Exploring the Influence of Policy on ICT integration into teacher education in Malawi: Cases of two teacher education institutions

Virtual Paper ID: 52173
  1. Foster Gondwe
    Hiroshima University

Abstract: Globally, as ICTs become a part of the education systems, there is also pressure to empower teachers with ICT skills to enable their capacity to integrate ICT in their work. In Malawi, an increasing government interest to integrate ICT into initial teacher education and continuous professional development is evident. Yet, although policy on education is one of the factors that influence the use of ICT and other technologies in teacher education (UNICEF, 2004), policy perspectives on ICT integration in teacher education remain understudied in Malawi. This qualitative case study adopts a social cultural approach to policy in order to examine the influence of policy on integration of ICT into secondary teacher education. This conference presentation is part of a larger study that is expected to answer the following interrelated questions: 1) What factors, assumptions and aspirations have underpinned education policies on ICT integration? 2) How do teacher educators perceive and respond to the policies? 3) What is the influence of policy on teacher educators' integration of ICT? This presentation focuses on question (3). The preliminary finding from thematic analysis of interviews, observations and document analysis show evidence of teacher educators' appropriation of policy in form of "policy as practice" and professional judgement.

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