This article focuses on the GI as one of the driving actors behind the implementation of computer science education in public school curricula in Germany. We investigate the changing concepts of computer education as promoted by the GI and ask to what extent the conceptual changes can be understood as a response to technological developments, as an expression of the establishment of computer science as an academic discipline, or as a response to more general public debates.

This article examines the historical contribution of the German Informatics Society (GI) to the establishment of computer education in German schools. It highlights the role of societal interests, international developments, public and professional debates, and technological change in the GI’s educational policy recommendations. The historical source base consists of conference proceedings, position papers and other publications by key actors within and outside the GI. Methodologically, the article refers to the concept of strategic fields of action. The article shows how the GI’s understanding of computer science played an important role in its initial policy recommendations. With increasing computerisation and then the World Wide Web, the GI had to adapt its recommendations to the now more complex situation in Germany and the polyphonic debate.