Teachers’ ICT Skills and Ict Usage in the Classroom: The Case of Basic School Teachers in Ghana

Abstract

Integration of ICT into pedagogical practices will seriously be compromised if teachers possess little or no knowledge of ICT. This paper reports on a study which sought to explore basic school teachers’ ICT skills and ICT usage in the classroom. In all 20 basic school teachers took part in the study. Three instruments were used to gather data from teachers which include lesson observation, questionnaires, and interview. The study adopted survey research design. Qualitative analysis of the data collected revealed that teachers’ ICT skills were at the moderate level. The study also revealed that teachers’ uses ICT for general and personal purposes which includes chatting and communicating with friends as well as family members via WhatsApp, Facebook, WeChat. In terms of ICT integration in classroom lessons, it was found that, teachers hardly use technology in their lessons because of not having ICT integration skills as well as lack of resources in the Basic schools. The study recommends the need for regular in-service training programme for teachers with a direct focus on ICT integration and ICT usage for teaching and learning by Ghana Education Service.

Keywords: Teachers, ICT, Skills, Usage, Classroom.