“Si imparano più cose rispetto ai libri usati solitamente” Differenti approcci all’uso delle ICT tra istituti professionali, istituti tecnici e licei nel Sud Italia

Most research about the progressive “embodiment” of ICT in the classroom does not distinguish by school type or track. Understandably, studies focus respectively on primary education, secondary education or higher education. On the other hand, few is known about the ways in which ICTs are being introduced into different types of secondary schools. Notwithstanding, this is a particularly relevant topic, especially in the Italian secondary school system which is hierarchically structured into tracks: vocational schools (istituti professionali), technical schools (istituti tecnici) and academic-oriented high schools (licei). Each track differs, not only for the curricula, but also for students’ socio-economic and cultural background (Checchi, 2003). Indeed tracking has been widely criticized for fostering the reproduction of social inequality across generations (Reay, 2011; Shavit and Muller, 2000). The increasing digitalization of schools might be occurring in different ways, and might be having different consequences, according to secondary school track. Drawing on data collected in 2014 within the project “Evaluation of the effects of ICT investments in Southern Italy’s schools” for the Department of Development and Economic Cohesion, the paper examines the main differences in ICT use and attitudes in different secondary school tracks of Southern Italy. In particular, it analyses teachers uses of ICT (from IWB to smartphones and social network sites), teachers attitudes and students opinions about digital technologies for learning. While data concerning teachers was collected through an online survey on a representative sample of teachers (n. 1.345), students views were collected in a small sample of schools (n. 29) visited by the researchers (the students of a class were asked to write the advantages and disadvantages of ICTs for learning and in six schools focus groups were conducted). Aim of the paper is to investigate: 1) To what extent attitudes and values about ICTs vary according to school track? 2) What are the implications of these differences in terms of digital divide and social inequalities? 3) What are the opportunities, if any, offered by “digital learning” to disadvantaged students in terms of achievement, equality and quality of (school) life? Overall the paper challenges dominant discourses about ICT use in the classroom that do not contemplate how school track and students population shape ICT adoption and its consequences on learning and school life