Students' perceptions of ICT‐related support in teaching placements

Abstract

Recent research has shown that students' use of information and communications technology (ICT) on teaching practice is necessary for effective future use of ICT in the classroom. However, this paper reports that there are a number of factors affecting the use of ICT by student‐teachers in their school placements. All 110 student‐teachers attending one university's eight Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses completed a questionnaire on their attitudes to ICT in learning and teaching and their initial experiences of the application of ICT in schools. In‐depth interviews with the student‐teachers, as well as univer‐sity tutors and teachers, revealed a range of issues that reflected how student‐teachers perceive their school‐based ICT training and what they think could improve their experiences. Recommendations are offered for the improvement of the ICT school experiences for student‐teachers until teacher training is completed and improved ICT infrastructure is in place in schools. The overriding conclusion is that schools must be supported and resourced properly, and teachers must have effective ICT training, before improvements in school‐based ICT development for student‐teachers can be achieved.

Mathematics Teachers and ICT: Factors Affecting Pre-service use in School Placements

“…This reflected what Cuckle and Clarke (2002) (2007), access issues have still been apparent in many studies (e.g. Barton, 1996;Parkinson, 1998;Galanouli & McNair, 2001;Cuckle & Clarke, 2002;Barton & Haydn, 2006).…”

“…That is another thing; it is just fighting for competition with everything else". Lack of time to prepare ICT-based lessons due to workload issues, for student teachers in school placements, is an issue also raised in other studies (for example, see Galanouli & McNair, 2001;Hammond et al, 2009). …”

“…To identify what factors encourage or discourage student teachers" use of ICT during school placement will enable teacher educators to create an appropriate environment for future students. There is now a considerable amount of published research on student teachers" use of ICT (e.g Galanouli & McNair, 2001;Clarke, 2002, Barton andHaydn, 2006;Hammond et al, 2009). However, research focuses mainly on whole cohorts and provides insufficient insight into individual subject areas, whereas this research study aims to provide a more cohesive picture of the use of ICT of pre-service mathematics teachers.…”

Collaborative approaches in initial teacher education: lessons from approaches to developing student teachers’ use of the Internet in science teaching

“…Our early research on the Internet showed that there are many instances of the mentor and school hoping that the student teacher themselves would take a lead [names deleted to maintain integrity of review process]. Thus while it is the mentors who have been cited as being of key importance in supporting student teachers' developments across a variety of applications (see, for example, Galanouli and McNair 2001;Cuckle and Clarke 2002), problems are likely to arise if they do not have the necessary expertise. Clearly the mechanisms of support for Internet use need to reflect the variety of contexts and levels of development present in the practicum arrangements within partnerships.…”

Facteurs influençant l’utilisation des technologies de l’information et de la communication chez les stagiaires en enseignement du secondaire

“…Les futurs enseignants tentent d'y développer les compétences acquises théoriquement pour les appliquer en contexte réel (MEQ, 1994). Ainsi, si un futur enseignant utilise les TIC en stage, les chances de les intégrer adéquatement dans sa profession seront augmentées (Birch et Irvine, 2009;Galanouli et McNair, 2001;Murphy, 2000).…”