The National Grid for Learning (NGfL) not only represents the most ambitiou
s educational computing initiative to date but also heralds one of the larg
est public/private education policy partnerships the UK has evert seen, in
reflecting the growing influence of market and technological forces the NGf
Z should, therefore, be treated as a significant education signpost for the
new century. Before the initiative reaches full operation a major step in
the 'construction' of the Learning Grid has been its formation within gover
nment and official discourse. This discursive construction is important ina
smuch as it makes an 'ethereal' initiative a tangible concern, shaping expe
ctations among both the education and business communities and consequently
influencing the future effectiveness of the NGfL.
From this basis, the present article examines how the National Grid for Lea
rning is being discursively constructed by government and official actors a
t a macro level through policy and advisory documents, official statements
and other rhetoric. In doing so the article highlights how the NGfZ is bein
g shaped within a restrictive technocratic and determinist discourse, thus
conforming to traditional narratives of society and technology. The paper t
hen aims to show how such construction negates crucial social and economic
elements of the initiative and threatens, ultimately, to restrict the event
ual educational effectiveness of the Grid.