Aims: This paper aims to analyse the debate concerning the incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by the Spanish Educational System, specifically the background and development of the first state-sponsored experimental programme, the Atenea project (1985-1992). Methodology and sources: To this end, we performed a review of documents pertaining to the programme and its evaluation, also taking into account the debates it generated. These documents were supplemented by reports and evaluations on related programmes, the conclusions of which we analyse in comparison with some of the contemporary reports, such as the one published by the OECD in 2015. Conclusions: Some of the fundamental debates that arose as a result of these programmes promoting the use of computers, in particular the Atenea, are strikingly valid but still lack a clear response. In the case of the promotion of ICT as an educational tool, we must recognize the relevance of corporate and business interests that saw the Education System as a large market, and therefore encouraged this type of programme, favouring an application focused more on the instrumental level than on the pedagogical one.
Research focused on the concept of the international or, rather, of international influences and interdependencies, has become a highly recurrent line of work that has been acquiring a notable presence in the field of the History of Education. The objective of this approach to historiographical work is justified as it attempts to explain with a better precision and accuracy what has happened within national borders, or even within more defined perimeters such as regional and local ones. The transfer of ideas and projects, the importation or imitation of pedagogical models, the transfer and influence of educational and school practices, the links and connections between different cultural scenarios and knowledge, the dependencies and interdependencies of international organizations, among other aspects, have led to new and more plausible analyses of educational processes and the political and social will that fostered them. The present work focuses on researching how these practices have evolved, and their networks of connection and exchange, in order to better understand educational and curricular policies in their historical development.
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