Analysing Teachers’ Representations of Digital Technology Using a Grounded Theory Approach

International audienceThis research work describes the first work-package of an exploratory study, which examined a group of elementary school teachers’ beliefs (representations) about digital technology in the French Polynesian context. The major objective of the study was to provide teacher education programmes with research-based information about the primary school teachers’ beliefs and practices about digital technology. The study based its theoretical assumptions about teacher beliefs on the social representations theory and its research design on the grounded theory. The data were collected via interviews using theoretical sampling and theoretical saturation methods. Interviewing and analysis procedures were implemented concurrently through the systematic use of coding and iterative analysis processes. Research results indicated that internal factors such as interest in technology, teachers’ DT skills and external factors such as support from administrators and technical maintenance played key roles in shaping teachers’ DT practices