Total Quality Management Principles that Influence the Integration of Information and Communications Technology into the Classroom

Abstract

In light of the recent focus on applications of Total Quality Management (TQM) elements to bring about change in educational settings, a survey instrument was developed to examine teachers' perceptions of the degree to which TQM principles have the potential to influence their personal integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into the classroom. The purpose of this study is to field-test this instrument which measures 70 Singapore secondary school teachers' perceptions on the impact of Deming's fourteen principles for quality in organization on ICT implementation and integration. The results show that teachers perceived that by and large TQM principles, in particular constant training and upgrading as well as leadership responsibility, could positively influence ICT implementation and integration. The findings suggest that in order to promote quality ICT integration on the part of teachers, adequate training in addition to strong leadership needs to be provided. This is to our knowledge the first study which attempts to apply the principles of TQM in the context of integration of ICT in education.