Policies, dissemination and reality of information and communication technologies in regular education in North-Western european countries

The first section of the special issue on the integration of ICT in Education focuses on the Nordic European countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands. The role of the IFIP World Conferences on Education since the early 1970s are taken into account, as well as the more specific nature of ICT in sparsely populated countries. The overall perspective in this introductory article is the dynamic nature of policy makers, decision makers at the level of institutes and, finally, the actual actors at the level of the school class - teachers and students. On the one hand, the more formal theories on innovation and change processes are taken into account. On the other hand, the more pragmatic factors like usability, availability, connectivity and curricular integration are considered. Attached with the article is a comprehensive list of ongoing updated web sites that keep you informed about the latest trends in policies for ICT integration in education.