Editor's Introduction

Abstract

As part of the far reaching educational reform that is to be implemented in the Soviet Union during the years of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990), the introduction into secondary education of a course called "Basic Information Science and Computer Technology" stands out among the reform measures as one that is receiving special emphasis in the country's press as well as special attention in the school system. The overall goal of the educational reform is to tie schooling more closely to the needs of the national economy, to produce well-educated and effectively trained manpower to fuel a recovery of its sagging output. The teaching of computer literacy was written into the official state documents that initiated the reform; the April 1984 "Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform" cited the need to "… equip [all secondary school] pupils with the knowledge and skills necessary to make use of modern computer technology…" and envisioned the introduction of computers "… into the educational process on a broad scale, setting up special school and inter-school computer centers for this purpose."