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This study investigated the influence of the attitudes and other psychological factors of head teachers, district officers and school counsellors on their support of the uptake of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in their schools as well as the factors that influence teachers to use ICT in their teaching. 181 teachers, 72 head teachers, 43 district officers and 47 school counsellors completed questionnaires designed to measure the uptake of ICT, attitudes towards computers and the components of the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour during March-June, 2002. The results showed that, while the uptake of ICT in schools was relatively low, all educators who participated in this study had positive attitudes towards computers. Results of the regression analysis showed that perceived behavioural control was the strongest predictor of teachers' intention to use ICT followed by attitude and subjective norm. Teachers' ICT use was predicted by intention. The findings also showed that head teachers, district officers and school counsellors influenced teachers' intention and behaviour to use ICT in their teaching indirectly through their normative and control beliefs. The findings also showed that the more positive the attitude of the head teachers, district officers, and school counsellors towards computers was (e.g. confidence, usefulness and liking) the greater was their support for the uptake of ICT in the schools. Furthermore, the findings from the regression analysis showed that the low computer anxiety subscale predicted head teachers' support for the uptake of ICT whereas educational impact subscale predicted district officers' support. In addition to attitudes towards computers, the analysis of the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour showed that other psychological factors appeared to have a strong influence on head teachers', district officers' and school counsellors' support of the uptake of ICT. These factors were the positive attitudes towards the support of the uptake, the perceived behavioural control as well as strong intention to support the uptake of ICT in their schools. The Theory of Planned Behaviour was found to be better than the Theory of Reasoned Action in predicting ICT use and support of the uptake of ICT behaviour. The findings have various implications, both for the use of the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour and the attitudes' items towards computers in other studies as well as for the use of ICT in teaching and the support of the uptake of ICT in schools. |
