Trends in Informatics Education

In the Final Report of the Seminar on Informatics in the Service of the Development of Education in Africa (Unesco, 1990) sponsored by Unesco, three strategic policy aspects were discussed, namely: – informatics as a subject to be taught; – informatics as a teaching aid; and – informatics as an instrument of management, within the context of regional, sub-regional and country case studies (see Rodrigues et al., 1993, for example). We present a model of education that provides a framework for the analysis and discussion of key issues pertaining to the theme of this paper. We then elaborate two facets of this model in order to explain: – informatics education within the context of the environmental, social and organizational infrastructure within which it exists; and, – the process of informatics education. We then analyse three model curricula in computer science and highlight some surveys of informatics education and informatics at university level. Information technology (IT) developmental issues, such as national infrastructures, policies and plans, are discussed.