The Enabling Pillars

This study of policies for information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and training in Australian education systems and agencies is the initial component in a project undertaken for the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).

The project comprises three components:

• the development of a searchable online data base where policies, both Australian and international, are summarised, and which can be accessed through EdNA Online (http://ictpolicy.edna.edu.au/ );
• this report on Australian developments;
• an international report covering ten countries in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as Australian systems.

The Australian report provides the platform for the comparative analysis of the international report.

The data base of policy summaries has been structured around the five goal areas built into the Australian Education and Training Action Plan for the Information Economy prepared by the former Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA). This structure has been carried over into the chapters of this report with the addition of a further chapter on overarching strategies and frameworks for action.

The report shows that Australian education systems, like those included in the international study, progressed through several phases of development in their policy for ICT in education. These phases, in general, have been:

1. an initial rolling out phase with a focus on getting computers into institutions, accompanied by some professional development of teachers and software development;

2. a mainstreaming phase concerned with integrating ICT into the work of
   schools and vocational education and training (VET) based on the overall strategic directions for these institutions, and with a deepened concern for learning outcomes.

While considerable attention is now given to ensuring that policy for ICT in education is integrated with overall educational policy, the available evidence suggests that practice in education institutions remains a mosaic of the old and the new, and there has not yet been a transformation in the way learning occurs in these institutions and in society.

A feature of the Australian scene has been a strengthening of partnership development of various kinds in addressing the challenge of ICT. This has included a strengthening of collaboration between the States, Territories, and Commonwealth which is exemplified in the development of a national action plan for ICT in education covering all sectors of education.

This action plan titled Learning for the Knowledge Society was developed as a collaborative national response to the challenge of the information and knowledge society. There is active follow up on the sectoral plans with reporting to the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) through its advisory committee, the Australian Information and Communication Technology in Education Committee (AICTEC)

A major collaborative project for schools, The Le@rning Federation, further illustrates the strengthening of partnership and collaboration between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories. In the case of the VET sector, annual strategic plans are being developed and funded by the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) in consultation with the States and Territories.

At a national level, a Strategic Framework for the Information Economy has been developed to provide a whole-of-government perspective in national responses to the requirements of the information economy. Similar strategic frameworks exist in most States and Territories so that education systems are being brought into a closer relationship with State, Territory, and national objectives.

While allowing for a general lack of consistency in the use of the terms “information economy”, “information society””, “knowledge economy” and “knowledge society”, it could be argued that there is an economic emphasis in the Australian national strategic framework in contrast to the broader social vision which has emerged in the European Union and its member countries, and in other countries such as Canada. This question is discussed further in the international report.

In a number of Australian States/Territories the development of policy for ICT in education and training and more generally for orientating education systems to the requirements of the information economy has included a strong commitment to the principles of lifelong learning. The same commitment is not evident in any comprehensive way at the national level in Australia, although the National Goals for Schooling in the 21st Century charge schools with the responsibility to assist young people to develop a disposition towards learning throughout their lives and lifelong learning is promoted by ANTA as central to the mission of the VET sector. Whether this situation acts as a barrier to achieving the full potential of the role of ICT in education, and in society, is an issue that requires further consideration in the development of policy for ICT in education.

Considerable progress has been made in developing policy frameworks and partnership arrangements to further the use of ICT in the sectors of the formal education system, and mainstreaming of policy for ICT in education has become general across Australian education systems. There has been a strengthening of Commonwealth and State collaboration in addressing the challenge of the information era. However, access to affordable bandwidth remains a problem in the school and VET sectors, and less priority has been given until recently to the needs of adults lacking ICT skills.

There is a key issue as to whether a more comprehensive and systemic approach is required that links policy for the formal education system and for the adult community in synergistic ways so that outcomes are value added. Such an integrated and holistic approach would require further progress towards whole-of-government collaboration across the levels of the Australian federal system, and innovation in developing arrangements to bring about these outcomes. Achieving the full potential of ICT in education and in society, so as to transform the way people learn in the digital era, is likely to require policies that stimulate cultural change in education institutions, and in the communities they serve, in building a culture that supports enterprise, learning, innovation, and creativity.

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