E-Learning Policy and the 'Transformation' of Schooling: A UK Case Study
Adrian Mee [a.mee@ioe.ac.uk]
School of Mathematics, Science and Technology
Institute of Education [http://www.ioe.ac.uk]
University of London
20 Bedford Way
London, WC1H 0AL, UK
Abstract
This article provides a critical review of ICT and e-learning policy in the UK from the foundation of the National Grid for Learning in 1997 to the current time. It outlines the key strands of policy and critically reviews the economic, political and social context in which policy has been formed and implemented. E-learning policy in the UK is associated with the large scale funding of projects, major curricular intervention and a teacher development programme which seeks to address the needs of all new and serving teachers.
Perspectives on e-learning and their potential for levering positive change in schools equate directly to the interests of various stakeholder groups inside and outside the wider educational establishment and those who form a part of the broadly based 'community of practice' concerned with the use of ICT in schools.
Much of the debate associated with applying ICT in schools has focused on the types of technology to be used, the degree of access to technology and the manner in which it can be integrated into current organizational frameworks.
This article seeks to focus attention not on the technologies which have flowed into UK schools but on the issues which have comprised the policy environment and have significantly impacted on the degree to which e-learning initiatives have achieved the 'transformation' predicted when the foundations of the National Grid for Learning were laid.
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