The author started his research where the methodology and results of the initial stages of the preceding research left off (Chapter Two). School culture was operationalized into several main areas of operation of contemporary Czech school, which were then used in the pilot study. Various techniques were employed to establish whether the same kind of reasoning can be used in the research project, too. Partial results confirmed that the methodology proposed was adequate. This enabled to subsequently identify five key areas differentiated by the degree of significance of ICT for operation of these areas of school (from the headmasters’ point of view). The areas were the following: learning/teaching-friendly environment, school openness, school management, school development and transformation, and school vision formulation. An empirical survey exploiting a whole battery of research methods and techniques was used to explore these five areas in more detail. The respondents were from among headmasters of full-scale basic schools (ISCED 1 and 2) in the Czech Republic – they represented a population of experts possessing vast competencies and responsible for school operation and development including ICT integration and exploitation. The author was aware of the potential limitations of this methodology as it is also teachers, pupils, the governing body and others who contribute to the process of shaping school. Headmasters, on the other hand, have a crucial say in school shaping and school culture cultivation as they have to bear in mind the partial aspects of school life and the school as whole, in the short term as well as long-term perspective. This is why the headmasters’ perspective seemed to be the most fruitful for the purposes of the study.

The author used the framework of the research project to explore the relations between information and communication technologies and school culture from several points of view. The introductory chapter presents a theoretical treatment of the concept of ICT and school convergence. It is based on the assumption that the relation between ICT and school can be looked at from three basic perspectives: of school policy, of school environment and of specific ICT use in formal education. Neither any school policy nor modern technologies as such can bring about a change; it is the participants of school education who turn them into efficient tools or expedients of change. If the potential offered by ICT is to be fully exploited in schools, all these three levels have to be interconnected and this interconnection must be manifested in school education and the life of the school as a whole. School and its culture play a fundamental role in this process as it is at school where this convergence should be employed, the goal being enabling and supporting as comprehensive individual development as much possible, helping teachers and school management to enhance communication and cooperation between the school and its external environment and enhancing the development of formal education as a whole. Understanding school and its culture may thus become an important step in the process of searching for convergence.

Chapter Three presents an analysis of professional educational media that may currently support the process of ICT integration in the life of schools and their culture in Czech society. The group referred to as “journals on education” includes two leading Czech journals dealing with issues of education – Pedagogika and Pedagogická orientace – and the most important journal on education published in Slovakia – Pedagogická revue. The group of magazines oriented on popular science or practical issues included Moderní vyučování and Učitelské listy. The analysis also deals with one of the biggest educational web portals in the Czech Republic – “Česká škola” (Czech School) – which is intended mainly for primary and secondary school teachers.

ICT tended to be dealt with by educational media as a marginal issue between 1998 and 2002, despite the fact that this is when the project called “State Information Policy in Education” was being implemented. The educational portal Czech School focused mostly on ICT-aided teaching (the period from 1 September 2002 through 9 October 2003 was analyzed), but a relatively great share of articles was mapping different events having to do with ICT in education, too. On the other hand, only little scope was given to ICT in schools. At the level of contents, the topic of ICT use in class is well represented. This however raises the question whether journals and magazines dealing with education do not limit ICT issues to its use as a didactic tool, restricting the point of view even more by treating the topic from the point of view of the teacher only while topic such as pupils and ICT, ICT in teacher training or ICT development vision, School atmosphere and ICT integration or the attitude of teachers to implementation of ICT in schools are almost universally neglected.

Chapter Four deals with ICT in Czech schools at two levels. Its first part examines the strategic level of ICT integration into the Czech educational system, presenting the main ideas and priorities of key political and school-policy documents. The strategic level is supplemented with information on the key factors of implementation of the national strategy of implementation of ICT in education. The second level represents an insight into the reality of contemporary Czech schools through the eyes of their headmasters. The whole chapter may be interpreted as an introduction to empirical research of ICT issues in the life and culture of contemporary Czech primary schools.

If we accept the assumption that it is headmasters who represent a crucial factor shaping school operation, the process of ICT integration in all areas of school life, and school culture, then a more detailed study of the attitudes of headmasters towards ICT and its use in school administration and management should enable us to better understand the role of ICT in some school-culture-shaping processes. This is why Chapter Five deals with the relation between ICT and school management from headmasters’ point of view. The focus of attention is on headmasters and their individual attitude towards ICT, but also on the activities that exploit ICT most, on the areas where headmasters look for help or support when they have to tackle obstacles, on what successes they have had and where they can see some scope for improvement as far as ICT and management of their respective schools are concerned. The ICT coordinator plays an increasingly important role in the life of each school: s/he may become an advisor to the headmaster and/or all teachers. The “information science turn” or “electronic turn” in school administration may lead to a shift away from traditional methods of work and established patterns of behaviour in school administration. If the technological level is overemphasized, users are not adequately prepared for the transformation, do not understand its purpose and lack time and opportunities for mastering the ICT-based information system, then such an investment is not an effective one – in this case ICT may play rather the role of a factor hindering progress or causing conflicts.

Chapter Six deals with the relation between ICT and school openness. ICT supports especially communication with those external subjects without which no school functioning is possible and on whom its existence depends. The headmasters’ point of view also suggests that ICT cannot replace unique human communication. Information and communication technologies are not to be regarded as the driving force of school and school culture opening (yet). Rather than that, ICT represent a supplementary tool or an alternative to the existing habits and patterns of behaviour of all participants.

Chapter Seven focuses on an area of school operation that is referred to for the purposes of the research project as learning/teaching-friendly environment. It is an environment offering adequate conditions for both teaching on the part of teachers and learning on the part of pupils. Headmasters perceive ICT as an important factor conditioning creation of a learning/teaching-friendly environment. In this way, ICT is closely related to the very essence of school existence. Focusing on what it is that ICT influences most, we find out that the effect of ICT on teaching content or teaching objectives was not ascribed much significance. The insight into the situation in specific schools is interesting. A relatively strong orientation on technologies was identified, too, while educational-didactic and methodological aspects were found only secondary. This may be the reason why the respondents would appreciate better methodological support from relevant subjects (such as the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports). One positive finding is, on the other hand, that headmasters do not perceive ICT as an extraneous element resisting harmonization with the principles of school operation that have been preferred and employed so far. The opinion that teachers are not adequately prepared for ICT use (at a time when the first stage of a state-funded teacher training project is just about to end!) is a surprising one. The good news however is that people in school are not afraid of the change in connection with ICT integration.

Chapter Eight deals with ICT in relation with the area referred to as school development and school vision. Headmasters believe that the greatest impact that ICT has is on teacher career development and on school educational activities, but they are also very much aware of the significance of ICT for preparation of transformation or innovation in school. It is also possible to believe that human resources development, technological progress and ICT use in teaching and learning are the cornerstones of the effect of ICT on school transformation and further development.

With schools having scope for independent decision-making, planning the future for a school, formulation of a school vision and working with it are gaining on significance. Work with school vision is a comprehensive and complex process which is becoming even more complicated due to the dynamic and more or less unpredictable development of ICT. The content of school visions may vary from school to school as each school vision may reflect individual preferences as well as the culture of the particular school. Content-wise, school visions most often concern educational activities – the key process taking place in school. A school vision should also encompass teacher career development, external relations and school management and administration and there should be a connection to the school’s educational programme. The specificity and the great demands of shaping the future of each particular school were also proved by the fact that the reasoning of the respondents was largely oriented on current issues in its many aspects and strategic plans were only secondary to the headmasters.

The last chapter presents a yet different view of the relation between ICT and contemporary Czech primary school culture. The case study is based on a different set of methodological starting points, mediating thus a relatively detailed insight into the life and culture of a specific primary school. In the beginning, the author focuses on a description of the school including a brief outline of its history. The next part of the chapter describes real-life operation of the school in its key areas with respect to ICT implementation and use. In the last part of the chapter the basic factors characterizing the culture of the given school are described and used to derive some recommendations for the future development of the school’s culture.