Teachers’ experiences of ICT training in Nepal: how teachers in rural primary schools learn and make progress in their ability to use ICT in classrooms

ABSTRACT

This article reports on teachers’ experiences of ICT training in rural areas of Nepal. It discusses aspects of policy documents to help understand the Nepali educational context, before highlighting the challenges of establishing and maintaining infrastructure and professional learning opportunities across a country with challenging terrain and extreme environmental conditions. It then examines teachers’ perceptions in five rural primary schools about their experiences of training to use modern educational technologies in instructional activities. The findings indicate that none of the teachers received training in the use of ICT in their initial teacher education and that the Government has allowed non-governmental organisations to provide ICT infrastructure and training for rural schools and teachers. Although this is a small study, it offers insights into the gap between policy and practice and highlights the contextual challenges of Nepal’s attempts to operate on a global educational level as well as the challenges for teachers.

KEYWORDS:

• ICT training
• Nepal education
• rural education
• teacher professional development
• TPACK

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karna Rana

Karna Rana is an Assistant Professor of ICT and E-learning at Nepal Open University. His areas of research interest are online learning and distance, ICT for education, education and language policy, education for rural development, educational leadership, EMI, Indigenous studies, multilingualism and mother-tongue-based education.

Janinka Greenwood

Janinka Greenwood is Professor of Education at the University of Canterbury. Her fields of research include teacher education, development studies, cross-cultural issues and arts-based strategies for learning. She has a strong interest in learning communities, cultural difference, post-colonialisms and practice-based research methodologies.

Robyn Henderson

Robyn Henderson currently holds an honorary appointment at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She is interested in pedagogies and learning and how they apply to learners of all ages both inside and outside education systems.