Assessment concerning persistence of obstacles related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies in Primary Education

Abstract

Nowadays we have several studies that show us evidence regarding the benefits of technology when it is applied in educational contexts, to the extent that some authors claim that Information and Communication Technologies encourage students’ academic performance. The problem remains in the difficulty to implement them. From considerations of several authors as Bricker, Pelgrum or Ertmer, we analyze the intrinsic barriers related to teachers’ attitudes, and extrinsic barriers related to external factors such as teacher training or material resources. This study uses a questionnaire to analyze data in a quantitative way, comparing and evaluating frequencies and factor analysis, with a sample of 55 teachers. There is also a Qualitative Analysis using open-ended questions, which are distributed through several dimensions and interviews with 14 teachers, so the research implies a mixed approach through a complementary methodology. The research shows that there are teachers who recognize that they do not apply ICT in classroom, and it is also worrying about the persistence of traditional methods. The fact of listing the challenges and overcome barriers leads to the reflection that there is much to improve on the pedagogical use of ICT, although we have positive data regarding good attitudes and opinions presented by teachers in relation to the application of these tools for educational purposes.