Introduction

Across Europe, the internet is an integral part of the lives of young people. According to the latest Eurobarometer survey on safer internet issues, three quarters of all children between 6 and 17 years in the EU27 had used the internet as of autumn 2008, with even higher figures applying to teenagers (EC, 2008: 5). There are great similarities from one country to another concerning the time spent online.

Young people use the internet mainly as an educational resource, for entertainment, games and fun, searching for information, social networking and sharing experiences with others (Hasebrink et al, 2009). They also use it for their work at school or university (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest, 2007). Livingstone and Bober (2005) summarise for the UK Children Go Online project that computer access is growing, with 92% having internet access at school. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer many opportunities: education, participation and civic engagement, creativity as well as identity and social connection (Hasebrink et al, 2009). As the rise in new technologies leads towards network or knowledge societies, schools have an important role in strengthening children's competencies in dealing with the opportunities and risks associated with ICT.

This chapter focuses on the use of ICT in schools. First, it briefly discusses attitudes towards ICT in schools from a European perspective. Drawing on the European Union (EU) Kids Online data repository, this chapter outlines the state of research on ICT and schools. The next section focuses on the internet at school and for schools across Europe, presenting different research results of European studies on various aspects of the topic ‘ICT in schools’. The concluding section starts from a constructivist perspective on learning with ICT in schools and makes proposals about best practice regarding the handling of ICT in schools.

European variation in the implementation of ICT in Schools

The way that each new medium (for example books, radio, film) has been treated and integrated into schools in different European countries is strongly related to the difference in the development of the countries’ media landscape (for example laws), historical and political developments, school systems and educational goals, cultural differences and concepts of childhood as well as theoretical treatments of media (for example academic or cultural discourses).