Computer use during primary school teaching practice: a survey

Abstract The National Curriculum for England and Wales specifies a number of programmes of study and attainment targets relevant to Information Technology. New regulations to be introduced for teacher training courses specify compulsory elements related to the effective use of computers in class. This study reports a survey of 109 student teachers who were asked about their experiences of IT on their first teaching practice. It revealed a rather low spontaneous use of computers, a focus on a narrow range of software, which emphasized practice of basic skills. The course which these students are following fails to meet new requirements, and teachers were ill‐prepared to face the rigours of the National Curriculum; nevertheless, some positive lessons were learned from the study. While non‐users identified a lack of confidence and basic skill as the major reason for not using IT in class, users reported high pupil enjoyment, few problems using IT, and gains in personal confidence as a result of their classroom experiences. It is concluded that future courses should focus initially on the development of personal confidence, and should encourage the early use of IT in teaching practice, if we are to avoid the situation where new entrants to the teaching profession simply add to the pool of teachers in need of training in the use of IT.