“It’s teaching Jim, but not as we know it”: An examination of the beliefs and attitudes of teachers to the use of technology in Further & Vocational Education from a teacher’s perspective.

Abstract

This study sought to understand the beliefs and attitudes of teachers in Further and Vocational Education regarding the use and usefulness of technology in their teaching practice. Policymakers and advocates view increased access to, but continued under-utilisation of technology as indicative of how the sector is failing to meet the expectations and demands from industry. This study examined the underlying perceptions of teachers and identified the barriers and enablers that presented themselves to technology integration. I wanted to gain an understanding in what ways and how often teachers were using technology in their teaching practices. Additionally, teacher's perceptions about the potential contribution that technology could make to their teaching practice would be explored. The study was completed in three phases; the first was an online questionnaire distributed through the college intranet networks and yielded 229 responses. The second phase was another online questionnaire; and this one was distributed directly to teachers that had confirmed that they would be prepared to continue with the study and was sent to 31 teacher’s work email addresses resulting in 21 completed surveys. Eleven one-to-one interviews completed the third phase of the study. The interviews used photo-elicitation to examine the beliefs of the teachers from the Further Education (FE) colleges across a range of subject areas. Each phase of the research was designed to elicit information relating to teacher’s perceptions of the utility and value of technology in their teaching. The results presented in this thesis reflect many of the findings from previous research from other education sectors, namely schools and universities; however other perceptions reflected the uniqueness of the Further and Vocational Education sector and are perhaps a reflection of the demographics of the sector. The main findings of the study were that several barriers existed to the integration and use of technology, a perceived lack of time along with lack of training and support in how to teach effectively using technology. Insufficient provision and access to technology within colleges meant that there was a reliance on students using personal devices to supplement lack of provision in the college, raising issues in low socioeconomic areas. Additionally, there was a perception that technology integration had been superseded in recent years by other CPD mandated for external audits and inspection