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Information and communications technology are arguably the most dominant transformational factors in the education landscape. Many schools worldwide are increasingly embracing various technological hardware and software to enhance learning. Tablets, computers, and internet connectivity are rapidly proving to be significant and integral parts of education for students and teachers. However, many teachers encounter challenges regarding the effective and smooth integration of education-based technologies (Saimi & Yamat, 2021). These technologies encompass computers, mobile applications, software, and hardware to aid instructional learning.
Although much has been written on the relationship between teachers ICT competency and their ability to use ICT tools in schools, there still exists research gaps in integrating ICT tools in their teaching process. This is attributed to several challenges that hamper teachers efforts to embrace technology. To begin with, efforts to infuse information technology as a tool for teaching should be spearheaded by the institutions headteacher. Thus, the schools head must be IT competent, as this will also inspire the rest of the teaching staff. Without this, teachers will continue to teach using the traditional method rather than the newly introduced technologies. The headteachers role is to be an agent of change, a guide, and to lead ICT implementation in schools by teachers.
One of the biggest problems that hinder the adaptation of technology in education institutions is poor leadership. Most public primary schools are headed by headteachers whose competencies in technology play a huge role in impacting the rest of the teachers (Hinostroza, 2018). They are expected to offer leadership in every aspect, including in adopting instructional technologies. According to Saimi & Yamat (2021), most primary school headteachers are IT illiterate. This implies that they cannot inspire other teachers to embrace technology in teaching (Information Resources Management Association, 2018).
In the opinion of Ghavifekr et al. (n.d), teachers lack clear ICT goals and objectives in their schools. They do not have many expectations of what information technology can achieve in aiding their teaching activities. Additionally, there is no sufficient pedagogical support and collaboration among teachers. The few who cooperate do not have enough technical experience to achieve their teaching objectives.
Information technology acquisition among teachers requires them to master complex software, which must be integrated into their classwork. This requires a considerable amount of time that is usually not provided for. In many cases, training sessions for teachers are concentrated during school holidays, most of which are barely one month long (Nath, 2019). MynaÇríková & Novotný (2021) observe that this is not enough time for teachers to master the complex intricacies of education-based technologies. Therefore, time has remained a huge hindrance to IT skills acquisition by teachers. Additionally, most primary schools lack professional experts to deliver the information (Azid et al., 2020). Their headteachers do not have sufficient skills to enable them to manage technology teaching materials either.
MynaÇríková & Novotný (2021) also add that low competence of software among teachers, as well as their habitual conceptualization of ways of how and what students ought to learn, is also a hindrance to teaching using technology. This is particularly experienced in those districts where holistic curricula on the subject are yet to be developed. Coupled with teachers limited experiences and know-how, the teaching contexts have significantly been interfered with. Munyengabe et al. (2017) also note that the lack of familiarity with the technology remains a big problem. This implies that many teachers do not possess specific technical expertise that they can leverage in supporting their learners ICT needs.
According to Saimi & Yamat (2021), many teachers tend to focus more on teaching operational or technical skills instead of course content. Such teachers preoccupy their learners with irrelevant procedures and thereby fail to acquire the necessary contents required for their courses. Excessive focus on teaching operation or technical skills does not improve the mode of delivery. Nath (2019) argues that course content that is laden with ICT information is what is needed to enhance teaching. In other jurisdictions, such as East Asia, for instance, teachers are more pressured to deliver high performances in national examinations (Ameen et al., 2019). They, thus, focus all their efforts on drilling their students with examination-oriented content, a practice that hinders ICT content delivery among students.
South Korean schools, for instance, put a lot of emphasis on mathematics, science, and technical subjects. Students who excel in these subject areas are nationally recognized and awarded impeccable benefits such as scholarships. Traditionally, good performances in these areas require the learner to learn effective conceptualization and manipulation of data (Joshi et al., 2021). Many teachers are, therefore, reluctant to embrace new teaching methods that involve ICT as long as their main focus remains to produce students who register high academic scores nationally. Indeed, as Saimi & Yamat (2021) observes, pressure from parents and school administrators to register good scores is a significant problem affecting the teaching of ICT skills.
In the opinion of Joshi et al. (2021), however, in some countries, especially those developing ones, effective and timely use of ICT is not acknowledged. Society does not appreciate that ICT plays an important role in teaching and many other aspects of life (Ghavifekr et al., 2016). Therefore, teachers in such jurisdictions are not sufficiently motivated to use ICT in their teaching processes (Kundu et al., 2020). Furthermore, the governments of those countries do not invest their annual budgetary allocations in training teachers on the application of ICT.
The problem of teacher ICT competency and use of such tools gap in primary schools is further compounded by the technical problems that exist in classrooms. Indeed, as Kamalodeen et al. (2017) note, the architectural designs of most classrooms did not factor in ICT infrastructure that can be used to aid the learning process (Kamalodeen et al., 2017). This predisposes teachers to inferior facilities that hamper their efforts to gain more competencies in ICT and its delivery to learners (Li et al., 2019). For instance, a typical classroom should have teacher/student devices such as screen monitoring, projectors, and interactive flat screens preinstalled to aid the teaching processes. Unfortunately, this is not always the case in many schools across many districts.
There is also a significant problem with managing a classroom with a huge student population. This is especially witnessed in developing countries where there are biting scarcities in learning amenities (Pozo-Rico et al., 2020). Irrespective of the ICT tools used in such schools, a large number of learners will always interfere with the smooth delivery of the learning process. Hinostroza (2018) notes that learners in such learning environments are forced to share learning materials such as tablets. This leads to the overcrowding of many students around one gadget, a practice that makes many students lose focus.
The problem is further compounded by the uncertainties among teachers and learners about the likely benefits associated with the classroom use of ICT. Since many do not recognize its immediate skills, the uptake is mostly slow, and this affects the teachers ICT competency levels in schools. Hinostroza (2018) buttresses this point by arguing that the lack of definite and specific ideas about the integration of technology into instruction is a big problem that affects the use of ICT tools in schools. Against this backdrop, it is essential to investigate how competent teachers are with regard to the use of information technology tools in classroom settings.
References
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