Abstract Education has the social task to prepare children for an increasingly digital society. Therefore, the use of ICT in primary education is becoming increasingly important. Within this study...Show moreAbstract Education has the social task to prepare children for an increasingly digital society. Therefore, the use of ICT in primary education is becoming increasingly important. Within this study we analyzed the differences in the attitude towards ICT and the differences in the use of ICT between anthroposophic schools and mainstream schools. The quantitative analysis was conducted on data obtained through a questionnaire of 213 respondents and interviews with 10 teachers. The results show that teachers of anthroposophic schools have a less positive attitude towards the use of ICT in the classroom than teachers in mainstream schools. In addition, it is shown that there is a connection between this attitude towards ICT and the level of school’s ICT facilities and the use thereof in the classroom. Teachers in anthroposophic schools have fewer ICT facilities available to them than teachers in regular schools. The study also shows that, on average, teachers in anthroposophic schools use ICT less frequent in their classroom and use ICT in a different way than teachers in mainstream schools.Show less
In this study a difference in the use of educational ICT between young and older teachers was examined in multiple areas. Therefore 226 teachers from various schools in the Netherlands did a...Show moreIn this study a difference in the use of educational ICT between young and older teachers was examined in multiple areas. Therefore 226 teachers from various schools in the Netherlands did a questionnaire. Furthermore ten teachers from this sample were interviewed. The subjects of the questionnaires and the interviews were about the attitude towards the use of educational ICT, the way ICT was used, the degree of ICT use and the performance of carrying out ICT support tasks. Data were analyzed through various quantitative analyses, and qualitative analysis. The analyses showed that there is a difference between young and older teachers in the use of educational ICT. The young teachers have used the same amount of educational ICT and performed as many educational tasks as older teachers, but in a different way and with a different attitude towards the use of educational ICT. Consequently, the attitude towards ICT should change along with the innovations in ICT. Thereby all the education in the field of ICT simultaneously will be gathered simultaneously.Show less
The central question in this research is whether gender, work experience and affective valences of teachers in primary education influence the educational use of ICT. In this research 226 teachers...Show moreThe central question in this research is whether gender, work experience and affective valences of teachers in primary education influence the educational use of ICT. In this research 226 teachers were asked to complete a survey and also ten teachers were interviewed. To analyse the questions the chi-square test, the independent t-sample test, the regression analyses were used and we did a qualitative analyse of some interviews. The conclusion is that there was no difference found between men and women and the affective valences they have about ICT. Also the number of years of experience does not affect the educational use of ICT in their classroom. The affective valences of the teachers do influence the educational use of ICT. The more positive a teacher is about the educational use of ICT, the more they use it in class. Also the opposite was founded. For further research it is important not only to look at individual factors of teachers, also school characteristics can influence the use of ICT in education.Show less
The purpose of this research was to find whether the personal factors age, ICT attitude and feeling of personal competence affect the educational ICT use of Dutch teachers at primary schools in the...Show moreThe purpose of this research was to find whether the personal factors age, ICT attitude and feeling of personal competence affect the educational ICT use of Dutch teachers at primary schools in the Netherlands. Another goal was to find how those teachers exactly use ICT during their workday. By using questionnaires of 209 Dutch teachers and semi-structured interviews with ten of them, it became clear that young teachers held a more positive attitude towards ICT related developments in their classrooms than older teachers, because they had a more positive ICT attitude and a greater feeling of personal competence than their older colleagues. Old teachers view the possibility of creating a more personalized educational sphere for every child as a positive result of the increasing level of ICT use in the classrooms, but they also fear that an increased use of ICT eventually will lead to less social interaction in the classrooms. Since almost all schools already have invested in Smartboards, computers and laptops, nearly all teachers make use of digital learning methods to educate their students.Show less
The contribution made by advances in technology to modern society has been significant. One key area in which we are seeing growth in the use of technology is in the educational sphere. This study...Show moreThe contribution made by advances in technology to modern society has been significant. One key area in which we are seeing growth in the use of technology is in the educational sphere. This study focused on primary school teachers in the Netherlands, concentrating on the different characteristics of teachers in relation to technology use in the classroom. The characteristics investigated were; gender, the particular grade being taught and affective valences towards technology. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to conduct this study; a questionnaire was filled in by 220 respondents and 10 respondents were interviewed. The findings showed that gender had no effect on the likelihood of using technology in the classroom. but teachers teaching higher grades were more likely to use technology. In addition to this teachers who had negative affective valences toward technology were more likely not to use technology. Surprisingly, teachers with positive and neutral affective valences toward technology showed no difference in actually using technology.Show less
In primary education female teachers are overrepresented. In the IT sector males are overrepresented. IT is usually associated to masculinity. Is this relation in regards to IT also evident in...Show moreIn primary education female teachers are overrepresented. In the IT sector males are overrepresented. IT is usually associated to masculinity. Is this relation in regards to IT also evident in primary education? The use of Information Technology (IT) in primary education is increasing day by day. This research concerns the subject of IT in primary education. There has been an examination, whether there is a difference in attitude towards the use of IT between male and female teachers. This study was conducted among 231 teachers in primary education in the province of South-Holland. From the 231 teachers 79% was female and 21% male. The data was collected by students from Leiden University by means a questionnaire and a structured interview. The conclusion of this examination is that there is no difference in attitude towards the use of IT between men and women, but there is a difference in gender with regard to implementing IT tasks in education. IT tasks are used more by male teachers then their female counterparts. There is no relationship between the gender of the teacher and the attitude towards IT, but there is a strong difference between the gender and the use of IT. This means that the degree to which IT is used during the lessons can be predicted based on the attitude of the teacher in relation to IT. During class teachers use smart boards, student software methods and computers as IT resources. In some cases teachers use laptops, an IT room, I-pads or smartphones.Show less
ICT is getting more and more embedded in our society. Almost everyone has a computer or laptop of some sort these days. But how does this use of ICT translate into use in everyday classes? In...Show moreICT is getting more and more embedded in our society. Almost everyone has a computer or laptop of some sort these days. But how does this use of ICT translate into use in everyday classes? In schools ICT is getting used more often, but not every teacher uses ICT in the same way and same amount. Different background characteristics influence the teachers. The main goal of this study is to find out if, and which, characteristics influence the teachers in their use of ICT in the classroom. The research for this paper took place in 34 Dutch primary schools with a total of 225 participants that all filed out a survey about their background characteristics and their use of ICT in the class. After that ten of them were interviewed about how they think about ICT in the class. The quantitative survey shows that older teachers are less inclined to use ICT in their classrooms and that having children of their own does not make a difference in their use of ICT in the class. Working fulltime or part-time however, does make a difference. According to this study, teachers that work part-time are less inclined to use ICT in their classes. Even though personal characteristics do influence the use of ICT in the class, the qualitative interview shows that almost all teachers are very positive about using ICT in their class. They say for example that students learn better and the lessons have more variety when ICT is used.Show less
In Dutch society as a whole and via the education system, it can be seen that ICT is becoming a more popular medium for knowledge exchange. This study reviewed various background characteristics...Show moreIn Dutch society as a whole and via the education system, it can be seen that ICT is becoming a more popular medium for knowledge exchange. This study reviewed various background characteristics such as age, gender and years of experience of primary school teachers in relation to the educational use of ICT. A questionnaire was used and issued to 218 respondents in order to gather data to complete the quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis consisted of 10 interviews, 5 with male teachers and 5 with female teachers. The results showed that male teachers and teachers under the age of 45 are more likely to use and apply ICT methods and tools in their lessons for a multitude of educational purposes. It could also be seen that the Smartboard tool was the most predominantly used tool by the teachers surveyed. In conclusion, the number of years of experience of the teachers seems not to be as significant as their gender and age when considering the extent to which teachers will elect to use ICT tools in the classroom.Show less
