Within the context of the knowledge society, teachers and schools try to make use of educational technology in their practices to improve students’ ‘twenty-first century skills’ (Anderson, 2008). Technology integration for teaching and learning is becoming a major task for primary schools (Vanderlinde, Hermans, & van Braak, 2009). This study is situated within the technology integration research tradition (e.g. Kozma, 2003). Researchers in this tradition search for factors - situated on different levels (e.g. student, teacher, school, and policy) - that support the use of technology for teaching and learning (Cox, 2008).

This study uses path analysis to explain relationships between different independent school and teacher variables on the use of technology in Flemish (Belgium) primary schools. Special attention is paid to widely accepted technology uses by teachers, which is regarded as ‘institutionalized technology use’. Independent variables are the school and teacher conditions described in the e-capacity framework of Vanderlinde and van Braak (2010), a framework referring to conditions fostering the integration of technologies into teaching and learning practices, and grounded in school improvement literature.

Results show that several school level conditions have an indirect impact on technology use in classrooms. The results are of particular importance for researchers, but also for (European) policy makers as all countries are stressing the need for ‘twenty-first century skills’. 

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