Early Uses of Computers in Schools in the United Kingdom: Shaping Factors and Influencing Directions
This chapter describes the early development and introduction of computers into schools in the United Kingdom from the 1970s to the evaluation of their impacts and a shift in the focus of their uses in the 1990s. The chapter explores key factors influenci
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Abstract. This chapter describes the early development and introduction of computers into schools in the United Kingdom from the 1970s to the evaluation of their impacts and a shift in the focus of their uses in the 1990s. The chapter explores key factors influencing the direction and deployment of uses of computers in schools. It considers influences of national initiatives and policies, the development of support, support centres and central agencies, the involvement of hardware and software manufacturers and developers, different applications of computer resources, the focus of uses in the curriculum, and impacts on education. Conclusions drawn are that original intentions for the implementation of computers in schools were re-focused in the late 1990s, particularly as pedagogies and learning effectiveness were not strong drivers during the early implementation period. Keywords: History of computers in schools, UK, early educational technologies, computers in schools initiatives, policy and practice drivers, software development, IT industry, national curriculum, IT curriculum.
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Introduction
Technological developments and policy actions in the 1980s can arguably be said to have had the most long-term influence on uses of computers in schools in the United Kingdom (UK). Prior to the 1980s, computers were used in very isolated instances, but policy decisions and actions in the 1980s not only set in motion a string of events that led to much wider institutional and individual access, but also led to directions focusing forms and patterns of use. This chapter takes a part personal, and part documentary, view of the factors and influences that were involved. The author, having used computers in schools in the early 1980s, then later became involved in research into uses of computers to support teaching and learning during that same period. This chapter offers a part historical, part developmental, part policy-driven, and part pedagogically-driven perspective. Personal experiences and reflections, supplemented by documentary evidence from key individuals, from policy and from research, offered through these different lenses, provides a picture that considers key factors and features: • National policies: how they were developed and what they achieved. A. Tatnall and B. Davey (Eds.): History of Computers in Education, IFIP AICT 424, pp. 131–149, 2014. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2014
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D. Passey
Computer education support centres, professional development and other school support activities: their presence and roles. The contributions of computer companies, software designers and book publishers. Educational application software: their development and focus. Use of computers ‘across the curriculum’ in various subjects as well as for teaching computing: practical and policy contributions. How computers changed education (or did not change it) and why this happened.
Policies and Practices
In the 1970s and early 1980s a growing concern arose in the UK for greater aw
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