How a teacher professional development programme influences teachers’ use of digital technologies in the classroom

Abstract: Education across the world and South Africa currently face significant challenges. Whilst there is a wide appreciation that the use of technologies in education can have positive gains by “improving student achievement, improve access to schooling, increase efficiencies and reduce costs, enhance students’ ability to learn and promote their lifelong learning, and prepare them for a globally competitive workforce” (UNESCO, 2010), ICT in Education policies have focused on broad economic and social goals without adequate consideration for how to support education transformation (UNESCO, 2018). In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education’s White Paper on E-Education (2004) clearly identified “gaps in the ability of learners and teachers to use technologies effectively, to access high-quality and diverse content, to create content of their own, and to communicate, collaborate and integrate ICTs into teaching and learning” (DBE, 2004). Whilst there are now several policy documents and frameworks such as the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (UNESCO, 2018), Professional Development Framework for Digital Learning (DBE, 2018), seventeen years since the White Paper (DBE, 2004), these gaps have not yet been resolved the same disparities existing with regard to access, use of ICT and digital content for learning and the call for professional development of teachers to go hand-in-hand with increased access to ICT resources for teaching and learning has not been foregrounded in teacher development programmes...M.Ed. (ICT in Education