All children must be equipped to carry us into the information age

AS THE information society takes shape, it's becoming clear that Ireland is faced with a historic choice that will decide once and for all our place in the 21st century.

The information society offers us the chance, for the first time in our history to become a leading nation. "Neither the size of a country, nor its geographical location, nor its natural resources, nor its position in yesterday's industries is critical in the information age.

So for once we in Ireland start with no handicaps. There is already much evidence that small countries can become leaders in the current World Competitiveness Report, the leading country is Singapore New Zealand is third. Who will be the most competitive country in 21st century Europe? It could be us.

But it could be us only if we embrace the information society fully, building our whole future around it. Doing that would take a concerted national commitment, from government to every citizen. It would also demand radical changes in our education system, particularly in schools.

The choice we face is stark, because the alternative is as threatening as the opportunity is exciting.

If we do not fully embrace the information society, if we do not urgently begin the revolution in the attitudes and practices it demands, we will very soon find we cannot maintain our present state of economic development.

If we are deluded enough to think we can flourish in the information society with the approaches of a previous age, we will find ourselves consigned very rapidly to the world's also rans, much farther down the pecking order than we are now.

What is the way forward?

You don't have to be a futurologist to recognise that literacy in information technology is fast becoming one of the central pillars of employability. By literacy, I mean the lower level skills that allow people to use the technology, rather than the more specialised skills that equip a person to work within the technology itself.

Ireland needs both kinds of skill, but the school system does not provide them in anything like the numbers we now need.

You also don't have to be a technological fanatic to recognise that the earlier young people are introduced to these skills, the better their chance of integrating them fully in their lives.

If children never touch a computer keyboard until they are 15 or 16, the learning they do then must inevitably involve unlearning and rethinking the paradigms they have worked with until then.

But if they work with computers from the age of five, then their mind sets and their life skills will be shaped in terms of the new technology.

Our primary and secondary schools are just not equipped to meet this challenge. At primary level, computers are rare. Even in secondary, computer training is rudimentary or non existent for most students.

This is partly because of a lack of physical resources; too few computers, and therefore too little time available on computer for any individual student. But it is also due to human difficulties: teachers lack the skills to use computers in general teaching; schools lack the technical expertise to properly maintain and exploit the computers they do have.

We look at the emerging skill needs of the information society, then look at what actually happens in our schools, we must wonder whether these two elements belong to the same world. The answer is, of course, that they do not. In the context of the information society, our present school system is already a dinosaur.

There is a further aggravating factor. If no young people at all had access to computers, then those parents who are articulate and politically active would already be on the barricades. The reality, however, is that some children do have access; the children of parents who are relatively well off, and who realise how central computers will be in tomorrow's society.

So what is opening up, at a frighteningly fast pace, is a new form of educational disadvantage. We may boast about a system that offers much the same to everyone, but it's an empty boast if some can supplement that system while others can't.

It is a particularly empty boast if what is supplemented is central to the student's future employment chances.

For the parents of well off middle class children, the inadequacy of information technology in schools may not appear critical, because many of them can get what they need outside the school system. But it is critical, because if Ireland's economy is to succeed in the information society, everybody will need to have the appropriate technological skills.

LET me make a practical contribution on this. Providing more computers in schools is a question of money. We have an opportunity now, created by our changing demographic pattern.

The number of five year olds entering the school system is falling sharply, a decline that will ripple upwards through the system over the next decade.

Already this change is creating a resource war. The State's financial managers want to cut back on the overall amount spent on schools. Teachers want to use the slack to improve the teacher/student ratio.

What I suggest is that we use the released resources to bring information technology properly into the school system, to bring it in universally and adequately, all the way from the beginning of primary school to Leaving Certificate.

I find it hard to believe that any one who seriously considers implications of the information society could see a better use for these resources.

But money is not enough. To manage their hardware properly, schools need technical skills they mostly do not have. I suggest two ways of acquiring those skills:

. Third level institutions could become support resources for schools in managing their computer systems. This could be organised regionally, and some of the contribution could be through project work by third level students.

. Another need is for sheer teaching power. Primary teachers have no skills in information technology. It would take a generation to reskill all teachers, and long term that is certainly the route we must go. But in the meantime, there is another way: bring people with these skills in from the community, to act as direct teachers and also as mentors.

There are ways forward. Creating a leadership position for Ireland in the information age is a practical possibility. But our first step must be to recognise that what we do in our schools now is totally inadequate.