In several European countries, broad and integral country-wide debates are being organized on the "what" (rational, aims, objectives, content) of education: "What knowledge is of most worth to learn in basic education, and why/for what purpose?" To assist in creating a common understanding and sense of direction, these debates take place with professionals (teachers, school leaders, students, experts, researchers, etc.) and within society as a whole (societal organisations, employers, policy makers, etc.). Moreover, ICT plays a supportive role in stimulating and organising these debates.

In order to learn from experiences, a study has been carried out to explore the question: "In which ways can ICT play a (supportive) role in planning, organising and leading national curriculum debates?"

The main question has been subdivided into the following sub questions:

• What approach do countries take when planning, organising and enacting national curriculum debates?
• In which ways are these debates supported by ICT, which functionalities of ICT were intended and/or realised?
• Which types or which functionalities of ICT-applications seem to work/not to work, and why?

The intention of this exploratory study was to define design principles/guidelines that may well feed the planning, organisation, and management of national curriculum debates.

In this symposium the results of the study will be presented. Nienke Nieveen, Petra Fisser, Anne Muller and Joke Voogt will start with a presentation of the research design and the main findings. Then Ben Murray (Ireland) and Erja Vitikka (Finland) will present the approaches taken in the national curriculum debates and dialogues in their countries, including the main lessons learned. The symposium will be completed with a discussion by Jan van den Akker, who will also shed light on the approach taken in the Dutch national curriculum dialogue that commenced at the end of 2014.

.