Implementation of government policies on information communication technology in teaching and learning in primary teachers colleges in Kenya: a comparative perspective.

Abstract

Information Communication and Technology (lCT) is seen as an impetus to the fastdevelopment experienced in the world today. It has been cited as the main driver ofeconomic development and social change witnessed worldwide. In addition, it is seen asa probable way of increasing access to quality education. Many researchers have notedthat technology alone can only be a tool, whose proper use requires creation of personnelwith skills and competencies in its use. However, Kenya is noted to lack teachers withrelevant competencies in use of ICT in education. This has called for properly formulatedpolicies and implementation process in order to harness the potentials ofICTs for nationaldevelopment. Consequently, the government has formulated and adopted reform policiesgeared to equipping the teacher trainees with ICT skills in education. The purpose of thisstudy was thus to explore the implementation process of government ICT policies on use ofICTs in teaching and learning: The analysis sought to find out whether and what gaps existbetween stated government policies designed to guide Primary Teachers Colleges (PTCs)in the use ofICTsin teaching and learning and the actual practice during the implementationprocess. The study sites were four PTCs in Kenya offering certificate courses commonlyknown as PI colleges. These were three public PTCs and one private college targetingcollege heads, dean of curriculums, tutors, students and Ministry of Education officials. The study applied multiple case study design in soliciting views, perceptions, opinionsand experiences regarding implementation of government ICT policies. A combinationof research instruments were used in collecting the data that included: questionnaires,interviews, observation schedules, and Schedule for document and statistical data analysis.The collected data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively with the help of theScientific Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), The study findings established that therewere a number of inconsistencies in the implementation of the government set policieson use ofICTs in teaching and learning and the actual practice during the implementationprocess. For instance, the policy demanded that lecturers at PTCs were to attend ICT inservicetraining to integrate ICT in classroom teaching. However, 53.8% of the teachingstaff had not attended any in-service training on use ofICT in education. On coverage ofthe ICT content, PTCs had only covered 56.3% of the second year content with 43.7%uncovered content. On ICT infrastructure, the institutions did not have the recommendedarray of facilities other than computers. There was further limited ac.cess to ICT facilitiesby both teachers and students. The study concludes that the identified inconsistenciesin the implementation process of the lCT policies have impacted negatively to thepreparation of primary teachers with competencies in lCT use. The study had a numberof recommendations among them establishment of partnership between the government, private sector and the PTCs to equip the institutions with relevant lCT infrastructure thatwould allow infusing lCT in classroom teaching.