Teachers’ Digital Practices in Tunisia: Structural Constraints and Contextual Adaptation in Schools

The integration of digital technologies is an important priority in Tunisian educational reforms. However, their use in public secondary schools remains constrained by infrastructural, institutional, and professional challenges. This study examines how Tunisian secondary school teachers use digital technologies and adapt their practices to local conditions. It explores the main constraints affecting ICT integration and the strategies teachers develop to address them. A qualitative approach was adopted, combining semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with secondary school teachers from different regions of Tunisia. The data were analyzed through thematic coding, focusing on technological access, institutional support, professional development, and pedagogical practices. The findings reveal persistent challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, unequal access to digital resources, technical difficulties, and limited opportunities for continuous training. Despite these constraints, teachers demonstrate professional agency and adaptability through collaboration, resource sharing, use of freely available digital materials, and flexible adaptation of available technologies to classroom needs. These practices indicate that teachers actively reinterpret and adapt digital policies rather than simply implementing them. The study concludes that ICT integration in Tunisian secondary schools results from the interaction between structural constraints and teacher agency. Sustainable digital integration requires improved infrastructure, stronger institutional support, and continuous professional development. Recognizing teachers’ contextual knowledge and adaptive practices is also essential for developing effective and context-sensitive digital education policies in Tunisia.