A bridge too far? Explaining beginning teachers’ use of ICT in Australian schools

This paper discusses some of the findings from a recent longitudinal study that examined how 35 beginning teachers used information and communications technologies (ICT) in the first three years of their teaching. The research, set in Western Australia, adopted a mixed method approach to help understand the role that ICT played in the evolving pedagogical practices of the teachers involved. The study found that beginning teachers articulated pedagogical beliefs that aimed to engage their students in active meaning making. It also found that these teachers were competent in the use of a basic suite of ICT software. However, pedagogical beliefs that resonate with contemporary learning theory and operational ICT competence did not translate into practices that synergised pedagogical, content and technological knowledge. The teachers involved in the study did not use ICT in ways that were consistent with their stated pedagogical beliefs. The relationships between teachers’ beliefs and their pedagogical and technological knowledge are discussed within the contexts of different school settings. A framework is presented that emphasises the need for teachers and school leaders to make connections across pedagogical and technological domains.