Exploring Tanzanian Secondary School Teacher's Perceptions And Competence Of Using Ict In Their Teaching:A Case Study Of Mpechi,Mabatini And Njombe Secondary Schools In Njombe Town

This study explored the teacher's perception and competence on application of Information and Communication Technology(ICT)in their daily teaching.The study focused on Public secondary schools at Njombe Town in Njombe region,which is found in southern highlands of Tanzania.The study not only targeted to hear what teachers are saying about the usage of ICT in teaching but also focused on knowing how teachers were competent(self-efficacy)enough on working with ICT devices in teaching.The study was motivated by the initiatives,which the government of Tanzania has been taking in ICT policies and investing in ICT technology for many decades.So,despite the Tanzania government efforts on ICT in education system still there are secondary schools with teachers who have never used ICT in their teaching so this motivated me to research about this topic.The mixed research methodology was applied on this study to find out the teacher's competency and perceptions toward ICT usage in teaching.The data was obtained through the sets of closed and open-ended questionnaires,interview and direct observation of class teaching as well as checking of availability of ICT facilities in the schools.The study involved 70 teachers from three schools who were purposively sampled to participate in study.The analysis of the data gotten from this study were done through these computer program such as Microsoft Office Excel program,measurable Bundle of the statistics' software Social Sciences(SPSS)adaptation 20.0 were inside and out utilized to change over the collected information into recurrence tables,midpoints,and rates for distinctive factors,but too an instrument allowed a analyst to analyze information subjectively.Additionally,the study findings discovered that the teachers' perception in ICT was good but their ICT competence is overmuch inadequate mainly in computers software like MS Power Point,MS excel and application of ICT devices such as projectors,computer and internet.The study disclosed more challenges,which are lowering the teachers' morale toward ICT usage in teaching and hindering Teachers' ICT competence such as the shortage of ICT infrastructures,lack of ICT skills among teachers and lack of ICT technical support in schools.The study advocates and recommends to the government to give regular in-service training to the teachers on using ICT devices,issuing enough ICT devices and infrastructure to the schools as well as provision of technical supports to the schools by employing at least one IT technician in each school.