Teachers' perceptions about the barriers and catalysts for effective practices with ICT in primary schools

Abstract

This paper presents perceptions of four primary school teachers from two Victorian government primary schools about the barriers and catalyst for effective practices with ICT. Findings of the semi-structured qualitative interviews confirm results of previous studies indicating that access to reliable infrastructure, adequate technical support, and time pressures are still considered to be some of the most significant barriers to successful ICT integration in public schools. Teacher interviews however also reveal that the challenges of integrating ICT in teaching and learning can be counterbalanced by a number of variables, which include: owning a laptop, having access to ongoing professional learning, sharing effective practices, drawing on student expertise and being supported by a whole-school approach to teaching and learning with ICT. © 2009 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.