What Do Italian Students and Teachers Ask About Digital? Data and Reflections From Schools Participating in National Operational Programs

The school digitalization policies in Italy have a long course, which has provided important infrastructural investments alternating, and in some cases integrating, with investments dedicated to teacher training. Upstream of these initiatives, the scientific and cultural debate on the usefulness, relevance, and effectiveness of the technologies in the classroom has continued to remain on. Within this composite framework, the contribution brings data and reflections coming from the large-scale observation of the attitudes, needs, and digital practices of Italian students and teachers. The analysis is based on two surveys, carried out by INDIRE in 2018, out of 6.127 students and 1.674 Italian teachers who took part in the courses provided by the 2014-2010 PON structural funds. The results show that there is a clear ambition, among students, to learn to use the web for their social and cultural growth, and for their integration into the professional world. Respect to this, the most digitally skilled teachers are responding, working in particular on teaching access and effective use of online knowledge. However, much work still needs to be done to extend these practices to the majority of teachers, and to strengthen the link between digital behaviors and soft skills, especially for the weaker students.

"we can summarize that only a still minority of teachers is characterized by a “technology savvy” attitude and it works assiduously in developing innovative methodologies and transversal digital skills. [...] Moreover, the research has shown that there are still few teachers who use digital methodologies useful for the future job. Then, generic uses of digital for professional student empowerment are also rare. Among students’ practices, entertainment attitudes toward technologies are the most widespread. However, when active and participatory approaches to digital are proposed at school, students, from all the types and social background, increasingly use digital technology for learning purposes. Finally, we have seen that visions of the digital competences by teachers and students only partially match. In fact, the expressed needs on digital, by students and teachers, highlight a widespread awareness of the extreme importance to take a step forward in the use of technology and learn to utilize it as a cultural interface, able to provide new tools to learn, understand and integrate into the society. Among the priorities that emerged, the use of digital technology to access and process knowledge represents an important shared point of view, between students and teachers, and an interesting sign of a mature vision in relation to the topic." (Buffardi et al., 2021, pp. 129-130).