TEACHERS’ ICT SKILLS, BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS ICT INTEGRATION IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS. A LOCAL STUDY IN KABWE DISTRICT IN ZAMBIA

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate in-service teachers’ ICT skills, attitudes, beliefs and the integration of ICT in the teaching of mathematics in Kabwe district. The data collected through the questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 25.0). In order to determine the ICT skills, beliefs, attitudes and information technologies operation level in Mathematics lessons by teachers in Kabwe district, descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used. The study established that one key determinant in secondary schools of Kabwe district that has significantly impacted the integration of ICTs in mathematics lessons has been the lack of ICT skills by the mathematics teachers and the know-how of how to integrate ICTs in their lessons. This paper has clearly indicated the pivotal role of teachers’ internal variable have in the successful integration of ICTs into the school Mathematics curriculum. While teachers need support to develop the necessary technological and pedagogical content knowledge that is uniquely associated with the effective use of technology in teaching mathematics, adequate support has frequently not been provided, so that unrealistic expectations have been made of teachers. The survey findings indicated that Internet, word processing, Presentation software and educational CDs are used by the teachers at least once in the teaching and learning of mathematics in a week while other ICT components are almost never integrated in the teaching and learning in a week. The data based on 92 teachers’ demographic variables showed that at least one teacher on average had previously participated in professional development courses related to integration of ICT, average years of teaching experience was 9-10 years, at least one teacher on average indicated that they have computers at home, Most of these respondents came from schools which on average had at least one computer lab, 23 computers in each lab and zero ICT facilities in the classrooms.