Teachers' perceptions of the barriers in ICT integration in teaching among the public schools in Male' / Aminath Shazra

Abstract

In an era of information communication technology, people are increasingly dependent on technological devices in every aspect of their lives including in the field of teaching and learning in classrooms. Therefore the main objective of this research is to examine the teachers' perceptions of the barriers in ICT integration in teaching in public schools of Male'. Focus also will be given to examine whether there is a significant difference between gender and secondary/primary grade teachers perception with regard to the main barrier in ICT integration in teaching. A total of 120 Likert scale survey questionnaires were filled from randomly selected participant teachers of 8 public schools from Male'. By using quantitative research design, the data ware analyzed using SPPS and the findings of the study revealed that the most predominant barrier according to the perception of respondents was issues related to technical, professional support and training followed by barriers related to availability and accessibility of ICT resources and the third barrier was challenges associated with school leadership and organizational support. Furthermore the analysis of the data revealed that there is a significant difference between the perceptions of the main barrier on technical, professional support and training between male/female and secondary/primary grade teachers. Implications of the research include assist in policy makers and school administrators to identify the existing issues so that e teaching and learning can be improved by utilizing efficient ICT resources. Hence future researches can be carried out on organizational strategies that can reduce the existing challenges faced by public school teachers.
Key words:
ICT, ICT integration, Barriers