Successful integration of technology into preschool education: do teachers’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations matter?

In this study we examined the relationship between preschool teachers’ beliefs about their own competence in ICT and the elements of TPACK, as well as the mediating roles of the teachers’ outcome expectations and self-efficacy. Drawing from the expectancy theory of motivation, we hypothesized that outcome expectations and self-efficacy each mediate the relationship between teachers’ ICT competence beliefs and TPACK. To confirm the hypothesis, we conducted a study with 194 kindergarten teachers from China. The majority of the teachers were females (97%) who reportedly were working in private schools (79.4%). The results partially confirmed our hypothesis, showing that the teachers’ outcome expectations mediated the association between their ICT competence beliefs and TPACK, whereas their self-efficacy did not. Implications and limitations are also discussed.