.
• The future of the Sektornet depends on a long term investment from the Ministry of Education with a view to develop inexpensive and high quality pedagogical services to the various parts of the school system, adding value to the learning process on the schools.
• The Sektornet and the research net should be merged in order to promote quality and richness of resources. The merger would be able to activate such synergy effects.