ICT Integration in Primary Education and Teacher Education Programs in Turkey and in EU Countries

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the differences and similarities between the EU countries’ and Turkey’s integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into primary education curricula and teacher education programs. Fifteen EU countries which became members before 2004 and Turkey are included in the study. The data for the study were gathered from official documents and related resources. The results show that the importance of ICT in education is increasing both in Turkey and in the EU countries. Learning about ICT has become an integral part of the compulsory curriculum in most EU countries. However, in Turkey, ICT is not included in the compulsory curriculum in primary education. Even though ICT was compulsory in more than half of the EU countries’ preservice teacher education programs, there was no minimum standard related with this issue. In Turkey, two ICT related courses were compulsory in preservice teacher education programs.