Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater: Consequences of Covid-19 on the ICT Readiness of Italian Teachers

COVID-19 has accelerated the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the Italian educational system; in this perspective, this paper focuses on the integration of ICT in Italian schools, with three objectives: i) to measure the readiness of teachers to integrate ICT into educational practices, ii) to assess whether the pandemic has had a significant effect on this readiness, and iii) to study whether there are significant differences at the regional level. Our findings highlight the multidimensional nature of “ICT readiness,” the pandemic’s significant influence in some dimensions, and the high level of ICT readiness among teachers in Southern regions, challenging the conventional North-South educational divide in Italy.