Determinants of ICT Curricula Selection in Schools: An International Perspective

This research is interested in understanding the factors behind the decision to select a specific ICT curriculum for a certain grade in the school system. It is hypothesized here that the reasons for such selection consider diverse contexts and factors including cultural (behavior, cognition), organizational, political and strategic. With this in mind, the research reviews relevant literature and attempt to shed more light on the experiences of different westernized countries in the world including the US, Germany and Australia. What could be synthesized from this literature is that the experiences differ widely across the different countries. The research projects this experience by detailing what each country had adopted in its schools and reasons why this took place. Implications arising from the different countries are highlighted as well. However, research in this area is both scant and confusing. Hence, this research will attempt by reviewing relevant literature, models, and tools to generate insights pertaining to the best ICT curricula guidelines that fit high schools needs in UAE from an institutional perspective.