Identification of the changes in attitude and pedagogical practices needed to enable teachers to use information technology in the school curriculum

Abstract

Many different countries have been coping with the difficult decision of whether to include the teaching of information technology (IT) as a separate subject or to encourage the use of IT across the curriculum, within all traditional school subjects. Nations and individual schools which adopt the policy of teaching IT as a separate subject only have to persuade and effect the change in pedagogical practice of a small minority of teachers within a school, whereas if the policy is to effect an integration of IT right across the school curriculum, then the majority of teachers within a school have to change their pedagogical practice to make appropriate use of IT within their lessons.Substantial research, based on the work of Fullan and others, has shown that a change in pedagogical practice not only depends upon the willingness of the individual teacher but on the policies and practices of the institution as a whole, and of the culture within that institution. Research at King’s College into the uptake of computers in schools, the impact of teacher training, and the pedagogical practices in the classroom has provided evidence that the regular use of computers in the classroom is related to the attitude of the headteacher (principal), the attitude of the teachers to IT, their expectations of the learning impact of the technology, the responses of the pupils and the teachers’ understanding of the role of the computer within the subject being taught.This paper reviews the findings reported in the literature and more recent results being gathered from research into the uses of experienced and inexperienced IT teachers, being undertaken at King’s College. This range of research results is used to support a theoretical framework relating the changes in pedagogical practices to the training needs of the class teacher. Consideration in this review will be given to the two approaches of using IT across the curriculum and teaching IT as a separate subject. It is argued that in order to bring about the necessary permanent changes in individual teachers’ pedagogical practices, teacher trainers must regard the whole school as a living evolving organism which needs to be nurtured through training to become dependent upon IT and its ever changing environments for its future health and success.keywordsTeacher educationAttitudesclassroom practiceintegrationpedagogyresearch