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The need to incorporate information and communication technology (ICT) into education is now self-evident. All European countries today possess official documents aiming to promote its use.

In each country, national projects relate to the whole of compulsory education and upper secondary education. The main aims are similar, namely to boost the computerisation of schools and the practical use of ICT in education, whether this relates to teacher training, development of the skills of pupils or the use of educational software.

As budgets are rarely exclusively managed at central government level and the national data available are not readily comparable, it is hard to form a reliable idea of the size of the budget allocated to ICT in the various countries. Equipment budgets are most often managed at the local level or jointly, with the responsibility shared between several levels of authority.

Even at primary level, learning about ICT has now become an integral part of the minimum compulsory curriculum in many countries. At secondary level, this situation is virtually the norm. The aims pursued differ little with the level of education and cover a broad range of skills, extending from the use of various software packages to communication via a network, not to mention network-based information searches. Although the development of proficiency in programming is the least widely encountered objective in compulsory education, it is included in the curriculum for upper secondary education in over half of all countries. The use of ICT as a tool to be used for projects or for educational content is generally recommended. However, in the curricula of pre-accession countries ICT is typically taught as a separate subject in its own right.

In the European Union in 2000/01, 71 % of teachers at primary level and 60 % of teachers at secondary level said they used ICT with their pupils on a fairly regular basis, with lack of access and problems of equipment or facilities the main reasons given for not using it.

In over half of all European countries, ICT has become a compulsory part of the curriculum for the initial training of teachers for either primary or secondary education. However, official recommendations on the subject of ICT training are often general and its organisation, content and the amount of time to be devoted to it are, in some countries, the prerogative of individual teacher training institutions.

As the range of equipment and facilities available increasingly boosts the scope of aspects dependent on effective networking, many initiatives for the benefit of teachers are exploiting the potential for communication through, for example, personal e-mail addresses, training in the use of the Internet and other electronic communications, forums for discussion or for sharing of practice among peers and easier database access.

By comparison, projects which primarily reflect educational or teaching concerns, in terms of method or content, are far fewer in number. In order to enhance the specific role of ICT as a learning resource – in the development of more autonomous and flexible processes, more proactive and committed attitudes to learning and greater cooperation among peers, etc. –further progress in this area will be necessary. The notion of a educational strategy underlying education is of crucial significance in this context and should be the focus of more intensive thought and discussion in the current debate concerned with key skills. This is not simply a question of including a good knowledge of ICT and proficiency in its practical use among the key skills necessary, but of exploiting its special potential for the acquisition of other skills now regarded as essential, such as initiative, problem-solving and teamwork.

The devising and refinement of mechanisms to measure and assess ongoing developments is an area of activity that has to be sustained both nationally and at European level, with due regard for the ready comparability of data.

Since 1997, Eurydice has been closely following the incorporation of new information and communication technology (ICT) into European education systems and has published basic indicators, a survey on the incorporation of ICT into education systems and a bibliography on this subject:

ICT@Europe.edu, Survey, Volume 4, Eurydice, 2001. This survey describes public policies for incorporating ICT into schools, higher education and initial and in-service teacher training. The reference year for the data is 2000/01. Besides the terms of the debate and the action undertaken at European level, this publication describes for each of the 30 European countries covered by the survey their aims and strategies in this area, the way in which responsibilities are shared, public/private partnerships where they exist and the actions implemented. It also summarises developments at European level. Available in English and French (as well as Czech)

Basic Indicators on the incorporation of ICT into European education systems, Eurydice, 2001. This publication surveys the incorporation of ICT into education systems at primary and secondary levels via a consideration of national policies, the approaches and aims of school curricula, teaching time devoted to ICT, computerised facilities and their use and teacher training. Available in English and French

Information and Communication Technologies, Thematic Bibliography, 2002. This bibliography sets out a selection of publications on the subject of ICT in education: reference literature relating to Community policies or produced by other international organisations (Council of Europe, OECD), reference works classified by topic (history and development of the use of ICT, issues, higher education, national projects). Available in English and French

Eurydice, the Information Network on Education in Europe, seeks to facilitate cooperation in education, through better understanding of systems and policies. Jointly established in 1980 by the European Commission and the Member States, Eurydice has been an integral part of Socrates, the Community action programme in education since 1995. The Network consists of National Units generally situated in the education ministries in each of its member countries (European Union, EFTA/EEA and candidate countries) and a European Unit located in Brussels.

The project is designed for 3 years and involves 9 partner (1 PT, 1 SE, 1 UK, 1 BG, 1CZ, 1EE and 3 PL). The project sets out to develop, implement and disseminate training modules for in-service training courses (SySTEM) and curricular materials (for teachers and pupils).

The final aim of the project is to improve the quality of the education in the Sciences, basically in countries such as PL, BG and CZ (where sciences have been recently included in the basic school education) or GB, ES, PT.

It will work in the context of citezenship development at the level of compulsory initial training as well as graduate teacher training.

This project will deal with the following issues: how can consumer education contribute to a wider vision of the consumer as an active, responsible participant in the development of a just and safe world? in what ways does the exercise of citizenship include the practice of aware and critical choices in the marketplace? to what extent are lifestyles which neither limit the development of other human beings nor destroy the world's environment prerequisites for being a good citizen?

To address the above questions, participants will work with definiing concepts; analysing and creating curricula, developing and evaluating teaching plans and materials, and preparing classroom strategies. It also intends to create interdisciplinary teaching plans, learning materiqls and teaching methods for use in teacher training as well as strategy plans for nationwide implementation.

The results will be disseminated internationally via established networks of consumer education

The project is designed for three years and involves partners from ES, UK, RO, NL and FR. The project aims at teaching future teachers of secondary school to deal with diversity in their classrooms through the use of ICT.

In terms of methodology, the partnership intends to create a virtual field as an instrument to verify the materials.

Prospective secondary-school teachers constitute the target group of this project.