Teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICT use in Secondary schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ethiopian government policy is committed to integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into education to improve educational quality and equity. As teachers are the fundamental element for the success of this objective, the government has included an ICT module within teacher training to realise ICT practices inside the classroom. However, the actual ICT implementation in education lags behind government expectations. This research investigates how Ethiopian secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practices in Addis Ababa about the use of ICT are constructed. With a symmetrical perspective of Sociomateriality and Actor-Network Theory, the research explores the human and nonhuman factors which facilitate or inhibit teachers’ ICT implementation from teacher training to secondary school classrooms. It also investigates teachers’ beliefs that shape individuals’ perspectives and attitudes to ICT. The analysis of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge is employed to ascertain other potential factors that affect teachers’ ICT practices such as the pedagogical design of using technology and contextual characteristics. The findings show that secondary school teachers possess positive general and pedagogical beliefs with regards to ICT implementation. However, those beliefs face strong barriers when it comes to their translation into pedagogical practices inside of the classroom. In teacher training institutes, trainees are not satisfied with their instructors’ pedagogical practices. Trainees argue that the assessment and practicum as a part of teacher training are not designed to encourage ICT practices. In relation to ICT materials, trainees are held back by the institutes in terms of their ICT material access. In secondary schools in the Addis Ababa area, although ICT implementation is compulsory, the level of ICT practices is very limited. There are multiple reasons for this. Some teachers perceive that ICT itself infringes on teachers’ autonomy of pedagogical design – despite them stating that they are in favour of using ICT. Others lack confidence with the use of ICT and are afraid of making mistakes in front of the students. When it comes to ICT materials, frequent system failure makes teachers lose their motivation to use ICT in the classroom. In addition, ICT is found to be associated with being intellectual and upper class. This research also investigates the perspectives of the development stakeholders involved in Ethiopia’s ICT and education. They identify three fields that affect low level of ICT practices in the country: 1) teacher training; 2) teachers’ beliefs; 3) materiality, fields which align with the focus of my research. In addition to those commonalities, this research also documents the heterogeneity in stakeholders’ objectives and the inequitable character of the school selection process for the distribution of materials - which could jeopardise the ICT implementation at national level. This is the first study that examines and represents the voice of Ethiopian teachers in their adoption and use of ICT in teaching. This thesis contributes to synthesise theories and concepts on the adoption and use of ICT in teaching. In particular, it draws attention to the role of materiality, and how it affects teachers’ ICT beliefs and practices. Therefore, this study serves as a reference or a first step that will hopefully encourage similar research in other Ethiopian contexts or similar countries, where ICT adoption is promoted within education policy but faces crucial challenges