Three rationales are prominent in the reasoning about integration of ICTs in the curriculum: the social rationale, the vocational and the pedagogical rationale. All students need to master ICT literacy to become full-fledged members of society (the social rationale). Because of the emergence of new jobs and the change in existing jobs due to ICTs, the curriculum of vocational education programs is affected (the vocational rationale). While the potential of ICTs as a medium for teaching and learning is recognized by many (the pedagogical rationale), the implementation is often problematic, resulting in the fact that relatively few students worldwide are offered the opportunity to learn with the help of ICTs.

To effectively integrate ICTs into educational practices teachers need to develop competencies which will help them to integrate domain knowledge, appropriate pedagogy and knowledge about ICTs. Teacher development should be part of a systemic change effort focusing on the school-wide adoption of ICTs.