Information and communication technology (ICT) skills have become one of the educational ‘basics’ alongside literacy and numeracy, and they cannot be ‘dropped’ as a subject on the school curriculum before the age of 16. Beyond 16, ICT remains one of the key skills in which all students ought to achieve at least a level 2 qualification, that is, equivalent to a higher grade in GCSE. In further education colleges, ICT is usually called ILT – information and learning technologies. Since in education both the information and communication aspects of the new technologies relate to learning, it seems sensible to combine the terms as ICLT – information, communication and learning technologies (ICLTs).

When ICLT skills eventually become embedded in the classroom practices of all teachers, they may be taught entirely through other subjects, but for the moment ICLT will continue also to be a separate subject taught by specialist teachers. Curriculum content achieves the status as a ‘basic’ when it meets two criteria: when that knowledge and skill is seen as a prerequisite for access to, and mastery of, the rest of the curriculum; and when it is thought to be knowledge and skill that will continue to be drawn on for the rest of one's life, including in the workplace.

Thus, on joining the select company of ‘the basics’, ICLT knowledge and skill have established their credentials as an inherent component of lifelong learning, now firmly rooted in school years.