NATIONAL POLICIES THAT CONNECT ICT-

NATIONAL POLICIES THAT CONNECT ICT-BASED EDUCATION
REFORM TO ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract: Information and communication technology (ICT) is a principal driver of economic
development and social change, worldwide. In many countries, the need for economic and
social development is used to justify investments in educational reform and in educational
ICT. Yet the connections between national development goals and ICT-based education
reform are often more rhetorical than programmatic. This paper identifies the factors that
influence economic growth and shows how they supported economic and social development
in three national case studies: Singapore, Finland, and Egypt. It describes a systemic
framework of growth factors and types of development that can be used to analyze national
policies and connect ICT-based education reform to national economic and social
development goals. And it discusses how the coordination of policies within and across
ministries can support a nation’s efforts to improve economic and social conditions. The
paper highlights special concerns and challenges of developing countries.

Keywords: educational information and communication technology (ICT), public policy,
education reform, economic development, social development.

INTRODUCTION

Over the past several decades, the development of new information and communications
technologies (ICTs) has resulted in significant changes in the global economy and the way
people, companies, and countries interact and do business (Bhagwati, 2004; Sachs, 2005;
Soros, 2002; Stiglitz, 2002). The reduced costs of communication and transportation have
lowered barriers to the flows between countries of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and, to
a lesser extent, people. Increased global trade is associated with significant economic growth.
This growth has, in turn, corresponded to an increased standard of living for millions of
people across the globe, although the benefits of this growth have not been uniformly
distributed across and within countries (Sachs, 2005; World Bank, 2002b).
Beyond the increased flow of goods, economists acknowledge that globalization has
corresponded to a profound shift in the role that knowledge creation and innovation play in
driving productivity and global economic growth (OECD, 1996, 1999; 2004b; Romer, 1993;


















Stiglitz, 1999; World Bank, 2003), a phenomenon referred to as the “knowledge economy.”
Knowledge—unlike commodities—can be used multiple times and by more than one person
without losing value, and it has marginal distribution costs. These facts open the possibility of
an economic production factor with compounding rather than diminishing returns. The
production, distribution, and use of new knowledge and technological innovations have been
major contributors to increased productivity, the upgrade of physical capital, and the creation
of new, high-value-added jobs. Increases in human, institutional, and technological
capabilities are, in turn, major sources of new knowledge and innovation which then feed
economic growth. From this perspective, technological innovation and new knowledge are
both the engine and the product of economic growth. Consequently, investments in research
and development and technological innovation can create new knowledge that spawns a
virtuous cycle of growth.
A third, parallel and related development—sometimes referred to as the “information
society” (European Commission, 2000)—is the set of broader social changes resulting from
the convergence of computers and communication technologies, their assimilation throughout
society and their use for communication, collaboration, and the sharing of knowledge. As
ICTs—including laptops wirelessly connected to the Internet, personal digital assistants, low-
cost video cameras, and cell phones—become more accessible and embedded in society they
offer the potential to restructure organizations, promote collaboration, increase democratic
participation of citizens, improve the transparency and responsiveness of governmental
agencies, make education and health care more widely available, foster cultural creativity, and
enhance the social integration of individuals with different abilities and groups of different
cultural backgrounds.
National policymakers struggle, on the one hand, to create conditions that support these
developments in their countries and, on the other, to craft policies and programs that cope
with them and harness their effects to support economic growth and the public good.
Education is among the public sectors that most effects—and is most affected by—these
developments. The improvement of educational systems and increased educational attainment
are seen as primary ways that countries can prepare for these global, technology-based
changes (OECD, 1999, 2001a, 2004b; World Bank, 2002b, 2003). And within education, ICT
is seen as a way to promote educational change, improve the skills of learners, and prepare
them for the global economy and the information society (Haddad & Draxler, 2002; Kozma &
Wagner, in press; McNamara, 2003; UNESCO, 2002; Wagner & Kozma, 2005).
Consequently, the desire to be globally competitive, grow the economy, and improve
social conditions is often used to justify significant public sector investments in educational
improvement and the application of ICT in schools. For example, in promoting the use of
educational ICT to support the reform program of the current administration, the U.S.
National Education Technology Plan (Department of Education, 2004) stated that the country
“will face ever increasing competition in the global economy” (p. 6). Correspondingly, the
U.S. Government budgeted over US$690 million on educational technology through block
grants to its states in 2004. Similarly, Singapore, a country of 4 million people, budgeted over
US$1 billion during the 5-year period of its first information technology master plan to install
computers, network schools, and train teachers. In announcing its second master plan, the
Senior Minister for Trade, Industry, and Education said, “Our most important priority as a
nation is to gear up to this future of frequent and unpredictable change, and innovation-driven






growth” (Shanmugaratnam, 2002). The economic argument for investment in educational ICT
is used even in developing countries. In a policy paper on the topic, Egypt’s ruling National
Democratic Party stated, “integrating modern technology into education has astounding
positive influence on nations’ educational development, economical progress and global
position” (NDP, 2003, p. 3).
While the economic rationale is frequently used to justify ICT investments, and the
investments in educational ICT have been substantial, national plans have often lacked
explicit causal connections between these investments and the desired economic and social
impact stated in national goals. This is an important missing link in the structure of ICT-based
educational reform policies and programs. ICT-based innovation can and does occur in
classrooms without there being a close linkage to national policy (Jones, 2003; Kozma,
2003a). However, without explicating the relationship between ICT-based education reform
and the desired social and economic outcomes and building these outcomes into policies and
programs, it is less likely that these classroom innovations will add to overall national
economic and social efforts and have the ultimate intended effects. The connection between
these educational investments and their economic and social returns is a concern for all
countries but they are nowhere more important than in developing countries, where the
resources are few and both the costs and stakes are high.
In this paper, I review the literature in economic development, education reform, and
educational technology to identify growth factors that influence and are influenced by
economic and social development and ICT-based education reform. I formulate a framework
that can be used to analyze these factors, devise policies, and coordinate strategies.
Throughout the paper, I illustrate these factors and their related issues through case studies of
three countries: Singapore, Finland, and Egypt. I feature Finland and Singapore because of
their significant success in both economic progress and educational attainment and because
they represent alternative, policy-based approaches that support these developments. I pick
Egypt because it is a less developed country that is in the midst of reform and currently in the
process of formulating significant economic and educational policies to promote its
development. I draw on the reviewed material, the framework, and the case studies to make
recommendations for the development of ICT-based educational reform policies and
programs that can strengthen the connection between public sector investments and economic
and social transformation. In doing this, I emphasize the particular concerns and challenges of
developing countries.


DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY

National policymakers have an extremely difficult job. They are confronted by tremendous
global trends over which they have little or no control. They have to manage complex systems
of interconnected departments within the context of an even more complex system of
government, non-governmental, and private entities. They have to make high-risk, high-stakes
decisions about public sector policies and programs. And they work with limited, sometimes
extremely limited, resources. Policymakers must often accommodate the interests of other
countries, multilateral institutions, and transnational cor