Assessment of teachers’ preparedness for ICT integration in teaching and learning in public primary schools in Muranga South sub-county

Abstract

Studies have shown that teachers using computers in public schools in the developing countries were never trained to do so during their initial training. It has also been established that a major challenge for integrating technology in learning is to support teachers as they explore and experiment with diverse ways to integrate technology into meaningful, challenging and authentic ways across the curriculum. It is in this light that this study assessed the preparedness for teachers in integrating ICT in teaching in public primary schools in Murang’a Sub-County. The study sought to find out the Information Communication Technology (ICT) literacy level of teachers, teachers’ attitude towards the use of ICT in teaching and to determine the strategies that have been put in place to enhance preparedness of teachers and schools in integrating ICT in teaching in public primary schools as little seems to have been done on the scenario. The study was confined in Murang’a South sub-county where public primary school teachers and head teachers were involved. The study was guided by Technology Acceptance Model theory (TAM) of Davis (1989). Literature was reviewed on ICT preparedness in teaching and learning, computer literacy level, benefits of integrating ICT in teaching and learning and strategies put in place in ICT integration. The researcher used stratified random sampling where 31 schools were sampled from Makuyu strata and 9 schools from Maragwa strata. The study involved 120 teachers and 40 head teachers from the selected schools. The total sample size was 160 respondents. The findings of this study could be essential to the education stake holders such as the ministry of education, Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) and school board of management in preparation for the implementation of the ICT project. The study adopted a mixed methodology approach with a convergent parallel design where qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from 160 respondents using questionnaires constructed as per the research objectives, interviews and observation. Questionnaires, interview schedule and observation checklist were tested in schools that were similar to the actual sample that was used in the study. The researcher together with some experts in Curriculum studies ascertained content validity of the questionnaires, interview schedule and observation checklist. Reliability was ensured through test-retest method. Qualitative data was organized into themes and patterns, categorized through content analysis and then tabulated while quantitative data was generated using tabulated reports with frequencies and percentages. The researcher observed ethical considerations. The study revealed that: There were very few ICT literate teachers in the sub-county. 64.7% of the head teachers and 67.8% of the teachers were computer illiterates. Those who were ICT literate were quite minimal. This indicates that the training levels of teachers in the use of computers in public primary schools are inadequate and therefore they need to be trained in the usage of computers. However, majority of the head teachers and teachers had a positive attitude towards the use of computers in public primary schools This study showed that head teachers and teachers at their individual levels were willing to integrate ICT in teaching and learning if only they could acquire basic skills in use of computer and also if proper strategies were put in place in public primary schools.