Knowledge society failure? Barriers in the use of ICTs and further teacher education in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The study investigates barriers of Czech secondary school teachers in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in teaching and in further education in ICTs. The Czech Republic is used as an example of a post-communist country with an evident gap between the digital competencies in general and teachers' didactic skills necessary for their implementation in teaching. To explore how teachers deal with the challenges of digitalization of the education system, an online questionnaire was created to analyze the use of ICTs in teaching, as well as barriers teachers encounter when using digital technologies and when participating in further education. The results indicate that respondents have average understanding of ICTs and use them rather occasionally in teaching. Data show gender and age differences in the use of various digital means and in the barriers, the importance of social support in using ICTs in teaching, and also the necessity to eliminate prevalent gender stereotypes. Systematic further education that focuses on lowering computer anxiety and the distrust in new technologies might be also a major key in successful digital transformation of schools.