Schools in Austria providing compulsory education are accountable for imparting IT skills and informatics competencies to their pupils. The term and subject “informatics” encompasses almost every activity which has to do with computers at schools. In many cases “IT” would be more appropriate to describe the present situation at the lower secondary level. Therefore clarity of the terms “IT” and “Informatics” is necessary. This paper also addresses the issue of developing educational standards in that field, which are considered important to close the digital gap after compulsory educationEducation for the 21 st century - impact of ICT and Digital Resources ConferenceRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI)