Secondary school teachers’ motivation and self-confidence in using ICT in teaching

Abstract

This study represents a pilot exploration of teachers’ level of motivation and reasons for using ICT and the level of selfconfidence in using ICT in teaching, one year after they switched to online education due to COVID-19 pandemic. Additional goals were to determine the relationship between motivation and self-confidence in using ICT and to determine if there are differences in the level of motivation and self-confidence among teachers differing in the years of working experience. Participants were 61 Belgrade vocational secondary school teachers (85.2% female) who filled-in the online questionnaire including SELFIE subscale on self-confidence (1-5), one question about the level of motivation (1-7) and one open-ended question about the reasons for using ICT. Teachers demonstrated relatively high level of self-confidence (M = 3.67, SD = .99) and a high level of motivation (M = 5.31, SD = 1.62). The correlation between self-confidence and motivation for using ICT in teaching was .502 (p = .000). Qualitative thematic and evaluative analysis applied on narratives about reasons for using ICT yielded three themes: quality of teaching and learning, communication and personal attitude. While majority of teachers are motivated to use ICT because they perceive it as enabling better focus and deeper learning (35), some believe that using ICT diminishes the quality of education (3). For some teachers ICT enables better and more efficient communication with students (2), whereas for others it means alienation (2). While some find it fun to use ICT (3), others feel overburdened with requirements to use ICT without providing better working conditions (2). Results show that the oldest group of teachers (with over 20 years of working experience) have statistically significantly lower level of motivation for using ICT in teaching (F (2, 55) = 8.357, p = .001), while there were no differences in self-confidence, which suggest that more experienced teachers need additional support to und erstand benefits of using ICT.