ICT in primary schools : explaining the integration in relation to context

Abstract

Even though large amounts of government budgets have been devoted to embedding Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in schools, teachers do not appear to use these to transform teaching and learning, a goal declared by policy agendas. Previous studies focused on the capacity of policy itself, and especially on the implementers to explain the level and outcomes of implementation. This paper turns the attention to the context in which implementation takes place and views implementation from an institutionalist perspective. Schools are seen as organisations within the broader educational system and therefore, the paper focuses on a specific case to explore implementation. This paper integrates the results of two studies looking at ICT implementation in the Cypriot centralised and bureaucratic educational system, and attempts to interpret them differently from previous studies. It is suggested that unless the system is transformed and modernised, the institutionalisation of innovations, such as ICT, faces the threat of failure