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The external motivation to organize a conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools with specific focus on the Evolution and Perspective of School Informatics was an anniversary. 1985 informatics instruction was introduced in secondary acade mic schools () in Austria as an independent subject. It encompassed two credit hours of basic informatics instruction in the 5 form (age group 14 – 15 years old) and possible electives thereafter. A few years later, electives in informatics could be chosen even at lower grades.

Effects of information technology on economy, society and education were discussed already at the beginning of the 1980’s. The German computer scientist Klaus Haefner even predicted an educational crisis caused by the penetration of information technology into our lives. When the personal computer became the “machine of the year 1985”, politicians and educators in the industrialized countries proclaimed “computer literacy” as an essential part of education and demanded the integration of new technologies into the curriculum.

This paper describes the comprehensive instruction project “Computer-Education-Society” of the school year 1984/85, launched by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Sports on the background of the author’s personal involvement as a permanent speaker at the central teacher seminars in Vienna and as a historical dedication to the 20 anniversary of the implementation of the subject at the compulsory secondary general school ().

The way in which Austrian schools have reacted to the needs of a growing digital society has been, all things considered, a success story. This is remarkable as schools in general are not necessarily places where excessive progress takes place. Many teachers are rather conservative and not willing to take part in every new promising development unless they are fully convinced of its benefits. This applies especially to teachers who are now confronted with introducing new technologies. Unlike the more or less established subject Informatics, the overall penetration of information technology in education is still at the beginning. We have to remember that the present situation has not appeared from nowhere, but has to be seen as a result of a comparatively short, but all the more turbulent history with roots already in the seventies. The official start for the subject Informatics in the secondary academic schools in Austria (AHS) can be dated back to 1985 when all these schools have been equipped with computers for the first time. “History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this” is a quotation from Karl Marx and can be applied very well to the development of Informatics in Austrian general educating schools. Even if the visible changes in hardware, software and curricula are remarkable enough it should be pointed out that this short history was a history of people behind these developments, enthusiastic teachers as well as responsible policy makers in that field.

The contribution offers a survey about vocational schools in Austria (both intermediate and higher education) and the development and position of the informatics education. The main area of the account lies within the “technical and vocational schools and colleges”, but also the other forms of vocational schools (“schools of occupations in the business sector”, “schools of management and service industries”, “schools of social occupations”) will be explained. In addition a selection of various special school models will be dealt with. Furthermore the development of the informatics curricula, the present state and the current trends will be described.

We investigate issues in the preparation of students for undergraduate study. Specifically, we focus upon the question of whether computer science students would be better prepared if they were required to pass a school level qualification in the discipline. Thus we investigate the school level curriculum in detail and make a comparison with the demands of a typical UK university first year. We conclude that there is no reason necessarily to see a school level qualification as assisting the preparation of students for undergraduate study in computer science. Rather, we hypothesise that the value of the qualification will depend heavily on the nature of the teaching experienced.

The reform of the Polish national education system started in the school year 1999/2000. One of the main features of it is the plan to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into almost all school subjects. The second important feature is preparing students to use computers and software in other subjects during separate ICT lessons. The separate lessons on using computers and ICT are called informatics. Informatics lessons are obligatory in primary schools and in middle schools (gimnazjum). In high schools (liceum) there is an obligatory subject called information technology (IT) and an elective subject called informatics (computer science). It is possible to take the maturity exam in informatics when someone has graduated from the high school. The authors work as a team, and have prepared subject curricula, informatics textbooks, electronic materials for students and accompanying guidelines and books for teachers for all stages of the education system. We are also engaged in teacher-education and in-service training. We want to exchange our ideas, as realized within these materials, and we would like to present our experience in making these ideas alive in our schools. The realization of informatics education in secondary schools is a continuing process. We are at the moment, in the year 2005, when the first graduates of the new education system will come to study in our universities. So it is necessary to make some reflections on the past.

During the last years a need of a new policy for implementing information and communication technology (ICT) in education has emerged. The Strategy for ICT implementation in Lithuanian education for 2005-2007 has been developed. Standards for school students’ as well as teachers’ computer literacy have been prepared and implemented. Teaching and learning information technology (IT) course in schools is one of the most relevant issues in information society. The paper deals with the goals and nature of the IT introducing into curriculum. It discuses the links with other school subjects and estimates the relationship between the compulsory IT course and the integrated parts as well as elective modules. The issues of general competencies essential for a contemporary citizen and the role of ICT in their development are also being discussed. Some suggestions in respect of developing IT curricula and general content are presented.

In the last two years educational standards have been an important issue when discussing the different student achievements in upper secondary education of the EU member countries. Standards are an indicator of quality at school and should be applied to different subject areas in general and to vocational education (and training). Computer science or information technology is one of the most interesting subjects in this context: It is pretty new in all curricula and is strongly linked to practice. The definition of different achievement levels to understand important models and patterns of school informatics is rather easy. There are also good links to certification standards in industry and expert circles. Therefore, the paper outlines a model of four levels for standards of certification in information technology skills. It fits well for 13 year (7th grade) to 18 – 20 year (12-14th grade) old students. Critical success factors are discussed. First experiences with the model have been analysed.

Educational standards fixes three main parameters in informatics and informatics’ technology: the goals for every step of education (primary step, intermediate step and pre-professional step), the obligatory component of the content, and the level of it’s acquaintance. The basic course is the course of 8-9 classes. Informatics’ technology of solving tasks is in the focus of the basic course. There are three aspects of the technology: “Informatics’ processes and their automatisation”, “Informatics models” and “Informatics’ point in managing”. The three aspects are fixed in the standard and are common for the permanent course of informatics (taught from the second to the eleventh class).

The article describes the present-day situation and general approach to teaching informatics in secondary schools in Ukraine. The syllabus of teaching informatics in Ukrainian schools is described, including major topics and the number of academic hours.