The thesis focuses on the interaction between primary teachers' perceptions of Information and Communication Technology (lCT) and their pedagogy. Their perceptions of ICT are explored in terms of their reported understandings of the nature and purpose of ICT in primary schools and the influence these have on pedagogy as an expression of professional knowledge. A qualitative, case study approach was used to investigate the perceptions and pedagogy of a small group of teachers working within one school, . Carberry Junior School'. The study was carried out during an eighteen month period of significant change in primary schools responding to the UK Government's National Grid for Learning initiative and its impact on models of access to ICT resources and expectations in teaching and pupil achievement. The findings provide insight into three dimensions of the teachers' perceptions of ICT: as a social and cultural phenomenon; as an ambiguous construction of a discrete subject, curriculum resource and higher-order capability: as a 'new' field in primary schools. The teachers' professional knowledge is expressed in:their subject knowledge of ICT capability; their pedagogic knowledge with different models of access to ICT resources; their repertoires of representations of ICT; their identity as professionals in the 'Information Age'; their membership of a community of practice engaged in the pedagogical use of ICT. The analysis starts from an interactive model of professional knowledge, proposed by Banks, Leach and Moon. A revised model is proposed for the case study that draws upon Wenger's theory of learning in communities of practice. This has the additional merit of providing a framework to theorise and describe the interaction of the teachers' perceptions of ICT and pedagogy presented in the mutuality between personal experience and emergent practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:368447 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Loveless, A. M. |
| Publisher | University of Brighton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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