Chasing dreams and recognising realities: teachers’ responses to ICT

Abstract

The teaching profession’s response to the inexorable march of new technology into education has been a focus of research for some 30 years. Linked with the impact of ICT on measurable performance outcomes, teacher attitudes to technology and the impact on pedagogic practice have been central to that research, a research that has often seen teachers as a barrier, not a force for change. The current article brings together findings from a decade of studies that have explored the ways in which teaching staff have responded to the growing notion that ICT is a core part of the teaching toolkit. In doing so we question the simplistic stereotyping of Luddite teachers. Drawing on findings from rare, but crucially important, longitudinal projects the article discusses hopes and fears raised by teaching staff when confronted with changes to existing pedagogy, before moving on to explore issues such as the ‘technology dip’, how maturity modelling can inform our understanding of technological change in schools and ways forward for helping teaching staff to embed technology into their teaching. The article concludes with a discussion of why it is important that the educational system meets this challenge from a learner’s perspective.

Keywords:

• e-maturity
• technology acceptance
• interactive whiteboards
• virtual learning environments

Notes

1. The concept of ‘maturity modelling’ was drawn from organisational research where it had been shown that it is possible to score organisations to reflect the level of maturity at which they operate (Curtis, Hefley, & Miller, 1995). Further information on the model-building process is provided in Underwood and Dillon (2004).

2. The term ‘VLE’ is less in evidence now as additional functionality is added to such systems. See Banyard, Underwood, Kerlin, and Stiller (2011) for a discussion of the changing nature of such systems.