Abstract

This article introduces the special issue of Scuola Democratica – Learning for Democracy on the subject of school digitalization, providing some general reflections and interpretative keys on this topic. In the contemporary debate on education modernization strategies, innovation through digital technologies is identified as one of the privileged ways to reform and improve education systems. In line with an international literature that deals critically with the relationship between education and new technologies, the article opens a space for reflection on how to recognize and understand the transformations taking place and the effects produced by the introduction of digital technologies in the Italian school system, trying to avoid the pitfalls of ‘technological optimism’ and the a priori rejection of ICT and digital technologies for schooling.