A Study on University Primary Student Teachers’ Information and Communication Technology Use and Integration Practices During School Based Studies

Abstract

The systematic use and integration of Information and Communication Technologies CTs in the classroom practice of pre-service student is very important for student teachers to become more proficient in using and integrating technology in their teaching. The Namibian Government has made some innovative attempts to increase the use of ICTs) by teachers in schools as well as teacher educators at higher institution of learning. Through the Tech/NA!, the ICT Implementation Plan of the Ministry of Education and the ICT policy for Education, the Ministry of Education introduced various programmes, for example, International Computer Driver’s License (ICDL), in order to enhance and strengthen the skills of teacher educators so that they could effectively use and model ICTs in teaching and learning activities. Further, the Namibian Government has also acknowledged the fact that ICTs can play a significant role in driving the country’s aspirations towards becoming a knowledge-based society by 2030. Using a mixed method approach of interviews, observations, and a questionnaire, this case study investigated the university primary student teachers’ field experience of ICTs use and integration during school based studies.  A total of 135 student teachers from 10 selected school, both rural and urban in Oshana educational region participated in this study. Findings strongly indicated that student teachers did not use ICT and the 2 & 3 dimensional teaching materials to fundamentally change their pedagogical practices, but instead were used to maintain the student teachers’ traditional pedagogical practices. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that student teachers should be guided and trained on the difference between the usage of ICTs and the integration thereof. This could result in the migration from teacher to learner collaboration to a more active learner to learner collaboration. Although a limited study due to the small sample size, the results should be of interest to those teacher educators who are concerned with the curriculum development and implementation of teacher education.