The digitalization of all spheres of life has entailed significant developments on a global scale. In view of the responsibility to prepare students for the digital age, educational systems have taken on a key role in imparting digital competencies and using ICT for learning on future generations (Edwards, 2012). In this respect, research revolves around the potential of technological developments to change or improve learning processes and to ensure students’ participation in a digitalized society. While there is a broad range of knowledge on schools and on which factors contribute to adapting schools to the affordances of these changes, comparably little is known about the developments of educational systems and how it is affected by policies (Ball, Maguire & Braun, 2012; Vanderlinde, van Braak & Dexter, 2012). Closing this research gap, this contribution elaborates on the analysis of overarching concepts and policies towards ICT integration into schools, curricula and school systems. In this scope, the analyses bring together recent developments regarding ICT policies in schools from different parts of the world (Eickelmann, 2018, in press). The seven regions that are covered are: Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, North Africa and the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to analyse and compare ICT policies in these regions, questions addressed in this contribution are: How does policy deal with integrating ICT in teaching and learning in schools? Which overall policy plans and strategies exist and what is characteristic of and common in policy documents about ICT and education? How useful and effective are these and in which range can one identify indications that certain policy measures are more successful than others? The analyses close with a forward-looking discussion and the attempt to draw conclusions on educational research towards ICT use in European schools.

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