Abstract

This article analyzes the introduction and implementation of new media and forms of mass communication using new technologies, in the primary and secondary education. The theoretical and empirical research presented in this study support the main conclusion that this implementation is consistent with a systematic cultivation of conformity and adaptation rather than the advance of a culture of critical orientation in social reality. Furthermore, this can be seen also in the general tendency to transform education into training and to substitute apprenticeship for the development of enhanced cultural skills. The analysis shows that this tendency reflects wider cultural changes, as well as changes in the nature of the social bond.

The analysis is based on data collected through a quantitative empirical research with questionnaires. The research explored the representations of teachers about the introduction and the uses of the computers and the internet in primary education. The analysis summarizes the dominant theoretical approaches and considers also several documents on the education policy of the Greek state. The article closes suggesting the basic principles of an alternative approach to the introduction of new forms and media of communication in the education system.