Influence of Teachers’ Characteristics on Their Attitude Towards the Integration of ICT in Mathematics Instruction in Primary Schools Mathematics Instruction in Nakuru East Sub-County – Kenya

Abstract

There is pressure placed on the Government of Kenya and the private sectors in the country to strive and compete in the digital world in their operations.  In particular, the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in institutional operations in Kenya is significant, especially in the education sector. Teachers’ lack of ICT skills is the main challenge to integration of ICT in the instructional processes in schools. This study sought to find out whether teachers characteristics influence their attitude towards ICT integration in their classroom practice. Teachers’ characteristics entailed qualification and teachers’ computer competencies, experiences and computer training. The study investigated the influence of teachers’ characteristics on their attitude towards integration of ICT in primary school mathematics instruction in Nakuru Town East Sub-county of Nakuru County, Kenya. In the study, a Correlational research design was applied. A total of 1364 primary school teachers in Nakuru Town East Sub-County, was the target population in the study. The accessible population were all the mathematics teachers from the public primary schools from which a sample size of 140 participated in the study. Simple random sampling was used to select five divisions and proportionate stratified sampling was used to select participating schools and teachers in the study. The head teachers in the participating schools were selected purposefully as part of the teachers to provide information about ICT resources. The data was collected using a self-report questionnaire. The experts in the department of curriculum Instruction and Educational Management validated the instrument. The tool was pilot tested in schools in the neighboring county which had similar characteristics as the study are. The reliability of the research instrument was found to be 0.906 which was within acceptable threshold for social science research. Descriptive (frequency distributions, means, and percentages) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression analysis) were used to analyze the collected data with the help of SPSS program version 26. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 Alpha (α) level of significance.  The study established the existence of a strong statistically significant positive relationship (r = 0.879, p < 0.05) between teacher characteristics and attitude towards the integration of ICT in mathematics instruction. The study established that teacher characteristics (Teaching experience, qualification, and ICT training) were strong predictors of teacher attitude towards integration of ICT in mathematics instruction (b = 0.155, p < 0.05, b = 0.247, p < 0.05 and b = 0.465, p < 0.05) respectively. The findings may help in informing policymakers and teacher trainers to include ICT in both on the job and out of job teacher training programs.

Keywords: Attitude, Information Communication Technology, teacher characteristics and integration of ICT, and mathematics instruction

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-36-11

Publication date: December 31^st 2020