ICT usage in Ghanaian secondary schools: teachers’ perspectives

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 300-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Buabeng-Andoh

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate secondary school teachers’ perspectives on ICT usage in secondary schools in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 376 teachers from 24 public and private schools from four regions in Ghana participated in this study. Survey and focus group interviews were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests were used to analyze the findings. Findings – The result indicated that teachers’ perceived ICT usage, perceived access to ICT, perceived ICT training and perceived ICT competence were low. Furthermore, the analysis showed that male teachers’ perceived confidence in the use of ICT was higher than female teachers. On the other hand, the perceived administrative support for female teachers was more than that for male teachers. Finally, this study discovered that there was no significant difference in public and private school teachers’ access to ICT, administrative support, self-efficacy, competencies and training. Originality/value – This contributes to the literature on the perceptions and use of teachers’ ICT in secondary schools. The results provide insights into factors that teachers perceived as obstacles to integration of ICT into their teaching, particularly in developing nations. The study shows that teachers’ perceived ICT competencies and ICT training do not depend on the type of school the teacher is employed to teacher.

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 78-83
Author(s):  
Jeselle S. Aquino

The problem of poor quality in education has been traced to a number of causes, which include socio-economic factors, teacher-related factors, inadequate learning materials, and the short and congested school curriculum, among others. With this result, it is therefore imperative to organize remediation programs in low performing schools to address the needs of the learners to achieve desired learning outcomes and to enhance faculty’s teaching competence. The study determined the remedial teaching practices employed by secondary school teachers in both public and private schools in Northern Samar. It also found out the difference between the extent of remedial teaching practices as perceived by the teachers and students and if there was a significant difference between the extent of practices of public and private secondary schools in Northern Samar. The descriptive-comparative method was utilized in the study using a researcher-made survey questionnaire as the primary instrument. The study was conducted in twenty (20) public and private secondary schools in Northern Samar selected based on the results of the National Achievement Test (NAT) from 2010 to 2011. Frequency counts, percentages, and weighted mean computations were used to analyze the data obtained. The t-test was used to test the difference between the extent of remedial teaching practices as perceived by the secondary teachers and students and the difference in the extent of remedial teaching practices among public and private secondary schools in Northern Samar. The remedial teaching practices of the secondary school teachers were rated “extensive” by both teachers and students. There was a significant difference between the perceptions of the secondary school teachers and the students on the extent of remedial teaching practices but there was no significant difference between the extent of remedial teaching practices of the public and the private secondary schools in Northern Samar.


Author(s):  
Kamalpreet Kaur Toor

The present study attempts to compare teacher effectiveness, general intelligence and creativity of secondary school teachers in relation to gender and type of school. The sample for the study consisted of 850 secondary school teachers of Punjab. The findings of the study revealed that there is no significant difference in teacher effectiveness of male and female secondary school teachers. The significant main effect of type of school is independent of gender groups, i.e. government school teachers are effective both in case of male and female groups of school teachers. There is significant difference in general intelligence of male and female secondary school teachers, female teachers being more intelligent as compared to male teachers, both in case of government and private schools. The results also show that male teachers of private secondary schools are more creative than female teachers of private secondary schools but not in case of government secondary schools. Government school teachers are significantly high on creativity than private school teachers only in case of female group and not in case of male teachers. Teacher effectiveness is positively and significantly related with general intelligence and creativity among secondary school teachers.


Author(s):  
Pratibha Sagar ◽  
Shahida Parveen

Teaching effectiveness means perfection, optimum level of efficiency and productivity on the part of the teacher. It refers to the height of maturity and learning that teachers grows with experience and learns more and more. This study was conducted on 148 teachers selected randomly from 8 secondary schools located in Bareilly District of Uttar Pradesh. The data was collected by self made teaching effectiveness scale. This scale consists of 38 items of 6 dimensions. Collected data was analysed using statistical techniques such as mean, standard deviation and t-test. The study revealed that there is significant difference between the teaching effectiveness of male and female teachers working in secondary school. But no significant difference was found teaching effectiveness of CBSE Board female and UP Board female teachers and CBSE Board male and UP Board male teachers working in secondary schools.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 205
Author(s):  
Belis Feyza GÜLLÜ ◽  
Hüseyin SERİN

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between teachers’ fear of missing out (FoMO) levels and their cyberloafing behaviour and to reveal whether teachers’ FoMO and their cyberloafing behaviour differ according to their gender. The sample of the research consisted of 702 secondary school teachers working in state schools within the borders of Istanbul in 2019-2020 education year. According to the research, it was identified that the level of teachers’ FoMO levels and cyberloafing behaviours were moderate. It was detected that teachers’ FoMO levels differed significantly according to gender. With this result, male teachers’ FoMO levels were higher than female teachers’ FoMO levels. Similarly, it was observed that there was a significant difference between teachers’ cyberloafing behaviour and gender. According to this result, it was found that male teachers’ mean score of cyberloafing behaviour was higher than female teachers’ mean score of cyberloafing behaviour in all sub-scales. In addition, a positive significant relationship between teachers’ FoMO and their cyberloafing behaviour was observed.


Author(s):  
Siri Ekberg ◽  
Shang Gao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges of using ICT in secondary schools in Sweden from teachers’ perspectives. Design/methodology/approach The research followed a qualitative research approach. First, a conceptual framework was developed based on previous research. Then, four teachers, teaching in six different subjects in secondary schools in Sweden, participated in semi-structured interviews that consisted of open-ended questions exploring their views on the challenges of using ICT in secondary schools. Findings According to the results, the authors found that the biggest challenges were associated with the perspective of teaching and teaching preparation. Most challenges from previous research have been re-confirmed by the interviewees in this study. In addition, some new challenges were identified in this study. For instance, the results indicated that it was time consuming to find plagiarism of students’ exercises, and there was a lack of ICT training of digital resources provided by the schools. Originality/value The investigation of using ICT in secondary schools is of scientific significance because it enriches the understanding of strengths and challenges of using ICT in educational activities. In particular, this research aims to shed light on challenges that teachers may face when using ICT in secondary schools. This research can also contribute to making future strategic plans for the use of ICT in secondary schools.


1989 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Bruce ◽  
Ron Cacioppe

This article describes a survey which investigated why teachers resigned from government secondary schools in Western Australia before they reached retirement age. All teachers who had resigned within a specific one-year period were invited to complete a survey which obtained information on demographic factors, work conditions, professional and career development, the effect of teaching on social and family lives, and relationships with parents, students, fellow teachers and administrative personnel. The findings suggested that male teachers who had resigned were more concerned with perceived discriminatory practices in the general management of the school than were the female teachers. On the other hand, female teachers were more concerned with the encroachment of teaching duties on their family and social lives, problems of classroom discipline and lack of administrative support. Both lack of administrative support with discipline problems and lack of effective school policies were cited by members of both sexes as contributing to their resignation, but to a greater extent with female teachers. The major causes of discipline problems were found to be the failure of students to do their homework and their general lack of motivation. One of the most significant findings was the perceived lack of competence of the principal in administrative skills such as decision making, staff support and general school management. For career-oriented teachers, the lack of promotional opportunities was given as the major reason for their resignation, while dissatisfaction with assessment procedures compounded this problem. Male teachers were concerned about perceived discriminatory practices by the subject superintendents. Constructive suggestions are put forward which point to ways of surmounting the perceived shortcomings within the government secondary school system.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Drita Kruja ◽  
Huong Ha ◽  
Elvira Tabaku

Purpose There have been many research studies on students’ satisfaction of services in universities in developed countries. However, students’ expectation and satisfaction of public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) with regard to service quality in Eastern Europe have been under-researched. Therefore, this study aims to offer an empirical examination of student satisfaction of the service quality of public and private HEIs in Albania by evaluating the gap between students’ expectation and perception and the effect of student satisfaction on retention in HEIs. Design/methodology/approach The survey instrument used in this study was the student satisfaction inventory in the USA. Primary data were collected from a survey of students in two private and four public HEIs in Albania. A total of 554 valid responses were collected from the survey. Findings The findings suggested that there were performance gaps between public and private HEIs. Public universities performed well in terms of concern for the individual, campus support services, student-centeredness and instructional effectiveness. Private HEIs scored well in terms of concern for the individual, academic advising effectiveness, instructional effectiveness and safety and security (parking). There is a significant difference in students’ perception of the overall satisfaction of HEIs. Students’ overall satisfaction positively impacts their retention. Originality/value Overall, this study provides valuable insights to private and public HEIs’ administrators regarding to student satisfaction and retention. The findings will have far-reaching managerial implications for all groups of stakeholders in terms of the service delivery by universities in Albania and Eastern Europe.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose The authors assumed PSM would be higher in the public sector, but they set up a trial to find out if this was the case. Design/methodology/approach To test their theories, the authors conducted two independent surveys. The first consisted of 220 usable responses from public sector employees in Changsha, China. The second survey involved 260 usable responses from private sector employees taking an MBA course at a university in the Changsha district. A questionnaire was used to assess attitudes. Findings The results found no significant difference between the impact of public sector motivation (PSM) on employee performance across the public and private sectors. The data showed that PSM had a significant impact on self-reported employee performance, but the relationship did not differ much between sectors. Meanwhile, it was in the private sector that PSM had the greatest impact on intention to leave. Originality/value The authors said the research project was one of the first to test if the concept of PSM operated in the same way across sectors. It also contributed, they said, to the ongoing debate about PSM in China.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahib Khatoon Thaheem ◽  
Mohamad Jafre Zainol Abidin ◽  
Quratulain Mirza ◽  
Habib Ullah Pathan

PurposeThe shift from physical class to online classes in the pandemic COVID-19 situation has posited opportunities as well as challenges for teachers and students. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate challenges faced and benefits availed by the teachers at the tertiary level in universities of Pakistan and Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the purpose a mixed-method approach is employed to answer the three research questions of the present study. The quantitative data is obtained from the responses of 66 teachers, teaching online in Mehran UET Pakistan and 102 teachers from Indonesian university. The personal, technological, and pedagogical challenges were analyzed by descriptive statistics on SPSS. Thus, the independent-samples t-test was run to test for statistically significant differences faced by teachers in both countries.FindingsThe findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences found in personal, and pedagogical challenges faced by both countries' teachers, whereas there is a significant difference in facing technological challenges between Pakistani and Indonesian teachers. The benefits of online teaching were investigated qualitatively by conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers 5 from each country. There are very positive aspects of online teaching revealed in the interviews.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper includes implications for the development of Computer Assisted Language Learning, the development of technology integrated courses, and for managing the balance between physical and online classes.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study have implications on finding out the solutions of the derived challenges, further it suggests to concentrate on students of public and private universities in Pakistan and Indonesia so that a comparison of challenges faced by teachers and faced by students can be researched and evaluated and it can generate significantly different results.Social implicationsThe implications on the research society and the teachers and designers' communities are very clear in this research because it paves the way forward towards the blending of technology in any way either synchronously/ asynchronously into education, further researches can be done on designing the new concepts, courses, instructional platforms for students and investigate the new dimensions and effects of them.Originality/valueFindings have value, because two countries' context (developing countries) with respect to the comparison of the challenges and benefits is better understood, it would have different results if had done in the developed countries.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Kansal ◽  
Mahesh Joshi

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of corporate disclosure on human resources (HR) in the annual reports of top performing Indian companies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the extent to which top 82 companies from India present information about HR in their annual reports. This study examines the annual reports of each of the top Indian firms listed on the Bombay stock exchange, using the “content analysis” method. Statistical tests have been performed to analyse the difference between the HR disclosure score across public and private sectors and disclosure variations among various industrial sectors. Findings – In-house training programmes has been noticed to be the favourite item of disclosure followed by safety awards/certifications and statements regarding cordial relations with the employees/unions. A majority of the Indian firms have ignored significant HR issues such as employee welfare fund, maternity/paternity leaves, holiday benefits, employee loans and adopting old age homes, etc. Overall, the study reflects low HR related disclosures. No statistically significant difference has been found between the mean HR disclosure from one industry to another and disclosure practices of the private and the public sector companies. Practical implications – The disclosure pattern of the Indian companies suggests that they only a few companies are concerned about employees’ welfare than the rest. This may motivate a change of the disclosure policy of the rest of the firms who may follow the reporting pattern of the most disclosing ones. Originality/value – This is first study on the disclosure of HR by the Indian corporate sector in the CSR domain with a disclosure analysis for a period of nine years . This research provides new directions for the literature in this area and may promote comparative studies on HR-based studies from different perspectives.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document