The Readiness of Teachers to Use ICT in Own Professional Development

Abstract

This paper discusses teachers' readiness to use information and communication technology (ICT) in their own professional development, based on qualitative survey data obtained from fifty-eight elementary school teachers from the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Their readiness to use ICT in their own professional development was considered through the prism of two models of professional development – a model based on the traditional use of information and communication technology and a model of "networked professional development". The findings indicated the need to change the paradigm of teacher professional development for the reason that teachers' willingness to use ICT in their own professional development significantly varied with: teachers' adequate preparedness to use the model of “networked professional development”, as well as with barriers related to material and technical equipment, lack of time, and with the discontinuous professional development programs that are not drawn upon the basis of the modern society learning needs.

U ovom radu se raspravlja o spremnosti učitelja da koriste informaciono-komunikacionu tehnologiju (IKT) u sopstvenom profesionalnom razvoju na osnovu podataka kvalitativnog istraživanja dobijenih od pedeset osam učitelja zaposlenih u osnovnim školama na teritoriji Republike Srbije. Njihova spremnost da koriste IKT u sopstvenom profesionalnom razvoju razmatrana je kroz prizmu dva modela profesionalnog razvoja – modela zasnovanog na tradicionalnom korišćenju informaciono-komunikacione tehnologije i “modela umreženog profesionalnog razvoja”. Nalazi ukazuju na potrebu promene paradigme u profesionalnom razvoju s obzirom da spremnost učitelja da koriste IKT u sopstvenom profesionalnom razvoju značajno varira s obzirom na: adekvatnu pripremljenost učitelja da koriste “model umreženog profesionalnog razvoja”, kao i s obzirom na prepreke povezane sa materijalnom i tehničkom opremljenošću, nedostatkom vremena, kao i sa diskontinuiranim programima profesionalnog razvoja koji nisu zasnovani na potrebama za učenjem u savremenom društvu.