1 Introduction

The aim of the article is to present the role of school principals in supporting teachers’ skillful use of information and communication technologies in education. The use of digital technologies in all the areas of social life is a common phenomenon. Many human activities, such as learning, work or entertainment, can be done through e-services (UNESCO 2017). Hence, it is expected of school nowadays to be changing the educational process following the transition from the industrial age to knowledge-based economy (Borawska-Kalbarczyk et al. 2019; Rubene 2018). Mobile devices which allow for communication and looking for information anywhere and anytime do not only diversify the didactic tools but also, even more importantly, change the perception of the place of learning from a traditional classroom to educational space (Morbitzer 2010; Tapscott 2010). “Teachers design the learning activities of their students and are thus instrumental for implementing digital teaching and learning practices. A majority of students in the EU currently have teachers using digital technologies in at least a quarter of their classes (71% at primary level, 58% at lower secondary level; and 65% at upper secondary level). The intensity in use of digital technologies in classrooms across the three education levels, which almost doubled from 2011/2012 (…)” (European Commission 2019a, p. 86).

However, while access to information is easy nowadays, the role of the teacher is much more difficult, as it requires new skills. These are both skills connected with the use of the vast offer of the virtual world and with the protection of students, Digital Natives (Prensky 2001), from, as expressed by J. Morbitzer, “monopolization of the mental space and imposing of technological thinking” (2010, p. 9). What we need is education leading both to the acquisition of digital competence and to respecting humanistic values, “equipping citizens with the skills and attributes required to exercise digital agency” (Passey et al. 2018, p. 437).

The concept of Smart Pedagogy is currently developing so as to stress the need to use pedagogical knowledge in implementing information and communication technologies in education. Therefore, “the role of pedagogy becomes more important for finding the ways to incorporate technology in education” (Daniela 2019, p. 11). This aspect is also pointed out by the authors of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning concept (Fullan and Langworthy 2014; Fullan et al. 2017). They argue that the opportunities offered by digital technologies foster a change in the roles of teachers and students in the educational process. Their potential is necessary to activate “deep learning” (Fullan and Langworthy 2014). New pedagogical methods using ICT should help students develop and become independent, enabling them to formulate and achieve their own educational goals and personal ambitions (Scardamalia and Bereiter 1999; Fullan and Langworthy 2014, p. 45). All the participants of the educational process, however, must be aware that although access to ample sources of information allows the student’s active role, it does not guarantee it. Just providing the necessary equipment in school will not usher a new culture of learning. “… access to digital technologies does not automatically translate into high rates of use, nor into innovative teaching methods or better learning outcomes” (European Commission 2019a, p. 90). For digital technologies to support the process of education and allow active participation of students resulting in “deep learning” (Fullan and Langworthy 2014), schools need teachers who have excellent skills of building partner relationships with students and among students (Borawska-Kalbarczyk et al. 2019). They would help gain the skill of autonomous learning, which is one of key competences in the context of the present dynamics of changes (European Commission 2019b). According to Fullan and Langworthy: “Without changes to the fundamental pedagogical models by which teachers teach and learners learn, technology investments have too often simply layered slightly more entertaining content delivery or basic skill practice on top of conventional teaching strategies that focus on the reproduction of existing content knowledge” (2014, p. 30).

However, in many schools, these changes do not take place. One important reason for the lack of visible progress in the operation of schools is teachers’ resistance to changing the applied methods and instruments (Flanagan and Jacobsen 2003, p. 125; Fullan and Langworthy 2014, p. 49). Therefore, the key role in transforming school culture into the culture of learning is assigned to school principals (Fullan 2003; Day 2008; Lunenburg 2010; Madalińska-Michalak 2012; Harris and Jones 2018). Conclusions from other authors’ studies confirm that leadership is an important factor in effective implementation of ICT in schools. A key role is played by the leaders who use digital technologies in carrying out their tasks and include them in their own professional development. They provide a model for teachers to imitate and are more successful in including ICT in the educational process (Kincaid and Feldner 2002; Afshari et al. 2012; Thannimalai and Raman 2018). Therefore, school principals need to develop new competences so as to be effective in that role (Flanagan and Jacobsen 2003), and the integration of new technologies with the educational process should be an important element of their professional development programs (Afshari et al. 2012). The findings of studies which identify obstacles preventing the incorporation of ICT in daily school work may also help carry out the leadership role. Flanagan and Jacobsen list the following barriers: (1) pedagogical issues, (2) concerns about equity, (3) inadequate professional development, and (4) lack of informed leadership. Especially important from the point of view of this research is the lack of informed leadership. Flanagan and Jacobsen found in their study that many leaders were actually unprepared to serve that role. The schools concentrated on infrastructure but ignored the crucial cultural changes necessary to support teachers in the use of ICT in improving students’ learning (Flanagan and Jacobsen 2003).

The author of this paper used the concepts of a learning organization to describe the new role of school leaders (Senge et al. 2002; Senge 2006; Kools and Stoll 2016) and New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (Fullan and Langworthy 2014; Fullan et al. 2017). Each of them includes a component related to the leadership role of school principals and considers it as a key element, setting the direction and ensuring the conditions for fully achieving the assumed goals. Contemporary organizations, including schools, function in a dynamically changing environment, which forces changes in the organizational model. Hierarchical, bureaucratized organizations were suitable in the time when the student had to be prepared to stable, routine, repeatable jobs in the industrial era. They do not foster innovativeness, and the information flow within them is often limited, which makes it difficult to react to changes. Traditional organizations highlight the superior/subordinate hierarchy, so the managerial role of the principal means that they should know everything and be able to answer all questions and solve all problems. In the more complex and dynamically changing reality, the organizational model and the managerial roles change. What is important is that all participants, including the management staff, should learn continuously and use the potential of people in various relations where learning may take place. The organizational model fitting the present time of dynamic changes is a learning organization. Following its assumptions, principals may create at their schools the conditions for teachers learning individually (as part of personal pursuit of excellence) and in relations with other teachers as well as students (Tołwińska 2016). The learning school model includes the following elements:

  • “Developing and sharing a vision centred on the learning of all students,

  • Creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all staff,

  • Promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff, establishing a culture of inquiry,

  • Innovation and exploration, embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning,

  • Learning with and from the external environment and larger learning system,

  • Modelling and growing learning leadership” (Kools and Stoll 2016, p. 10).

Modeling and growing leadership in learning is the element that binds all the others. Leadership is the key component, because it sets the direction for all the activities. In a learning school, the leader is responsible for placing the process of learning in the center of the school mission and making sure that it is the core of daily practices of teachers. Learning refers to all the groups, i.e., students and teachers, and the leader is the “first learner” (Day 2008), also changing their own way of thinking and action. The leader of a learning school concentrates on building relationships with teachers and among teachers, which facilitate collaboration, dialog and knowledge sharing. For such relationships to be present at school, its culture must be based on the values of security and trust. Such leaders are also strongly engaged in building collaboration with parents and the local community. They put a lot of effort in improving the situation of disadvantaged students. They establish collaboration with local institutions to help those students in a more comprehensive way (Kools and Stoll 2016).

The leadership role of the school principal was described by identifying certain elements:

  • “School leaders model learning leadership, distribute leadership and help grow other leaders, including students,

  • School leaders are proactive and creative change agents,

  • School leaders develop the culture, structures and conditions to facilitate professional dialogue, collaboration and knowledge exchange,

  • School leaders ensure that the organisation’s actions are consistent with its vision, goals and values,

  • School leaders ensure the school is characterised by a ‘rhythm’ of learning, change and innovation,

  • School leaders promote and participate in strong collaboration with other schools, parents, the community, higher education institutions and other partners.

  • School leaders ensure an integrated approach to responding to students’ learning and other needs” (Kools and Stoll 2016, p. 58).

The concept of new pedagogies includes the assumption of popularizing new methods of work at school using ICT and changing the learning environment on condition that the students, teachers and leaders collaborate and share their experiences. This new form of leadership means focusing on setting the direction (creating the vision) and ensuring the conditions to introduce the changes quickly. Leaders develop students’ and teachers’ potential, initiate reflection on the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the educational process, and find out what works well and what does not. They encourage others to take risks and they recognize making mistakes as an opportunity for learning (Fullan and Langworthy 2014).

The leadership role in the light of the presented theoretical assumptions can be characterized by several attributes presented in Table 1 (Senge et al. 2002; Senge 2006; Kools and Stoll 2016; Fullan and Langworthy 2014; Fullan et al. 2017).

Table 1 Theoretical assumptions of the principal’s role
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Hence, the author formulated the research problems as the questions: What is the role of school principals participating in the research in supporting teachers in changing the learning environment through the use of digital technology? How are the elements of the leadership role described above reflected in the principals’ style of leadership?

2 Method

The paper presents a fragment of data from the author’s study carried out in 2017 as part of a research project devoted to the specificity of functioning of schools awarded the certificate ‘Leader of a Learning Organization’. The multiple case study method (Yin 2015) was used in the research. The sample for the study was selected purposively. The study involved five schools of different types (one elementary school, one general high school, and three high school complexes with different professional profiles) located in a provincial capital city in central Poland. In an attempt to address the formulated research problems, a fragment of data from qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five school principals (four females and one male) with the experience as principals amounting to 5 years (1 person), 9 years (2 people), 10 years (1 person), and 32 years (1 person) was used. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. The study, including the analysis of the collected empirical material, was carried out with consideration of the following ethical issues: voluntary participation in the study, anonymity and confidentiality (Kvale 2004).

The first stage was to obtain consent to participation in the research. All the interviews were conducted by the author of the work. The schools that agreed to take part in the study displayed a very positive attitude to it. The principals devoted a lot of time to the interviews and were willing to share their experiences. They did not only talk about the schools’ successes and good points, but they also discussed problems. Each interview only began after the interviewee gave their consent to the recording, transcription and use the of the provided data in the report. The interviewees were not “passive respondents” (Kubinowski 2011) who just answered the questions, but soon after the voice recorder was on and the interview began, they seemed to have forgotten about the research setting. The interviews transformed into open conversations about school, and additional questions were often asked if it was possible to gain more insight on the issue and extend the dataset. The interviewees expressed their opinions freely, using a personal narrative style. The initial question referred to their taking the managerial position. They were asked how they had become the school principals. That question led to a free and detailed narrative. Many questions formulated in interview guidelines were not asked because the respective subjects emerged naturally in the conversations. The interviewees were only asked the prepared questions if issues significant for the study had not been discussed before or something needed to be clarified. Some principals said it was the first time someone was interested in their experiences and devoted their time to listen to them. They felt their experience was important and were eager to share it, and the interviews lasted longer than planned: between 4 and 6 h.

The data from the interview transcriptions was subject to qualitative analysis. Yin (2015) points to four analytical strategies which can be used in a case study: 1. reference to theoretical assumptions, 2. developing data from scratch, 3. creating a case description as part of a certain structure, and 4. investigating other probable explanations. In conformity to Yin’s approach, the applied strategy of data analysis was the reference to theoretical assumptions (2015, p. 168). During the analysis, the data was coded (Miles and Huberman 1994; Kubinowski 2011). The fragments of narratives corresponding to the theoretical assumptions concerning the role of the leader (included in Table 1) were identified and marked in the transcription of interviews with school principals. The author sought examples of behaviors reflecting the style of leadership characteristic of learning organizations. The identified fragments of principals’ narratives were given codes (labels). Then, isolated fragments of the narratives were analyzed again to find and select only those examples described by the principals that referred to supporting teachers in the use of ICT in various school situations. The identified categories made two groups of support activities.

Table 2 Principals’ activities supporting teachers in the use of ICT
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3 Results

The data analysis concentrated on the identification of examples of supporting teachers in changing educational process through the use of digital technologies.

  1. 1.

    Creating the culture facilitating professional dialog, collaboration, knowledge exchange and experience sharing

The supportive role of principals can be seen in creating the knowledge-sharing culture. Learning is no longer the task of the students only, like in traditional schools, but of everyone. It goes beyond individual boundaries and occurs in relationships between teachers too.

“A learning school means that we all learn, not only students. Teachers learn, other employees learn, parents learn as well. We learn together and share the knowledge with others” (school principal no.1) (bold—B.T.).

In the context of supporting teachers’ use of digital technologies (which are still a new didactic tool for some members of the staff, as evidenced by data presented below), the culture of mutual learning will reduce their resistance to those instruments. The leaders of learning schools succeed in building a culture that facilitates collaboration. Teachers’ individual work and isolation are eliminated there. The principals try to develop social capital, which is the basis of mutual learning (Senge 2006; Kools and Stoll 2016). School principal no.4 also points to this aspect, emphasizing that in their school it is standard practice to share interesting sources of information, both in traditional and electronic forms: “That learning also means that we send each other different materials; if I find something interesting, I print it and bring it to school or I send them a link to some information. We sure do” (school principal no.4) (Table 2).

responsibility for placing the process of learning in the center of the school’s mission; learning refers to all the groups, i.e., students and teachers, with the leader being the “first learner”

Another fragment shows the principal as the “first learner” (Day 2008). The principal initiates team learning so as to develop the teachers’ skills of using digital technologies. The vision of the school clearly says that the school uses modern teaching methods, including ICT. The principal displays a proactive attitude, not isolating themselves with their problems and lack of abilities. S/he reveals them, looks for solutions and finds them within the school, using the staff’s potential: “Let’s not be afraid that we don’t know how to do something … Of course we need to improve in this field”. The principal is the first learner, who overcomes the fear of the unknown, providing a good model for the other teachers.

“I know you don’t like admitting you don’t know how to do something on a computer. Probably I’m the only person to admit that I don’t know how to do this or that. If something crashes, I go ask someone who knows more about it. So don’t be afraid of it! We’re old, so we may not know, it’s normal. Can something break down as we work? Sure it can. But remember that anyway, we need to improve constantly in this area. So we learn by ourselves, because courses don’t really work for us. I’ve appointed five teachers who are IT gurus and can cope in different aspects, and we have decided which topics may be useful for us, because they’ve already told me what problems some teachers have. The teachers have suggested other topics they would like to know and each of us has joined the group connected with whatever he or she wants to learn” (school principal no. 2). (bold—B.T.)

  1. 2.

    Supporting teachers in risk taking and assuring them that a potential failure will not result in criticism or blame

The atmosphere of collaboration means that the risk connected with doing new activities is not borne by one person but is shared with others. In addition, if the leaders support risk-taking and the teachers are convinced that failure will not trigger criticism and blame, they find it easier to engage in innovative activities. This element of the leadership style is visible in the following fragment of interview, which shows an example of principal who encourages others to act, helps them think positively and supports teachers so that they would not have fear of failure.

“I can tell you about a certain project. One teacher came and said there was a project called MegaMisja, but he was not sure if we would manage, so he asked if we should engage in it. He liked the project very much, because it was connected with tablets, with children’s interests, with reading comprehension, so everything was great. And it was not easy to become part of the project, but I said: ‘I’m sure that if YOU take care of it, we will succeed’ (bold – B.T.). And we did! (laughter) And now the kids are happy they can play in the common room” (school principal no.1).

That activity was a success, but we may easily imagine the opposite situation. Without the principal’s support, or out of fear of failure, the teacher might not have engaged in the activity, losing his opportunity for development, an experience of success that could have strengthened him for the future, and also the students would not have the opportunities to develop their digital and social competence. The fear of failure and wasting the chance would have negative results for the whole school.


  • 3. Creating a vision oriented at a change in the mental model of the student, the teacher and the objectives of the didactic process.

The following fragment of an interview with school principal no. 5 shows an example of a change in the mental model (Senge 2006) concerning the student and the educational process. Students, who are digital natives (Prensky 2001), need an active role in the educational process supported with digital technologies. The principal points out that the change occurs as a result of shared reflection. Teachers engage in discussions on the need to change the didactic methods, to depart from lecturing to more active forms of teaching.

“When I was a child, I remember my grandma and grandpa say: ‘Ah, when I was young… and now, this new generation…’, you know, and now we say exactly the same, only I think teachers have understood that we need to adjust a little bit to the youths of today, … for example by changing the way of lesson organization to make the children interested, to activate them, to do anything to help them take an interest in what is going on in the classroom. Of course this cannot be the lecturing, chalk and board method, because the child will listen for five minutes at best and then begin doing something on their phone” (school principal no. 5).

Thus, to build a platform of agreement between students (Digital Natives) and teachers (Digital Immigrants) (Prensky 2001), it was necessary to give a new direction to pedagogical work: “And we chose to make use of that love for electronics that seems to be inborn now, with kids always ready to click everything. We decided to use it and change our teaching methods and encourage others to do the same. It seems this is a good way to activate them, to ask them to find the information for themselves, … and also show them that not everything on the Internet is true (bold – B.T.), so we go in this direction” (school principal no. 5).

Using digital technologies at school is helpful, not only for quick access to a broad range of sources of information, but also for the development of the selectivity. In addition, it needs to be particularly emphasized that a change in relationships between teachers and students is emerging: “We also learn from the students (bold – B.T.) and I feel that this is a good direction, but we’ll see” (school principal no. 5). In accordance with the assumptions of a learning organization, learning applies to all the groups of the school community. It takes place in various spaces and multidimensional relationships. Students learn from teachers and the other way round.

  • 4. Supporting the didactic process with digital technologies is part of the school’s vision and is evident in everyday activities.

So as to support this mental change, extra actions were needed to equip the school with devices necessary to make a change in the forms of teaching and, especially important, to enable teachers to improve their ICT skills.

“So you know, what we have done now, let me return for a moment to the project we are just beginning, … the whole two classrooms will be renovated, a multimedia set will be in each general teaching classroom. We have them now but not in each room, and the equipment is sometimes better, sometimes worse, and soon we will have new sets, a projector, a laptop, a screen and speakers, so that we no longer have to run and exchange classrooms. We want to have them in each classroom, but at the same time, we want to send teachers to workshops where they will be shown how to use them in working with students. We don’t want a situation that someone says: ‘I’ve been to a course but when I return to the school, I don’t have the equipment to use’, or the other way round, ‘I have the equipment but I don’t know how to use it.’ We want to do both” (school principal no. 5).

  • 5. Ensuring the staff the best conditions possible for carrying out the educational process.

School no.2 is a high school with a high ranking position in terms of educational accomplishments measured with external tests. It is not easy to be admitted to the school; only students with the best grades can learn there. The principal’s desire to support the didactic process with digital technologies is part of the school’s vision and is evident in everyday activities. In order to maintain the high position of the school, the staff must have the best conditions possible to carry out the didactic process.

“Every classroom has a screen, a computer or a laptop and a multimedia projector. I only have two interactive whiteboards, … Even in tiny language classrooms there are computers, Internet connection, everything is big, a flat TV on the wall etc. So if you have all that available, including the equipment in the auditorium, you can really do anything (bold – B.T.). I’d like to have Wi-Fi installed but I don’t have enough money. We have broadband connection, fiber Internet, but I was told we would need about 70,000 zloties for 500 students for it to work well … I don’t know, maybe something will happen. I’d like very much to have Wi-Fi; now we only have it on the second floor, and it doesn’t always work, so we work with tablets. So I sometimes say; ‘Let’s take out our smart phones and work’, and they are very happy” (school principal no. 2).

Another solution applied in that school, whose aim is to help teachers use digital technologies in the educational process, is open lessons. “The new thing this year is that … I have selected a group of teachers whose open lessons I attend. Before, only teachers from the same team came to open lessons, but now, because we have the new technologies, I’ve said that anyone can come, because the subject doesn’t matter, what matters is the technology” (school principal no. 2).

  • 6. Efforts to improve the situation of disadvantaged students.

The interview with school principal no. 3 shows one of the elements of leadership, i.e., caring for the needs of all students, especially those from disadvantaged circles. In that school there are relatively many students who have poor educational accomplishments due to the unfavorable family environment. The staff are engaging in many individual activities to help those students finish school and find jobs. The problem teachers encounter on a daily basis is students’ lack of motivation for studying. Therefore, engaging teachers in this project and obtaining resources for modern equipment and software as part of the project has made students’ and teachers’ work much easier.

“So I’ve opened up a lab, with new computers and new programs. Would I ever afford to buy computer design software worth 76 thousand zloties? And it’s fantastic! Teaching without it was more difficult, because we had cheap programs, for 12 thousand zloties, and now we’ve bought a program from a German company, and it’s fantastic. The students have no problem using it; it’s so clear and easy to use that they really want to work with it” (bold – B.T.) (school principal no. 3).

Moreover, students can acquire additional qualifications, which used to be offered to the best students only. The program has been extended, so that all students can improve their chances on the labor market.

“You know, so far, only chosen students had Autocad classes, let’s say, the best ones. We wanted to offer them extra competence in the form of this skill, and now we have an internal program so each graduate of our school can do computer design; we have introduced extra classes. Although these are extracurricular classes, the students know they need those classes and they attend them and they love them (bold – B.T.). And the fact … that we have the two labs, 18 computers and 16 laptops for the other lab, two multimedia whiteboards in both labs, everything is thanks to the project. And students will also benefit a lot, not only in the form of new equipment but also of extra skills …. This is an additional advantage for the students, … they graduate with something extra” (school principal no. 3).

As regards the role of principals in supporting teachers in the use of ICT, it is worth emphasizing the principals’ huge effort in creating modern learning environments in the schools they manage. They do really much to provide the schools with the necessary equipment and encourage the staff to work with the equipment in various ways. Supporting teachers in making a change in the educational process towards using ICT was reflected in the principals’ activities that can be divided into two groups:

  1. 1.

    Ensuring technical infrastructure for the use of ICT;

  2. 2.

    Promotion of culture of cooperation which facilitates the development of ICT skills (Table 2).

4 Discussion and Conclusion

The aim of the analysis was to show the role of school principals in supporting teachers’ skillful use of information and communication technologies in education. With regard to the concepts used in the analysis of research results, for students to be able to develop the skills of independent learning necessary in today’s world, the educational process at school must be based on “deep learning”. This way of learning can be supported with digital technologies if they are used to change the roles of the student and the teacher, not simply as modern tools to make the lesson more attractive. In a world where the student has access to many sources of information every day, the role of the teacher is to assist in selecting them, evaluating their value for the understanding of reality and creating one’s own plans for life in accord with the pillars of humanistic education: “learning to know”, “learning to do”, “learning to live together” and “learning to be” (Delors et al.1996) in a world dominated by utilitarian and economic goals. This implicates a change of the role, not only of the teacher and the student, but also of the principal.

School principals who participated in the research, display a proactive attitude. The lack of funds does not result in inactivity but motivates them to obtain extra sources of financing by participation in projects related to the provision of equipment for schools and various forms of collaboration with the local community to make them modern learning environments. Definitely, they involve teachers in work on the projects, but they bear the responsibility themselves. Consequently, teachers may base the didactic process on new methods. “In the last decade, there has been significant investment in digital equipment and infrastructure in schools. Still, many schools in the EU lack access to high-speed internet” (European Commission 2019a, p. 86).

What must be highlighted as the result of this analysis is the principals’ caring for infrastructure and promoting the standards of the culture of cooperation at the same time. By sharing their knowledge and skills, teachers learn from each other. If they are not confined to the world of their individual matters, their class or the subject they teach, they can improve the quality of school’s work. The principal supports the staff’s continuous learning by showing that they are doing it themselves and by providing them opportunities for discussion about the students’ mental models. They can see the need to change the students’ role in the process of education, and the use of ICT may help them be active subjects in that process. The principal also encourages the teachers to take innovative tasks and reduces their fear of failure.

These elements of the leadership style match the above-mentioned leadership characteristics, i.e. learning organizations setting a good example for others. But contemporary school systems do not provide the management staff with the right conditions for such work. Neoliberal reforms are reflected in the assessment orientation of all school activities and test-based effectiveness related to school ranking. The surrounding world promotes competition, and neoliberal norms show that it is better to be an outstanding individual than to work together (Fullan 2011).

In recent years, Polish schools have been undergoing continuous changes in all the functioning areas to improve the quality of education. Looking at schools from outside, we can notice many changes, but those that are most desirable – transformations in the school culture – are not common enough. The reasons for this are both external, connected with the character of changes imposed by the educational policy, and internal, resulting from the school conditions (Tołwińska 2016). According to systems thinking, even a single small change triggers another (Senge 2006). “Teachers commonly report that a lack of equipment (or malfunctioning equipment) prevents them from using digital technologies. They also point at two additional barriers: a lack of teaching models on how to use digital technologies, and their own insufficient personal skills in digital technologies” (European Commission 2019a, p. 88). Therefore, by applying an appropriate leadership style, school principals may reinforce that process and help teachers make the change. Similar research results obtained by Cohen confirm that principals’ perceptions and leadership behaviours determine teachers motivation to implement changes. According to this author, principals should develop their transformational leadership skills to lead significant changes successfully (Cohen 2019). In accordance with the findings by Flanagan and Jacobsen (2003), the principals’ unpreparedness to serve the leadership role was a significant barrier to making cultural changes, and only providing technical infrastructure to schools is not enough to drive the change. Therefore principals’ activities supporting teachers in the use of ICT to change the educational process can be a good example.

The presented analysis has some limitations; for example, it only involves one perspective: that of school principals. It would definitely be worth doing further research concerning the use of ICT involving teachers and students. This would give the opportunity to learn the tangible benefits and reveal the difficulties experienced in combining pedagogical skills with digital technologies (Bayne 2015). As Biesta said: “any education worthy of its name should always contribute to processes of subjectification that allow those educated to become more autonomous and independent in their thinking and acting” (2009).