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Being digital: The challenge for career-change beginning teachers

Abstract

The pedagogical challenge of supporting learning in a digital world requires an understanding of how, where, when and when not to use information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. This paper builds on existing research on the integral use of ICT for teaching and learning, that is, digital pedagogies. Additionally, the research that highlights the value of skills and experiences that career-change beginning teachers bring to the profession is advanced. Through an interpretative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collated via an online survey, the paper builds a profile of (N=64) career-change beginning teachers currently entering the profession from a one year graduate diploma program at a Queensland university. The responses showed that (a) career-change beginning teachers have diverse backgrounds (b) a range of ICT skills related to former careers exist; (c) beliefs about how ICT should be used for teaching and learning are firmly grounded in past experience; (d) confidence to manage data and teach ICT skills is high in contrast to confidence in using digital pedagogies; and (e) expectations about how ICT will be used in school contexts are also related to past experiences. The paper concludes that influencing beliefs about contemporary learning may be central to supporting career-change beginning teachers to develop familiarity and confidence in the use of digital pedagogies

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