Digital competences in teachers’ training. A glance on critical issues and a focus on Brazil

In recent years there have been many research projects that have investigated at international level the training needs of teachers for the integration of ICT in teaching and at the same time international and national policies encourage the strengthening of teacher training to produce and raise the number of knowledgeable and skilled students. International organisms are monitoring the ICT use in education through international surveys, exploring possibility to harmonise approaches to data collection and proposing sets of common ‘indicators’, acknowledging that ICT can offer possibilities for accelerated learning and improved management and accountability of education systems. ICT investments in education have been considered, for years now, as cross–cutting issues. In this framework, the contribution presents an example of research on the barriers for the use of ICT in the school, through the first results of a research, still in progress, by the University of Alagoas in Brazil.