What happens as student teachers who made very good use of ICT during pre‐service training enter their first year of teaching?

Abstract

This paper looks at new teachers' use of information and communications technology (ICT) at the start of their first year of teaching. A previous study was made of 40 student teachers (May–July 2007) who were identified as very good users of ICT. This is a follow‐up study involving 30 of these 40 participants during their first months of teaching (November–February 2008). Drawing on interview and observation data the study describes the use these new teachers make of ICT and considers the factors which encourage and discourage that use. It finds that they continue to see ICT as supporting both their whole‐class teaching and pupils' independent working. The impact ICT has in the classroom provides the underlying rationale for its use by new teachers. Environmental factors, including access and expectations in school, further influence ICT use. Pre‐service training remains a strong influence, in particular past modelling of ICT use by mentors and tutors. The findings are discussed in the context of the wider literature.

Keywords:

• new teachers
• student teachers
• ICT

Acknowledgement

This research was carried out with the support of a small grant from the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.