| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Tensions between schools and the outside world have often arisen out of the lack of contiguity between the aims of child‐centred education and the demands of society on education. Technology now offers the opportunity for neutralising these tensions; it is argued that technology confers on individuals more autonomy and reduces the power of the large organisation by exposing the weaknesses inherent in its structure; as society becomes more individual‐centred the logic of child‐centred education will become more clearly apparent. Yet education in its perception of the effects of technological change is short‐sighted and its response is marked by a kind of stereotypy. Some reasons for education's difficulties in understanding the effects of technological change are advanced while some developments in schools are identified as positive reflections of technologically‐induced change. It is suggested that recognition and understanding of the processes underlying these developments is necessary if we are to promote the benefits to be derived from the new changes. |
