Primary school teachers’ readiness to integrate information and communication technology into their teaching and learning

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the extent to which ICT training has developed skills, prepared and enabled primary school teachers to use ICTs to sustain curriculum delivery and to understand the benefits and challenges that primary school teachers experience when using ICT for curriculum delivery. Qualitative data through semi-structured interviews with four teachers were conducted to gain a deep understanding of influencing factors, skills, benefits and challenges the educators faced in making this new technological shift. The data analysis showed that subject-specific training is needed and can be a vital factor in enhancing instructors' proficiency in using technology to its maximum capacity. Providing teachers with comprehensive technical training is crucial to ensure they possess the requisite abilities. Findings show that the mindset of educators regarding the utilisation of ICTs encompasses a readiness to acquire knowledge, enhancing the teaching and learning process. Other important elements are the availability of diverse resources and the ability of ICT to facilitate continuous interaction among learners. The researcher concluded that technical support and training provided by ICT play a crucial role in this regard. The barriers to the use of ICT in education include teachers' insufficient knowledge and practice, the adverse effects of national load shedding, limited availability of resources, incidents of classroom and device vandalism, inadequate provision of subject specific training and learner devices, and the absence of teacher-control functionality on learner tablets. The findings emphasise the importance of ICT champions in schools and recommend that the ICT committees provide technical support. The findings have significant value for E-Learning institutions and other educational institutions adopting ICT. Furthermore, these unique insights could be of significance to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and other key stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of programmes on E-Learning. Some conversion factors, such as society of practice and university-level skills, were found to have enhanced the capabilities of the participating teachers; however, the majority of the conversion factors seemed to have limited the teachers' abilities, making it more difficult for them to use ICTs in the classroom with confidence, freedom, or complete effectiveness. The results show that ICT utilisation is comparatively low for instruction in a select group of Western Cape public primary schools for several reasons. For students to meet the expectations of technological advantages, recommendations were made to quickly address the various internal and external obstacles impeding teachers' ability to use ICTs effectively for teaching and learning. The researcher experienced challenging factors in conducting this research and anticipated many problems, including money limitations, scheduling constraints, site access, and extrapolating the results. However, the researcher identified recommendations such as: The principal's contribution to driving an intervention strategy to promote technological proficiency, the creation and execution of long-term professional development initiatives, designing of ICT policies in line with the profile of teachers, modernising educational tools and Wi-Fi connectivity and after-school training sessions.