Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Innovation Within the Amara Berri System

Abstract

The current debate on digital education is at a crossroads between the need for technological innovation and the growing concern about the impact of passive screen use. In this context, identifying sustainable pedagogical models that integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a meaningful and inclusive way is an urgent need. This article presents a case study of the Amara Berri System (ABS), aiming to analyze how inclusive and sustainable digital innovation is operationalized within the system and whether teachers’ length of service is associated with the implementation and perceived impact of inclusive ICT practices. The investigation is based on a mixed-methods sequential design. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 292 teachers to collect data on their practices and perceptions. Subsequently, a focus group with eight teachers was conducted to further explore the meaning of their practices. Quantitative results show that the implementation and positive evaluation of inclusive ICT practices correlate significantly with teachers’ seniority within the system, which suggests that the model is formative in itself. Qualitative analysis shows that ICTs are not an end in themselves within the ABS, but an empowering tool for the students. The “Audiovisual Media Room”, managed by students, functions as a space for social and creative production that gives technology a pedagogical purpose. The study concludes that the sustainability of digital innovation requires coherence with the pedagogical project. Findings offer valuable implications for the design of teacher training contexts that foster the integration of technology within a framework of truly inclusive education.

1. Introduction

One of today’s educational debates is trapped in deep tension. On the one hand, there is a global consensus on the urgent need to integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education. In this field, digital competences are expected to be developed as drivers of innovation to give answers to the demands of today’s knowledge society. ICT is also meant to promote personal and professional development [1], and its integration into education can significantly enhance the quality of the teaching and learning process [2].

On the other hand, there is a growing recognition of the negative impact that a passive and decontextualized use of screens can have on students’ cognitive and socio-emotional development [3,4] and on overall well-being [5]. The use of screens also presents other limitations, such as the exacerbation of existing inequalities in our society [6] or the aggravation of existing disorders and self-injurious behaviors, especially in children and adolescents [7]. Plus, although this young generation is surrounded by digital technology from birth, they have limited knowledge about it [8].

This pedagogical dilemma defines one of the key challenges for 21st-century schools. Thus, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) bring a reference framework to face the situation: sustainable digital education must guarantee not only technological access but also equality, educational quality, and academic preparation for students to address global challenges, such as social justice, gender equality, or environmental sustainability [9,10]. Educational systems and policies must guarantee effective digital strategies that contribute to building fair societies. ICT should never reproduce inequalities; therefore, education must move away from reductionist views of how these technologies are pedagogically integrated [8,11].

The challenge is to place principles, such as inclusion, sustainability, and well-being, at the center of the curriculum design [6]. It consists of including renewed and sustainable perspectives when designing and structuring learning and teaching processes in the curriculum [12] and finding proposals in which students make responsible, critical, ethical, and sustainable use of ICT so that the necessary digital competence is developed within a significant pedagogical framework [9].

Many countries have already embarked on a path towards transformation in terms of digitalization in schools [13,14]. However, persistent gaps in teachers’ confidence to use digital resources effectively in the classroom are still noted [14]. What is more, the use of technological and digital resources depends on their availability in the educational centers, as well as the capacities of both teachers and students [15], and the real situation is that schools are struggling in offering up-to-date and quality resources [8]. Moreover, the mere presence of factors such as resource availability or predisposition of key actors (teachers and students) does not ensure the effective pedagogical integration of technology in classrooms [16].

Initial teacher education also shows significant shortcomings regarding the sustainable integration of ICT. Future teachers perceive themselves as competent in creativity and in the use of digital tools, but they acknowledge limitations when it comes to designing educational projects with a sustainability approach [9]. This training deficit, also highlighted in other studies [11,15,17,18,19], strengthens the need for school environments to offer real opportunities for professional learning in this area.

With this aim, the present study analyzes the Amara Berri System (ABS), a recognized and innovative benchmark school model in Spain [19], which constitutes a particularly suitable case for examining sustainable digital innovation due to its long-standing pedagogical coherence and non-instrumental integration of ICT.

This study explores whether teachers’ length of service within the system is associated with differences in the implementation and perceived impact of inclusive ICT practices, thereby addressing the formative potential of the model itself. ABS provides a paradigmatic example of “sustainable pedagogy,” where ICT is not an end in itself but rather a tool in the service of personalization, inclusion, social diversity, creativity, and student empowerment, functioning as an effective pedagogical response to the passive consumption of screens [13,20].

To comprehend the ABS technological approach, it is essential to understand that it is not an “ICT methodology”, but rather a logical outcome of its underlying philosophy, grounded in a holistic project endorsed and shaped by the culture of “we” [21]. This systematic vision means that every element, including ICT, makes sense because of its interconnection with the rest of the elements of the educational model. Students are also conceived as holistic individuals, with distinct emotional and cognitive structures and inherent potential. This student-centered perspective determines the planning, design, evaluation, and implementation of the ABS’s organizational and educational structure. The aim is to stimulate students’ development and respond to their needs and interests [22]. The organization of learning into “vital contexts” is the cornerstone of this structure. These “vital contexts” are spaces that simulate real social settings (the press, the radio, the neighborhood, etc.) where students develop meaningful activities [21]. Today’s digital technology education implies a renewal since students must be considered contributors, protagonists, and transformers, rather than passive consumers [8].

Within the ABS educational architecture, the “Audiovisual Media Room” is more than just a simple computer laboratory; it is the heart of the communicative dimension of the ABS model. This space, fully managed by students from primary levels onwards, functions as the social “output” of the learnings achieved in the rest of the contexts. The radio programs, the digital newspapers, or the television cuts they produce are not artificial tasks; they are the channels through which the work developed at school becomes visible and achieves a real communicative purpose [23].

This design has two main implications for the sustainability of the digital model. First, it subordinates the tool to the project: technology is used because it is necessary to produce a radio program or lay out a newspaper, not the other way around. Second, it transforms the student’s relationship with technology: they shift from being a passive content consumer to an active and creative producer.

This approach also impacts teachers who are engaged in a continuous learning process focused on the pedagogically sustainable use of technology. Teachers learn from the everyday practice, and in the ABS they do it in a coordinated way during seminars and other environments, or at moments when they must dynamize the press, the radio, or the school television contexts [21]. It is not just about acquiring technical skills but also about understanding how technology can be integrated into the curriculum so that students use it for critical and social purposes. Thus, the model fosters teachers to develop their digital competences in context, linked to inclusion and educational sustainability [23]. Additionally, it may alleviate the lack of training in digitalization as teachers are learning by doing.

The link between the ABS and the international framework of sustainability is clear: by transforming technology into a means of creative production, the model contributes to SDGs 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), and 10 (reduced inequalities). This way, the ABS offers more than an innovative approach; it shows how coherent pedagogical structures are a necessary condition for digital innovation to be sustainable [9].

Other authors [24] warn about the risk of limiting digitalization to an instrumental approach, without critically rethinking teaching-learning processes. The ABS exemplifies how digitalization can become a driver of sustainable innovation in the service of equity when integrating technology in a global and coherent project [6]. From this perspective emerges the central question of this study: can the Amara Berri model become not only a proposal for an inclusive and innovative school, but also a formative framework that promotes the sustainable use of ICT?

Recent international literature increasingly provides strategic policy frameworks to guide a coherent and equitable digital transformation of education, offering common reference structures for system-level implementation [13,25]. However, there remains limited empirical evidence—particularly mixed-methods, highly contextualized studies—examining how such frameworks are concretely enacted within coherent pedagogical models and translated into specific inclusive ICT practices that can serve as evidence-informed references for implementation.

2. Materials and Methods

The study follows an interpretive-hermeneutic approach, which conceives educational knowledge as the result of the teaching experience and the contexts in which it is exercised. A mixed-methods methodological design of an explanatory and sequential nature was adopted; it was non-experimental and cross-sectional and was approved by the Ethics Committee at the University of La Rioja (CE_107_2025).

In the quantitative stage, the reference population was composed of preschool and primary education teachers from the 25 schools belonging to the Amara Berri network, a pedagogical system with a strong presence in the Basque Country and additional schools located in other Spanish regions. Using non-probabilistic self-selection sampling, a sample of 292 teachers was obtained, representing 25.9% of the estimated population. The sample profile showed a majority of women (78.4%), a predominance of teachers aged between 41 and 50, and a working experience in education of more than ten years in 69.9% of the cases. Length of service within the network varied, ranging from fewer than five to more than twenty years, which made it possible to analyze differences according to the time spent in the model.

Data were collected between January and April 2025 through an online questionnaire adapted from a validated instrument [26]. The applied version included six thematic blocks related to educational inclusion, initial training, and teaching practices, among which the pedagogically sustainable integration of ICT was included. The questionnaire consisted of 56 five-point Likert-type items and showed high reliability (α = 0.891) and a high content validity index (CVI = 0.985).

Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS v.28. After confirming the non-normal distribution of most variables (Kolmogorov–Smirnov), non-parametric tests were applied: Mann–Whitney U (gender) and Kruskal–Wallis with Bonferroni adjustment (length of service in the network). In addition, effect sizes (Rosenthal’s r and η²) were calculated and interpreted according to Cohen’s thresholds [27]. The analysis was complemented with Spearman correlations and multiple linear regression to explore the relationship between length of service in the Amara Berri System and variables such as teacher coordination, perceived improvement in training, and the development of inclusive practices. All hypothesis tests were conducted at a significance level of p < 0.05.

To further explore the quantitative findings, a second qualitative phase was conducted consisting of a focus group with an intentional sample of eight teachers (n = 8) with heterogeneous profiles in terms of age, gender, and years of experience. All of whom belonged to the same educational context described above and worked in a school within the Amara Berri network located in the Basque Country. The session, lasting 90 min, was audio-recorded and transcribed.

The transcript was analyzed using a categorical content analysis process supported by ATLAS.ti 25 software. An inductive-deductive procedure was followed to create a system of categories, which was subjected to a rigorous validation process through expert judgment. Using Cohen’s Kappa coefficient, a substantial level of agreement was obtained between the principal researcher and all experts (between 0.6 and 0.8). Regarding agreement among the participating experts, the level of concordance was good in all cases (Fleiss’ Kappa between 0.61 and 0.80).

3. Results

The data analysis reveals two main findings in relation to teachers of the Amara Berri network. First, there is a significant gap between the assessment of the initial training received and the formative impact attributed to the experience at the school. Second, a positive perception of the use and impact of ICT, whose implementation is shaped by the length of service within the system.

Concerning teaching training, results show a clear dichotomy. Initial training in special needs and attention diversity reached the lowest scores across the entire questionnaire, with most items scoring below 3 on a 0–5 scale (e.g., facing challenges, $\overline{\mathrm{X}}$ = 2.72). In contrast, the experience in Amara Berri is positively assessed, with mean scores ranging between 3.68 and 3.89. In addition, the linear regression analysis confirms that length of service significantly predicts this improvement, accounting for up to 12.7% of the variance in perceived progress in measures for attention to diversity (R² = 0.127), with Figure 1 visually synthesizing the contrast between the low assessment of initial training and the formative impact attributed to professional experience within the Amara Berri system.

Regarding digital innovation, results show a general positive perception. On a 0–5 scale, the practice of “ICT inclusion in the classroom or in the school dynamics” reaches a mean score of $\overline{\mathrm{X}}$ = 3.42, acknowledging a common use. At the same time, the perception of its impact on improvement in attention to diversity is equally positive, with a mean score of $\overline{\mathrm{X}}$ = 3.52.

The inferential analysis performed with the Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that there are significant differences in the inclusion of ICT (H(2) = 15.496, p < 0.001). Teachers with ≥16 years of teaching experience scored significantly higher than the novice group with ≤5 years (p adjusted = 0.022; r = 0.157, small effect) and also outperformed the intermediate group with 6–15 years of experience (p adjusted = 0.002; r = 0.200, small effect).

Regarding the perceived impact of ICT inclusion on attention to diversity, the statistics revealed significant differences (H(2) = 8.218, p = 0.016), with a small-to-moderate effect size (η² = 0.025). A Dunn test with Bonferroni correction revealed that those significant differences appeared between ≥16 years and ≤5 years (p = 0.022) and between ≥16 years and 6–15 years (p = 0.002).

The subsequent correlational analysis showed positive and statistically significant relationships between the teachers’ length of service in the system and the frequency they implement inclusive practices with the use of ICT (ρ = 0.322, p < 0.001) and the assessment of the impact of ICT on attention to diversity (ρ = 0.211, p < 0.001). As illustrated in Figure 2, these relationships indicate that longer experience within the system is associated with a more frequent implementation of inclusive ICT practices and a stronger perception of their impact on attention to diversity.

This finding is reinforced by the linear regression analyses, which show that length of service at the institution not only predicts the use of ICT (F(1290) = 28.809, p < 0.001, R² = 0.090) but also the perception of the positive impact on attention to diversity (F(1290) = 9.059, p = 0.003, R² = 0.030). Although this last effect presents a modest magnitude, it appears to be relevant to understanding how teachers’ digital competence is built in a progressive and contextualized way within the ABS by integrating a pedagogical, inclusive, and sustainable use of technology.

In order to reveal the pedagogical mechanisms underlying these data, the qualitative analysis of the discussion group shows that the success of the model does not lie in the technology or the training themselves, but in the coherence of the project that endorses them. Thus, categories within which the use of ICT is framed, such as methodological strategies, student autonomy, and teacher role development and autonomy, emerged. Some statements that refer to these categories are shown below:

Statement 1. 

Because there are multiple options for action, it is not just the classroom. They can also go to the “Media”, show what they have done in class, become the technicians… There are many options. [Category: Methodological Strategies. Participant 1].

Statement 2. 

Students themselves can, sometimes, explain: ‘Well, look, I am doing this, and I am doing that’. [Category: Student Autonomy. Participant 4].

Statement 3. 

Not having teachers present 100% of the time allows each student to be themselves. Because not all of us act the same way if the teacher is in front. [Category: Teacher Role Development and Autonomy. Participant 7].

All statements include a key transversal concept: student empowerment. Participants explain how the student management of the “Audiovisual Media Room” turns them into the true experts, able to take the lead and explain their own learning process. The anecdote that best illustrates this approval rate belongs to the students themselves, who, after knowing about a congress on their own model, claimed their rights to attend as speakers, as can be read in the following statement:

Statement 4. 

That students in 5th or 6th grade say: ‘hey, we should attend that congress ourselves, because we are the ones who know the most’. There they were [Participant 8].

The empowerment of students can therefore be seen as a result of the entire process of maintaining consistency in the pedagogical model, with Figure 3 providing a conceptual synthesis of how this empowerment emerges through the interaction between methodological strategies, student autonomy, and the redefinition of the teacher’s role within the Amara Berri system.

Concerning teachers’ training, participants state that initial university training is disconnected from the real practice:

Statement 5. 

I don’t know about the teachers they have now, but those of our generation, most of them had never been in a school classroom. So, what kind of pedagogy are you going to talk to me about if you’ve never been in a classroom with 23 children? I mean, they theorize and you think… (they laugh) no… [Participant 5].

Also, participants highlight that professional knowledge is mainly built through practice, through the immersion in the school center structures—stages, seminars, shared tutoring:

Statement 6. 

How do we learn to work in Amara Berri? By participating in the structures [Participant 1].

In this regard, other participants stress the importance of peer learning and welcoming of new colleagues as a process of joint construction:

Statement 7. 

Because if new people come to school… we have to talk about it again. Yes, again. Because you are carrying another backpack and you are going to contribute something new. [Participant 8].

Additionally, this shared experience makes the acquisition of a common pedagogical discourse possible, which brings the team together and projects the learning directly into the classroom:

Statement 8. 

It has one advantage: having a common language. We all belong to a school network, and when you talk about everything we talked about here today, tomorrow, in your class, something is going to change. [Participant 8].

Next,

Table 1. Frequency of categories related to ICT inclusion and teacher training in the ABS.

Descriptor 1	N° Codified Categories	Coverage Rate (% of the Total of Analyzed Text)
Methodological structures	22	4.81
Student autonomy	5	1.09
Teacher role development and autonomy	29	6.35
Initial university training assessment	28	6.13
Learning and improvement through practice	28	6.13
Professional development and lifelong learning	27	5.91
Pedagogical speech acquisition	7	1.53

¹ The categories related to ICT and teacher training are included exclusively.

shows the frequency of categories related to ICT inclusion and teacher training in the ABS, considering the factors being analyzed in the study.

4. Discussion

The triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data of this study makes it possible to confirm that the sustainability of digital innovation at schools does not lie in the quality of the devices, but in the depth and coherence of the pedagogical project on which it is based. In an educational reality characterized by the tension between digitalization and the concern over the passive use of screens [3], the challenge does not remain at a theoretical level but involves the everyday experience at schools and educational centers. This challenge is heightened where the concerns over digitalization are explicitly expressed by teachers. In the framework of the current investigation, teachers with vast experience in contexts of innovation note with concern how the domestic use of technology is affecting children’s socialization dynamics from early stages, as can be read below:

Statement 9. 

We have a problem with screens. The other day, a colleague from the 5-year-old classroom said that her students set the table at the ‘house corner’. They set the table beautifully, with the plates, the napkins…, and they also propped the mobile phone up against the glass of water. Mobile phones that do not work, toy phones, but there they were, they were pretending to have lunch, and they had their phones with them. [Participant 5].

This anecdote illustrates how technology has even colonized symbolic play. It represents the difficult crossroads that schools need to face nowadays: it is not about prohibiting but about re-signifying. In this context, the ABS offers a model able to integrate ICT in a significant, inclusive, and sustainable way, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals [9].

The main mechanism that can explain this success is the resignification of technology since ICT is not an end in itself within the ABS, but rather a tool to empower the students. The qualitative analysis reveals that the school provides a model that is radically opposed to the individualistic use and consumption of technology. It presents a collective and creative use for social purposes. This practice is enabled by a redefinition of the teacher’s role, which moves to the background, deliberately ceding control so that student autonomy can thrive. Several studies demonstrate that the use of ICT in the classroom may facilitate the creation of more flexible learning scenarios where students can work autonomously [16,28] and highlight the need to empower the younger generation in the domain of digital technology [8]. Furthermore, digital technology supports teachers to supervise learners, and, in turn, learners work with more autonomy and engagement [13]. This helps them develop a proactive attitude toward technology and engage with it meaningfully [8].

Following this idea, the “Audiovisual Media Room” in the ABS, managed by the students themselves, becomes a space for student empowerment where technology turns into a tool for the Universal Design of Activities, offering multiple forms of representation and expression. By giving students a real purpose (to communicate, to inform, and to create for an audience), the system transforms the use of ICT from a technical exercise into an act of digital citizenship. This approach aligns with the most advanced views of digitalization, which demand that we surpass the instrumental approach in order to critically rethink teaching-learning processes [6,8,16,26,29].

Results show that the ABS provides sustainability precisely because it articulates structural, pedagogical, and organizational dimensions in a coherent way. This discovery is supported by the inferential findings, which show significant differences in the use and perception of the impact of ICT, depending on the length of service in the system. The Dunn test with Bonferroni correction indicates that the group with ≥16 years of experience rates significantly higher scores than the groups with fewer years of experience, which suggests that inclusive digital competence is built progressively in real contexts of pedagogical innovation.

It has been proved that if technology is connected meaningfully to the ongoing curriculum, it can provide multiple benefits to students [30]. In this sense, a polyhedric and holistic approach to digitalization should be proposed [6]: from the macro (values and educational mission) to the micro (school projects and specific practices). Implementing this perspective makes it possible to understand that experiences such as the ABS provide sustainability because they properly integrate all these levels. Likewise, the commitment to sustainable and inclusive education requires not only methodological innovations but also transformations in school culture and in teacher education, understood as a situated process developed within living educational contexts and closely linked to real practice, where professional learning occurs progressively and is largely tacit [31,32,33]. Along this line, results of this study can be taken as a practical example of how to overcome the reductionist view of technology to progress towards a sustainable, critical, and pluralistic citizenship model.

On the other hand, diverse studies have highlighted the urgent need to design training programs that enhance teachers’ digital competence at all levels, and not only in its instrumental dimension. Current training programs on digital competence do not fully meet practical and contextual needs in the classroom, according to teachers [15]. For this reason, new training formats should be conducted based on real necessities [14,15] to give special attention to the capacity of using technology with an educational, inclusive, and sustainable purpose [34].

Moreover, the collective reflection through the ABS’s structures—which are the main pillar of the model—contributes to reinforcing the ethical awareness of teachers on the impact of digital platforms, an aspect that has been identified as weak and underdeveloped in initial teacher training [11,35].

The above information is reflected in one of the most important implications of the findings obtained from this study, which is within the scope of teacher training. Quantitative data showed a significant gap between the poor appreciation of initial teacher training and the high formative impact attributed to school experience [32,33]. This suggests that the ABS is not only a model of inclusive education for students but also a powerful formative space for teachers. Considering the educational context as a privileged learning setting [36], the experience at Amara Berri becomes an example of tacit and situated teacher training. Previous investigations suggest that professional training is more effective if it is embedded and content-focused [14]. This is largely provided within the ABS as part of the training derived from professional experience.

This finding corresponds to several emerging categories in the qualitative analysis—methodological strategies, teacher role development, and learning or improvement through practice—which signal the progressive construction of digital and professional competences within a contextualized framework. In this sense, the model does not depend on teachers starting with a high level of prior digital competence; it is the system itself that generates these competencies through everyday practice. The management of school media teaches both students and teachers to use technology in a pedagogical, inclusive, and sustainable way, which illustrates the coherence between qualitative and quantitative findings. In this sense, technology is presented as a tool to improve the world and to contribute to social improvement [8], while addressing the potential negative impacts that it may have when its use is not contextualized.

Several limitations should be acknowledged. The use of a non-probabilistic self-selection sampling strategy limits the representativeness and statistical generalizability of the findings, while the cross-sectional design precludes causal inferences regarding the relationship between teachers’ length of service and ICT-related practices. In addition, the study is situated within a specific cultural and organizational context, which may constrain direct transferability to other educational systems. Nevertheless, the analytical focus on pedagogical coherence, student agency, and structured collaboration provides insights that may be informative for comparable contexts beyond the Amara Berri network.

From a practical perspective, the findings highlight that sustainable digital transformation depends on organizational structures, teacher education models, and policy frameworks that subordinate ICT use to coherent pedagogical purposes. In particular, the results underscore the relevance of practice-based and school-embedded teacher training approaches that integrate digital competence with inclusion and sustainability, as well as the need to invest not only in technological resources but also in pedagogical models capable of sustaining innovation over time.

In conclusion, this study offers valuable implications for the debate on sustainable digital education. It demonstrates that it is possible to build a model where technology acts as an ally of inclusion and sustainability. As shown throughout the paper, the key lies not in what type of technology is used, but in how it is integrated into a pedagogical project that gives it meaning. The findings suggest that, to move toward truly sustainable digital education, efforts should focus not only on the endowment of resources but also on the transformation of school cultures and structures. It is therefore necessary to promote models, such as the one analyzed here, that foster student autonomy, teacher collaboration, and, above all, deep reflection on the “why” of innovation. Only in this way can we ensure that the digital revolution in classrooms is, above all, a sustainable pedagogical revolution.