Teacher perspectives on integrating ICT into subject teaching: Commitment, constraints, caution and change

This paper examines how secondary teachers of the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science have begun to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) into mainstream classroom practice in English schools. It draws on an analysis of 18 focus group interviews with core subject departments. The analysis culminated in a thematic model of professional thinking about how the integrated use of ICT can support subject teaching and learning. Evident commitment to incorporating ICT was tempered by a cautious, critical approach and the influence of external constraints operating. Teacher accounts emphasised both the use of ICT to enhance and extend existing classroom practice, and change in terms of emerging forms of activity which complemented or modified practice. A gradual process of pedagogical evolution was apparent; teachers were developing and trialling new strategies specifically for mediating ICT-supported learning. In particular, these overcame the potentially obstructive role of some forms of ICT by focusing pupils’ attention onto underlying learning objectives.