Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of Information and Communication Technology in inclusive primary schools

Abstract

The integration of ICT remains a major barrier in education, negatively affecting the teaching and learning process in inclusive schools in South Africa. The purpose of the study therefore was to provide a deep understanding about the attitudes of teachers towards the integration of ICTs in teaching and learning in inclusive primary schools. A qualitative approach was used in the research to discover the teacher’s perceptions, opinions, and feelings about the use of ICTs in Inclusive primary schools. Purposive sampling strategy was used to select two participants from each of the five inclusive primary schools, which constituted a total of ten participants. The theoretical framework that informed the research was drawn from Lev Vygotsky’s social learning theory (1962). Data collection was done through in-depth interviews, which were corroborated by non-participant observations, to triangulate the study’s findings. Qualitative thematic data analysis whereby the researcher identified, categorised themes and sub-themes in accordance with the study’s sub-research questions was employed. From the findings of this study.it was recommended among others that the ministry of education should be hands -on when it comes to ICT usage in Inclusive primary schools, teachers must be well trained and involved in decision-making and processes for implementation of ICT usage in inclusive primary schools and that there should be adequate technical and administrative support available to teachers during the implementation on ICTs.