WHICH TECHNOLOGICAL SKILLS AND TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: SYNGERGIES AND DISCORDANCES

Although Homebound Education (HE) guarantees the academic instruction to children who cannot attend school for medical conditions, it is perceived as a poor substitute for real school by students themselves, mainly because they miss the social life and activities usually done during the lessons. The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) can help in facing this issue, by breaking the geographical boundaries and distance and allowing the feeling of being part of the classroom. The lack of teachers' skills in the use of ICTs is one of the most impeding factor for their useful integration in the teaching activities. We investigated the relation between teachers' age, discipline, school level and the teaching strategies they use in HE, their skills and use of ICTs. 1280 Italian teachers (F=87%) filled in an online questionnaire, composed by 24 items. Results highlight that Italian teachers are not keen to integrate technologies in their teaching strategies, both for the organization and performance of their activities. This lack of integration can be addressed to several teachers' characteristics (i.e., age, school level of teaching, and the discipline they teach).