Information Society Elementary School Teachers: A Case of Croatia VATROSLAV ZOVKO, SINISA FAJT, VLADIMIR SIMOVIC Faculty of Teacher Education University of Zagreb Savska cesta 77, Zagreb 10000 CROATIA vatroslav.zovko@zg.t-com.hr; sfajt@fer.hr; vladimir.simovic@zg.t-com.hr http://www.ufzg.hr Abstract: - The work presents the research about usage of computers in everyday teaching. The work presents the research conducted on teachers in elementary school in the Republic of Croatia. The aim of the research was to conduct opinion that usage of computers is inevitable in everyday teaching as more and more young teachers have sufficient computer knowledge to perform all basic teaching activities, thus making elementary schools ready for teaching in e- learning environment. Also, the aim of the research was to was to conduct opinion that Teachers need more formal education in the application of information and communication technology (ICT) so that they can exploit all the opportunities available by use of computers Possession and use of ICT is the prerequisite for developing a model for lifelong learning of teachers in the Republic of Croatia through distance learning and teaching, also. This preliminary research was part of main Scientific research named “Analytical Model for Monitoring of New Education Technologies for Longlife Learning“ conducted by Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia (Registered Number 227-2271694-1699). Key-Words: - information society, elementary school teachers, a case of Croatia, lifelong learning, distance learning 1 Introduction As a prospective EU state, Croatia has to adopt EU standards and one of these efforts is reflected through the activities of Central Administrative Office for E-Croatia that was founded in year 2003. The e-Croatia Program is divided into several areas of implementation 1 :  e-Administration  e-Justice  e-Education  e-Health  e-Business  e-Culture Education in this perspective is seen as a major factor for economic growth and development. EU stressed this point through prerequisites for learning in the information society: access to information society tools, skilled teachers with adequate support, and usage of multimedia 2 . 1 Central Administrative Office for E-Croatia: The Implementation of E-Croatia Programme, http://e- hrvatska.hr/sdu/en/ProgramEHrvatska/Provedba.html , accessed 30. dec. 2008 2 European Comission: Strategies for Jobs in the Information Society, Luxembourg, 2000, ec.europa.eu/employment_social/knowledge_society/strategies _en.pdf, pg. 8-13, accessed 30. dec. 2008 Major driving force for introduction of information technologies in elementary schools besides politics, are teachers. In information society the role of teachers is drastically changing: from giver of information to facilitator of student learning 3 , or coach 4 . In the case of Croatia teachers in both elementary and high schools have little flexibility in what they teach, they are flexible only in how they teach. In that perspective, with current stage of technological development it would appear that ICT in educational system is ever-present. Mooij and Smeets identified five phases of ICT implementation within schools 5 : 1. incidental and isolated use of ICT by one or more teachers 2. increasing school awareness of ICT relevance for the school at all levels 3 Asan A: Computer Technology Awareness by Elementary School Teachers: A Case Study from Turkey, Journal of Information Technology Education, Vol 2, 2003, pg. 153-164 4 Eg S and Geerdink M: Telematic Lessons to be Learned in Education, Education + Training, Vol 39, No 7, 1997, pg. 256- 259 5 Yuen AHK, Law N, Wong KC: ICT implementation and school leadership – Case studies of ICT integraion in teaching and learning, Journal of Educational Administration, vol 41, no 2, 2003, pg. 158-170 Proceedings of the 8th WSEAS International Conference on EDUCATION and EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY ISSN: 1790-5109 52 ISBN: 978-960-474-128-1