INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION: NEW OPPORTUNITIES OR NEW INEQUALITIES? THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE

This work focuses on the role that Innovation and Communication Technologies (ICT) played in the Italian education system, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when face-to-face lessons were suddenly substituted by remote teaching. Distance learning to be effective requires connectivity, digital devises, digital skills and, at the same time, suitable housing conditions. All these issues are analyzed leading back to a unique picture of Italy: a country deeply divided between the North and the South, where the household socio-economic background continues to be a key determinant of students' schooling performance as well as of their unequal access to ICT.