Education and the European Digital Agenda
Switzerland, Germany and Sweden after 1970
The project
Technological issues are enjoying a boom in many areas of educational research and in education policies.
Historical perspectives, however, are still rare. Instead, research on “educational technologies” and “technology education” often works under the assumption that these are new problems without any historical conditions. This project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) can help develop a long-term perspective and consider its own research against the background of earlier attempts.

OUTLINE AND OBJECTIVES
It is commonly assumed that the new information and communications technologies are a huge challenge for the traditional systems of public schooling, higher education and vocational education and training. This project is concerned with how this challenge has been met in Europe during the first decades after the microchip started restructuring businesses, administration and daily life. It reconstructs how the educational implications of technological change have been faced politically between 1970 and the end of the dotcom boom around 2000. The project focuses especially on the political initiatives regarding secondary schooling, vocational education and training, adult and higher education.
Team
Education and the European Digital Agenda
Switzerland, Germany and Sweden after 1970
International Reference Group
Anne Rohstock, Germany
Jane Gingrich, UK
Johannes Westberg, the Netherlands
Lucien Criblez, Switzerland
Magnus Hultén, Sweden
Sabine Reh, Germany
Timeline
April 1, 2019
Start of the project
Familiarisation and preparatory work.
July 8, 2019
Workshop individual projects with Céline Angehrn.
Autumn 2019
Start initial on-site archive research.
February 6, 2020
Initial meeting international reference group.
April 2020
Start archive research Europe and OECD.
October 2020
Start archive research national and comparative studies.
July 15, 2021
Computers in the Classroom Workshop
September 2021
Start archive research French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino
September 16, 2021
Circulation of Computer Knowledge Beyond Schooling Workshop
Winter 2022
International conference
News
April 1, 2021
New episode of the History of Education Society UK podcast with Carmen Flury and Rosalía Guerrero
January 25, 2021
Out now: “The OECD as an arena for debate on the future uses of computers in schools” by Barbara Hof & Regula Bürgi