Cultures, training and career development. The integration of ICT in educational institutions

Two three-year research projects were designed to analyse and evaluate the factors involved and the strengths and weaknesses created in educational innovation projects when the innovative aspect fosters new teaching and learning environments mediated by ICT. Both projects shared a focus on the teacher dimension (culture, training and career development) and the same theoretical and methodological approach. The first project focused on the innovation processes themselves, and the second, on the design of teaching situations with ICT involving innovation for the school. The research was done by means of a longitudinal case study with collaborative action research. Three school years, 2006 to 2009, were spent at a grouped rural school, a preschool/elementary school, an integrated public school and a secondary school. The dimensions of analysis were grouped at the macro level (education policy), the meso level (institutions) and the micro level (teachers). The intention was to make visible the relationships among personal, professional, institutional and leadership factors in creating sustainable conditions for ICT innovation in schools. The results showed abundant evidence of teachers' career development and changes in professional and institutional culture through the collaborative action research process. The continuity of the work was one of the things that facilitated the achievements. Teacher beliefs about content and their conception of teaching hindered the change spurred by ICT. The focus was therefore placed on the cultural aspects of changes, thus enabling the proposals to be sustained at the end of the research.