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
In this research, teachers' motivation for professionalization activities about learning delays and giftedness was explored by interviewing twenty-eight primary school teachers in the Netherlands....Show moreIn this research, teachers' motivation for professionalization activities about learning delays and giftedness was explored by interviewing twenty-eight primary school teachers in the Netherlands. With this information an attempt was made to answer the following question: To which extent do differences exist in the affective valences, cognitive valences and sense of competence among teachers with regard to professionalization activities about learning delays and giftedness and how can differences be explained? Results show that teachers feel that pupils with learning delays need emotional as well as cognitive help. However, there's a limit to what these pupils can achieve cognitively, so teachers aim for their emotional well being. Teachers do not mention a cognitive limit for the gifted pupils, but do mention the emotional well being of these pupils as one of the conditions that needs to be met to help them excel, alongside testing the giftedness of the pupil and knowing how to help these pupils. Furthermore, teachers with a preference for professionalization activities about learning delays mainly build upon non-personal cognitive valences, like wanting to renew their knowledge to connect to the needs of these students and wanting to help the large number of pupils with learning delays, for their motivation. In contrast, teachers with a preference for professionalization activities about giftedness mainly build upon positive personal cognitive valences, like feeling the need to gain new knowledge to develop themselves, for their motivation. The number of years a teachers has been working in education explained most of the differences in their motivation, like the decreasing will to gain new knowledge and to renew old knowledge. The outcomes of this research should be explored further, but can already be to used to improve professionalization activities by building upon the motivational aspects that play a role in teachers' motivation for these activities.Show less
