An Analysis of Teachers’ use of ICT in a Selection of Irish Schools

The Government of Ireland has made a large financial investment in the field of Information and Communication Technology in the Irish educational sector. The Author was interested to discover how teachers have benefited from this investment. A questionnaire and interview based study was conducted in a number of primary and secondary schools. This allowed for the selection of ICT interested teachers for interviews. The interviews were designed to cover the range of uses that teachers were making of the technology. This included class preparation and in class use. The interviews concluded by offering the teachers an opportunity to voice their opinions as to the future of ICT in Irish classrooms. The teachers suggested strategies that could be implemented to increase the amount of ICT usage by teachers in Irish classrooms. This study showed that only a minority of teachers are actually making regular use of ICT for class preparation or in class with their students. However, the majority of Irish teachers have some ICT skills. Many of the interviewees believed that it was a lack of on-site support that was preventing teachers from making greater use of their technological facilities. This was due to the fact that many teachers do not have the technical knowledge needed to repair the technology if it breaks down during class. An interesting finding of the research was that the age of the teacher appeared to have an impact on the amount of technology usage that took place. Teachers in their thirties were seen to be the group making the most use of ICT. This group of teachers should be encouraged to help the integration of ICT into all Irish classrooms. The research also revealed differences in ICT use in primary and secondary schools, and an emerging need for professional on-line communities