Teacher adoption of information and communication technology in secondary schools in Taita Taveta County, Kenya

Abstract

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the classrooms is paramount for providing opportunities for students to learn to operate in the information age. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the teacher is adopting ICT in the classroom. This is with a view to enabling them to adopt it where they do not and bring to the awareness of all the stakeholders of the enablers and the barriers around the teachers regarding ICT use in education in the Taita Taveta County. The study was guided by the following objectives: firstly, to assess the teachers’ competence level in the adoption of the ICT; secondly, to identify the specific impediments to ICT integration in education; thirdly, to identify the existing strategies to fast track ICT adoption and lastly to highlight the benefits of ICT integration in the classroom in the Taita Taveta County secondary schools. This study was guided by the Activity Theory and conducted using the Survey Research Design. It was carried out in the Taita Taveta County which at the time had a total of 515 teachers in the public secondary schools which had already presented candidates for K.C.S.E. The target population was teachers in public secondary schools and using simple random sampling procedure a sample of 155 teachers were selected to participate in the study. Data was collected using questionnaires; analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, means and standard deviations and presented through tables, graphs and figures. The study found out that the teachers’ ICT incompetence in integrating ICT in teaching may be one of the strong barriers impeding the teachers’ adoption of ICT in the classroom. The findings showed that ICT produces significantly better results in the teaching/learning outcomes in secondary schools. Moreover, the findings of this study also indicate that teachers have a strong desire for the integration of ICT in teaching their subjects but encounter many barriers. The study recommends that schools need to employ a trained ICT teacher and facilitate subject- customized in-service trainings for the teachers. It is also hoped that the findings will empower the teacher to adopt ICT in teaching and in turn make learning effective and line with the demands of the twenty first century