IT in small Czech schools and the development of teachers’ competences

Abstract

The paper presents a description of IT use by teachers in small primary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic based on data from 34 schools participating in the INTERES project. Twenty-nine different areas of IT use were analysed by the Profile School21 self-evaluation tool in fall 2014. Findings are not representative but they offer a unique insight into schools with tens of pupils. Limited resources (human, financial, material, time) in these schools can influence their use of IT and contribute to the rural digital divide. The data allow comparisons of small schools with hundreds of schools that had used the same tool previously. IT training sessions held at each school and individual mentoring for teachers were carried out according to the educational needs analysis obtained by the evaluation tool. Field reports and evaluation questionnaires provided data about teachers’ competences in small schools and ideas for further training.