Opinions, training and requirements regarding ICT of educators in Florence and Granada for students with functional diversity

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a means of learning for people with functional diversity (FD), in the context of both formal and non-formal education. These digital options favor their inclusion, participation and motivation, so having competent professionals in the feld of educational technology is crucial for the full development of this popula tion. Within this framework, the opinion, training and requirements regarding ICT of 809 educators in Florence (Italy) and Granada (Spain) were analyzed, following a quantitative study, with a non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional and comparative design. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and mode) and frequencies were used. After checking the normality of the data (Kolmogórov–Smirnov test), inferential analyses were performed, applying Student's t- test and one-factor ANOVA, calculating the efect size (Cohen’s d and eta squared). Statistically signifcant diferences were found according to city of origin, gender, and years of experience with students with FD. The results point to the need for diferent educators to have sufcient technological training, as despite being aware of the functionalities of ICT and having a favorable opinion of them, resources and knowledge about their use fall short of what is desirable.