Creating an inclusive digital school district in a Northern Italian Urban Periphery

Citizenship in the sense of participation and shared responsibility is challenged by social exclusion in multicultural communities, particularly those with high economic inequity. This research study of schools in a socioeconomically disadvantaged suburb on the outskirts of Milan, Italy, addresses how access to information and the development of digital skills mitigated aspects of social exclusion and triggered more active participation in the life of the community. The project team observed the process of digitalisation as it affected administrators, teachers, parents, and students over a period of four years. Data in the form of structured observations, meeting and interview transcripts, and actual usage rates were collected, categorised, and eventually sorted into three main categories: 1) administrative promotion of inclusion; 2) school investment in equitable access to digital resources; and 3) capacity-building among stakeholders. Analysis of the data supported the ideas that 1) digital forms of participation are particularly valuable for people at risk of exclusion in communities; 2) consistent with European Union [EU] policies, education and particularly its digital form is a valuable key to civic inclusion; and 3) efforts at educational digitalisation must be long-term and intentional to be sustainable.