Teachers' ICT integration challenges: a case study in Orlando East, South Africa

Abstract

The use of ICT in education has transformed teaching and learning. This transformation has provided education systems with new challenges on how they should prepare teachers for effective ICT integration in the context of barriers that seem to restrain this worthwhile initiative. Research indicates that teachers are not integrating ICT into teaching and learning effectively. This qualitative study investigated challenges faced by teachers in schools that affect meaningful ICT integration. Thereof how can teachers triumph over the identified challenges in order to effectively integrate ICT into teaching and learning? To measure effective integration, the study uses Czerniewicz and Brown (2005) as the lenses to zoom into how teachers are integrating ICT into teaching and learning. Furthermore, the study used Ertmer’s (2005) views (internal and external barriers) to view teachers’ challenges. This was a multiple case study of four schools in Orlando East that are recipients of Gauteng Online Laboratory project. Participants were fourteen teachers who are using ICT for teaching and learning. The findings of this study pointed out that the challenges of schools that participated in the study vary and some can be overcome by teachers and other can only be overcome by the education authorities at different levels. The study also found that there is a relationship between challenges as they influence one another in the constraining effective ICT integration into subject teaching and learning.