Training in the use of the ICT: what do the teachers need?

One of the aspects that needs to be taken into account to promote a better integration of the technologies in the education system is the assessment of the skills and ICT alphabetization of the educators. Only an integrated approach, combining investment in hardware with training and incentives for those teachers implementing an effective use of ICT in the classroom, will lead to a real change. This research focuses on the training needs expressed by the teachers, both in the didactic and the relational area. An anonymous questionnaire was created and submitted online to an Italian national sample of 1,034 primary, middle and secondary school teachers. The participation was anonymous and voluntary. Results show that the request for training among the educators is very high (83%) in all level of school and all over Italy. Teachers already have some kind of technical preparation in most of the cases (82%) but they need help in the integration of ICT in the didactic (80.8%), and in the recognition of problematic use of the ICT among the students (15.3%). These results suggest the need for extremely customized training courses for the teachers, taking into account the specific of every situation and with a practical approach that will allow the educators to experiment with the ICT and discover new ways to use them