Information and Communication Technology (education)

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For information technology in general, see Information technology.

In the United Kingdom, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a subject in education, and a part of the National Curriculum. Other countries, such as the Philippines, also have ICT as an educational subject. In South Australia, ICT is not a subject until the final two years of schooling, and in Norway ICT is a course you can select for your second year of upper secondary school. From pre-school to Year 10 ICT is interwoven throughout the curriculum as part of the Essential Learning of Communication.

The ICT programme in the United Kingdom is co-ordinated by Becta. A major current initiative is the Curriculum Online scheme which is aimed to accelerate the uptake of technology amongst schools. Becta took over the running of this scheme from the Department for Education and Skills in 2005. Becta works closely with the Joint Information Systems Committee to develop strategy.

ICT has also enabled learning through multiple intelligence as ICT has introduced learning through simulation games; this enables active learning through all senses.

Many schools have specialist school status in technology and, more recently, in maths and computing, and these schools champion the use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning.

DA-IICT (established in 2003) was the first university in India to offer an undergraduate engineering degree in ICT (B.Tech, ICT), the emphasis on ICT in its curriculum apparent from the last three letters in its name.