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Training with ICT for ICT from the trainee’s
perspective. A local ICT teacher training experience
Michail Kalogiannakis
Published online: 3 December 2008
#Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract The introduction of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)
presents new challenges for teachers and often meets with their belief that ICT, as
well as other changes present a factor, which can cause several changes in school.
Although there have been many education reforms regarding teachers’training
policy in recent years and the number of training programs has been increased, they
have not been able to satisfy teachers’needs to a substantial degree. In this research
the results from an exploratory study conducted within the framework of a national
training programme in Greece on ICT known as "In-service teacher training in the
use of ICT in Education" are presented. Based on a specially constructed
questionnaire intended for the educators, this research elicits teachers’attitudes
towards this programme. Some of the main results point out the preparedness of
these teachers to use ICT in the daily school practice. Furthermore, they expressed
their wish for further in-training programmes concerning the pedagogical develop-
ment of the ICT use in class practice.
Keywords In-service training .Teachers .ICT.Greece
1 Introductory notes—Context of the research
In today’s society individuals and organizations are confronted with an ever-growing
amount and diversity of information and content and with increasing demands for
knowledge and skills. The teaching profession is not only limited to teaching new
courses or following the school curriculum but is an extension of a developing
pedagogical role. Teachers need to change if they want to try out new methods and
technologies for education (Kalogiannakis 2004). One of the main means of this
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
DOI 10.1007/s10639-008-9079-3
M. Kalogiannakis (*)
School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Crete,
P.O. Box 2208, GR 71409, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
e-mail: mkalogian@csd.uoc.gr
change is ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). The development of
ICT is having a tremendous impact over our society in current years.
The incorporation of the ICT to teachers’daily educational practice is a
particularly difficult process which demands time and constant effort in the centre
of which we find the teacher himself (Selwyn 2000; Kalogiannakis 2004; Baron
and Harrari 2005). However, we should consider that a teacher shows a really
positive attitude towards the ICT not only by the occasional use of technology with
his students but also by the creative use of the ICT possibilities so that the
educational environment, in which he acts, can be changed. ICT change
fundamentally the teacher’s role, which goes beyond the traditional way of working.
Teacher becomes intermediate supporter in a facilitating direction of the student
towards gaining knowledge (Kalogiannakis 2004; Vassilakis and Kalogiannakis
2006).
In the past decades, teacher-training programs used to prepare teachers to perform
tasks, which were aligned with the traditional roles and functions of schools. The use
of ICT is becoming a part of everyday life in schools. Nowadays, the question if the
use of ICT should be incorporated to the primary and secondary education has been
replaced by the question of what forms of technology should we use and how we can
use them effectively (Kalogiannakis 2004; Baron and Harrari 2005). However, any
change in the administration and structure of teacher training is not a simple matter
since it involves many bureaucratic and institutional complexities.
The development of the Greek education system, which reflects the socio-
economic development of the country, has unavoidably influenced the type and
content of teachers’in-service education. Saiti and Saitis (2006) argue that the lack
of encouragement and motivation offered by the Greek school administration is
linked to the unwillingness of Greek schoolteachers to participate in in-service
training. In Greece, in-service education is centralized and designated for a small
number of participants at the beginning; it becomes decentralized later through the
establishment of the Regional Training Centers (Papagueli-Vouliouris 1999).
In the framework of this research we present teachers’views about certain aspects
of the program "In-service teacher training in the use of ICT in education" for the
teachers of primary and secondary section who attended this program in the
Prefecture of Heraklion.
2 Theoretical framework—In-service teacher training
Our contemporary society demands the constant in-service teacher training, a fact
which automatically converts our traditional education practice to a sole part of our
educational system. Chrysos (2000) argue that Greece represents a sound example of
Cuban’s(1990) argument that educational reforms return again and again. This
occurs because reforms have failed to remove the problems they intended to solve.
For the Greek teachers the need to raise quality is evident and they have to be trained
effectively and given all assistance through in-service training and counseling. In a
number of policy documents drawn up in Europe and other countries of the world,
the focus is placed on the need to improve the quality of education and encourage
innovation. To this end, reference is inevitably made to the importance of teachers’
4 Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
in-service training as a catalyst for the continuous adjustments that have to be
undertaken in any dynamic system such as education (Kastis 2004).
In-service training and professional development are generally considered as
processes supplementary to initial (pre-service) teacher training, allowing teachers to
refresh their knowledge and acquire a broader understanding of subject matter
(Kastis 2004; Hermans et al. 2008). This training can no longer be seen simply as a
remedy for deficiencies in initial training. It has to be considered and established
amongst the various stakeholders as a long-term, ongoing educational process and
this concept is widely recognized, it is also becoming more complex.
Although there have been many education reforms in Greece regarding teachers’
training policy in recent years and the number of training programmes has been
increased, they have not been able to satisfy teachers’needs to a substantial degree
(Saiti and Saitis 2006; Jimoyiannis and Komis 2006). In-service training is a means
of responding to teachers’personal and professional needs and encouraging the
development of autonomy. In-service training can improve the quality and
effectiveness of education systems, promote teachers’mastery of technical and
scientific advances and enable us to anticipate changes (Kastis 2004).
2.1 Teachers’in-service education in Greece
In Greece, the school education system, consisting of some 10,000 school units and
involving approximately 110,000 teachers, is not organised in such a way as to
ensure effective professional development opportunities for teachers (Kastis 2004).
The Greek education system does not seem much in favour of in-service teacher
training. Since a large proportion of Greek schoolteachers shared the view that an
allowance for teaching duties would make training programmes more attractive, it is
crucially important for teachers’education to be promoted through the proper
organisation of in-service training (Saiti and Saitis 2006).
A historical development of the in-service training of teachers in Greece, which is
optional, shows that in-service training courses did not meet the practical needs of
schools (Saiti and Saitis 2006). Some recent research studies in Greece (Minaidi and
Hlapanis 2005; Jimoyiannis and Komis 2006) ascertain that the problems of
educational systems are largely problems of the educators themselves, relevant to
their vocational development, the level of their further training and postgraduate
courses as well as the drawbacks of their basic training.
We must deal with two categories of teachers, those willing to move ahead and
those who implement only marginal changes; in-service training must address both
categories (Kastis 2004). Greek teachers currently find themselves adrift in a
seemingly endless sea of school reform literature and policies. Teachers also face
additional challenges, such as inadequate training, lack of resources, and huge
bureaucracies, which drain precious energy from the primary goal of opening
students’minds.
2.2 Greek teachers’training in ICT
The incorporation of ICT in the educational system should be considered as a means
of an obligatory modernization of learning and teaching methods. Nowadays, the in-
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17 5
service teacher training of all teachers is necessary, especially for the use of ICT
during the daily school practice. For Drenoyianni (2006) ICT represents an
interesting, challenging and essential educational theme, which is one of the
necessary keys for unlocking, understanding and participating in a competitive,
demanding and insecure world. Teacher’s training is essential in terms of equipping
the current teacher workforce with the knowledge, attitudes and skills to use ICT in
an effective manner in the classroom. Introducing ICT into schools is seen as
initiating a ‘‘ negotiation’’ process where lower level goals may be altered to preserve
what are perceived as goals of higher order (Demetriadis et al. 2003).
We argue that ICT is a means, not an end. Although forms of new information
technology offer much to school education, it has become clear that its overall
practical impact at present is weak. This is the shared conclusion of major research
not only in Europe (Condie et al. 2002; Simpson and Payne 2002) but also in the
USA (Cuban 2001; Chen and Chang 2006). The differentiations, which the use of
ICT brings in the school class, create new demands for both teachers and students. A
recent research in the USA (Chen and Chang 2006) indicates implications for
increasing training effectiveness for early childhood teachers include increasing
support for classroom implementation, extending in-service training, and diversify-
ing training to accommodate varying levels of teacher expertise. The nature and the
form of the introduction of ICT is variable across countries and dependent upon a
range of institutional and other factors, but many teacher preparation programmes
are trying to achieve a balance between comprehension of the pedagogical uses of
ICT tools and the development of ICT operational skills (Drenoyianni 2004). In
Greece these programmes are characterized by enormous variety due to the fact that
no standard course structure and content exist for such programmes (Minaidi and
Hlapanis 2005).
In Greece ICT courses were introduced in secondary schools during the late
1980s. Since then, many programmes for teachers’further training in ICT have taken
place based on the model of education in training centres, seminar courses. The
provision of in-service training currently takes place outside of working hours and
several researches (Minaidi and Hlapanis 2005; Saiti and Saitis 2006; Jimoyiannis
and Komis 2006) show that the teachers’attitude towards the ICT is characterized
often by ambivalence. In-service teacher education is under increasing pressure in
Greece in order to improve its performance and in order to adapt itself to the demand
of the future. The recognition of the ICT’s benefits is accompanied by expectations
for negative effects of their use but also by intense feelings of fear and admiration.
Greek teachers seem to be concerned of the effectiveness of the ICT and they
consider that there are important difficulties referring to the learning side of the use
of ICT in their daily school practice (Jimoyiannis and Komis 2006).
Training in the use of ICT for teaching and learning is considered an absolute
necessity, but it seems that it may suffer from problems and inadequacies relative to
the overall Greek educational context (Drenoyianni 2004). Apart from a few
exceptions, teacher in-service training programmes lack organisation, duration and
pedagogical direction (Minaidi and Hlapanis 2005). A recent research was
implemented among a group of teachers who participated in a national training
programme, the same one that we examine in this research, which took place in
Greece in the Dodecanese Islands (Minaidi and Hlapanis 2005). Useful conclusions
6 Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
were reached concerning pedagogical obstacles, which were shaped during the
didactical process. It was anticipated that through later phases of the programme
participants would acquire the appropriate skills in the use of ICT so as to be able to
use ICT for educational purposes.
Another research set out to measure the perceptions of pre-primary and primary
school teachers in Cyprus regarding the impact and efficiency of a particular ICT in-
service training initiative (Karagiorgi and Charalambous 2006). Teachers’responses
indicated a significant impact of such training on their personal attitudes and skills.
However, the professional practices, which developed, did not outline significant
gains in student learning and achievement. Teachers’views on the efficiency of the
training scheme highlighted the need for a more flexible "pick and mix" training
structure to tailor individual needs, and for professional development activities to
become more relevant, to the context of classroom practices (Karagiorgi and
Charalambous 2006).
2.3 The project of the Greek teachers’training in ICT
Through an empirical investigation Saiti and Saitis (2006) point out that recent
education reforms regarding in-service teacher training in Greece can not be
considered as the most important positive influence on teachers’progression and
consequently on meeting the learning needs of students in schools. In the framework
of teachers’constant training, the Greek Ministry of Education implemented a
national training programme on ICT known as "In-service teacher training in the use
of ICT in education". This program has been in progress since 2002 and the Ministry
of Education have conducted seminars in order for the teachers to be educated and
familiarized with the ICT, which seminars 83,315 teachers have attended during the
years 2002–2008. Teachers’widespread participation was achieved due to different
motives such as the offer of the appropriate equipment of ICT, the certificate that
offers extra points in case of evaluation etc.
The target of the phase A of the educational programme, named P1, is the
acquisition of basic skills in the use of ICT. At the time of writing this article, only the
programmes of phase A have been implemented. This phase covered an introduction
to the information elements and to the basic use of a Personal Computer (PC), the use
of Word Processing (Ms-Word), Spreadsheets (Ms-Excel) and Presentations (Ms-
PowerPoint) as well as the internet connection and communication. Each program
covers a period of 8 weeks. All training courses have to take place after school hours
so that the school’s operation won’t be inhibited. Only the permanent teachers of
public schools of primary and secondary education of all specialties had the right to
participate in this in-service training programme. Phase B, named P2 will start in 2008
and will cover the pedagogical use of ICT and participants will be able to use ICT for
educational purposes in their daily class practice.
3 Methodological approach of our research
The research tool is a properly structured questionnaire, which includes questions
according to the Likert five-level scale (see Appendix). The questionnaire was
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17 7
distributed through an institutional channel, by the "In-service teacher training
committee" of the Prefecture of Heraklion, to the 27 private and public centers of in-
service teacher training. These committees were in charge of conducting the
teachers’in-service teacher training programme. They distributed the questionnaire
during the last days of the courses, so that the teachers would have a complete view
of the program but also in order to ensure the largest participation.
3.1 Structure of the research questionnaire
The research questionnaire was established according to two subject axes. The first one
referred to teachers’demography and other personal elements and included 11 questions
mostly closed ended concerning the gender, the age, the specialty, the educational level
and the existence of ICT structure. Especially, it referred to the existence and the
frequency of the computer and internet use. The second axis referred to teachers’views
and attitudes towards the ICT, their role in education and the training programme. This
axis included 7 closed-ended questions, which referred to the teachers’preparedness and
the intension for future incorporation of the ICT to the educational procedure.
3.2 Summary of participant data
The questionnaires were given to 338 primary and secondary teachers of the
Prefecture of Heraklion who corresponded to the 100% of the sample participating in
the phase A of this program during the school year 2005–2006. Data during this
research were collected via 310 questionnaires from 85 men (27.4%) and 225
women (72.6%), who corresponded to the 91.7% under in-service teacher training
teachers. The ages of the participants were from 23 to 60 years old (Mean =
40.6 years, Standard Deviation, SD=8.3 years). The sample was distributed to three
age levels: teachers of 23–35 years old consisted the 26.1%, teachers of 36–45 years
old consisted the 44.5% and teachers of above 46 years old consisted the 29.4% of
the sample. As far as the educational level the 49.4% of the teachers taught in the
primary sector while the 50.6% in the secondary sector. Data from the questionnaires
were analyzed by the help of the statistics package SPSS 13.0.
4 Results and implications
Generally speaking teaching and learning is not a technique of producing and
distributing knowledge, but rather a communicative attempt to enable the intended
learning process. ICT have been seen as a vehicle for teachers to carry out major
changes in how they teach students (Kalogiannakis 2004). Research results
according to the first axis with teachers’personal data, the different specialties were
grouped in 6 basic categories (the first two included teachers of primary sector,
meaning teachers of nursery (11%), primary (32.6%), the other two teachers of
secondary sector, classified according to their educational specialty (humanities
26.8%, natural sciences 14.5%). Two different categories included teachers of
foreign languages (7.7%) and physical education (7.4%) independently, the level
where they taught (primary or secondary sector).
8 Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
Regarding the sample’s experience, the smallest was 1 year, the largest was
34 years (Mean=12 years) and Standard Deviation SD = 9.1 years (Table 1). As far
as the place of service is concerned, more than half (58.6%) worked in schools in
Heraklion while 68% declared that they possessed their own computer (at home).
Teachers who possessed a computer at home (N=208) mentioned that they used it
during a period of time between a month and 20 years (Mean =4.7 years, SD =
3.8 years).
Referring to the frequency of the computer use, most of the teachers (40.6%)
declared that they never used a computer, while 10.3% used the computer rarely
(more than a month), the 6.8% once a month, the 24.5% once a week, while 17.7%
of the sample answered that they used the computer daily. Also, the 47.4% of the
teachers’sample has an internet connection (N= 147) whose period of time was from
1 month till 13 years (Mean=3.2 years, SD = 2.5 years).
Most of the teachers (72.9%) had not attended any other in-service training
programme in ICT while the 27.1% (N= 84) had attended programmes by private
organizations to the "Work Evaluation Centers" named KEK (34.5%, N=29) and by
private institutions but also by public institutions in Universities or Technical
Institutions during their studies (20.2%, N= 17).
We have classified the subject matters, which the teachers were trained to 4 basic
categories:
&programming of a PC (Basic, Pascal, Assembly, Dbase, Logo),
&office automation (Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Internet
& e-mail),
&operating systems (Microsoft Windows, Microsoft DOS),
&other software (WordStar, Lotus, Microsoft FrontPage, Eurofasma).
Table 2indicates the sample’s frequencies of the subjects they have been educated
during this programme.
Concerning the results of the second axis, we initially searched teachers’attitudes
towards the contribution of all the software they have learned (software of general
use, internet and software which corresponded to their specialty for the amelioration
of the learning process). The following data present teachers’perceptions for the
contribution of the software for the improving of teaching procedure (Table 3) and
for their personal development (Table 4), which are mostly positive and very
positive.
Teaching and learning is one of the fields that benefit greatly from the
technological explosion. The use of ICT influences several components of the
educational activity, and introduces a high degree of flexibility with respect to time,
place, the delivery and learning process. To the question if they are going to use in
Table 1 Sample frequencies according to teaching experience
Teaching experience Percent
0–5 years 31.9
6–10 years 16.5
11> years 51.6
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17 9
the next school year one of the software programmes to which they were trained,
51.9% of the teachers answered "relatively often" and 36.3% "often", an element that
shows the general positive affect of the programme. Those who answered positively
to the question above were kindly requested to specify in detail which of the title or
titles of software are going to use again. Table 5presents their answers in detail,
among which Ms-Word (39.3%) is the most frequent answer.
It is also examined whether the opinion that some students may know more than
teachers by the end of the training as far as the use of some software is concerned,
and how this fact could be an inhibitory factor of incorporation of the ICT to their
teaching practice. Most of the sample (87.7%) claims that the above factor does not
act inhibitory. These results are related to the high percentages of self-efficiency
(mean=86.14) that appeared in the scale of self-efficiency, which was given to them
in order to complete it at the same time with the research questionnaire.
We used a self-efficiency computer scale, which can be completed in 10 min and
it consists of 29 sentences in order to measure teachers’self-efficiency in computer
use. The total grade comes with the number correspondence to each answer, using
the four-level Likert scale, summing up the numbers and it ranges from 29 to 116.
Table 6presents in detail the results that came up by the completion of this scale.
Judging by the mean of the sample (86.14), we can ascertain that the teachers
have developed a high indicator of self-efficiency as regards the use of a computer
and we can assume that the in-service training program they attended was a basic
factor for this enforcement. It has to be noticed that during 2008, the Greek Ministry
of Education and the Greek Pedagogical Institute have planned the beginning of the
second phase of this program, named P2.
Nowadays, the restructure of the teaching process with ICT is found exceptionally
important by teachers having as basic aim students’active participation. Teachers of
our research were asked how prepared they think they are in order to use the ICT for
their teaching methods and if they were given the possibility to attend another in-
service training program, in which sector they would like to give emphasis to.
Table 7presents their answers, from which we can observe an important tendency to
future training as far as the pedagogical evaluation of the ICT is concerned (75.2%),
Table 2 Sample frequencies of the subjects they have been educated
Cognitive subjects Percent
PC programming 3.1
Office automation 74.6
Operating Systems 20.1
Other 2.1
Table 3 Teachers’attitudes of the contribution of the basic productivity tools for the improvement of
teaching procedure
Improvement of teaching procedure Percent
Very positive 46.8
Positive 52.3
Indifferently 1.0
10 Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
which is an encouraging element for the future. A mere 1% of the sample showed a
lack of interest for further in-training programmes.
Most of the teachers felt ready to use ICT for instructional purposes after the
training received while at the same time they commented that they prefer to
participate in the future to in-service training programmes for the pedagogical use of
ICT.
4.1 Additional statistical analysis
The implementation of an innovation often requires giving up all the established
practices and methods (Baron and Harrari 2005). The results of the additional
analysis of our research, that was made to check the influence of other
demographical variables on the intention of using ICT in teaching practice, are of
great interest. In this additional statistical analysis we demonstrate the connection
between the basic questions of our questionnaire and the following independent
variables characterized the teachers of our sample.
As it resulted from this, the attendance of another training seminar in ICT
(technocratic kind) and the teachers’attitudes seem not to be statistically
influenced by the most basic independent variables that we examined. Their
attitudes concerning the contribution of software in the improvement of the
learning process vary only in relation to the gender (x
2
(2)=13.67, p=0.001) where
the male teachers have more positive attitude towards the contribution mentioned
above than their female colleagues. Furthermore, the intention to use software
packages during the following school year is influenced only by the location of
service (x
2
(3)=15.33, p=0.001). Teachers working in small towns (3,000–10,000
inhabitants) are more likely to use some of the software packages that they were
taught during the following school year, than teachers working in schools in big
urban areas (Heraklion). This conclusion could be explained taking into account
Table 4 Teachers’attitudes of the contribution of the basic productivity tools for their personal
development
Personal development of teachers Percent
Very positive 42.6
Positive 55.5
Indifferently 1.6
Negative 0.3
Table 5 Software packages that will be used during the next school year
Basic productivity tools Percent
Internet 18.2
Word processing (Ms-Word) 39.3
Spreadsheets (Ms-Excel) 20.2
Presentations (Ms-PowerPoint) 21.7
E-mail 0.4
Other 0.2
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17 11
based on the fact that in rural areas almost only younger—regarding their age and
teaching experience—teachers work due to their placement by the administration.
Those teachers have usually better basic knowledge of the ICT, gained from the
departments they graduated, are more eager to experiment and have more free time.
Also, they usually work under more favorable working conditions than their
colleagues in schools in big urban areas (e.g. smaller number of students in a
classroom, easier access to technological means, teachers’association more attracted
to innovating actions etc.). Teachers who have many years of experience in public
education are not ready to teach special subjects and perhaps, for this group of
teachers, in-service training is even more of a necessity (Saiti and Saitis 2006).
The readiness of use of the ICT in the teaching process by the teachers of
thesamplevariesonlyinrelationtotheagegroup(x
2
(2)=11.09, p=0.001), as
we found out that the teachers of the age group between 23–35 years old are more
likely to use ICT in the teaching process during the following school year. In
contrary, the age group of 45 years old and over is less likely to utilize the ICT.
This could be explained, as we have mentioned above, by the fact that in rural
areas work due to their placement by the administration, almost only younger
teachers, regarding both their age and their teaching experience, having as a result
being better trained by the university departments and technological institutions
they have relatively recently graduated. Moreover, the readiness of use of the ICT
in the teaching process is influenced by the location of service (x
2
(3)=14.64, p=
0.001), as we found out that the teachers who work in schools in small towns
(3,000–10,000 inhabitants) are more likely to utilize the ICT in the teaching
process during the following school year, whereas it is less likely that teachers in
schools in big urban areas will use them (Heraklion). The readiness of use of ICT
in the teaching process is also statistically influenced by the years of work
experience and younger teachers, regarding the years of work experience
(0–5 years), are more likely to use ICT in the teaching process during the
following school year (x
2
(2)=8.77, p=0.01).
Table 6 Descriptive statistics for the self-efficiency scale
Statistic Self-efficiency computer scale
N 310
Mean 86.1
SD 14.3
Minimum 29
Maximum 116
Table 7 Teacher’s preferences of the type of future programmes they would like to attend
Teacher’s preferences for further in-service training programmes Percent
ICT and pedagogical use 75.2
Exact same course as those in which they were educated 15.2
In the acquisition of specific dexterities in ICT 8.7
Lack of interest for further education 1.0
12 Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
5 Discussion—Perspectives
The distinction between pre-service and in-service training is no longer relevant. In
today’s context, pre-service teacher training is better considered a preparation not
only for the pre-determined role of the teacher for effective participation in a
continuous teaching–learning process (Selwyn 2000; Kalogiannakis 2004; Hermans
et al. 2008). Indisputably, the demands of the modern society, after the development
and utilization of the ICT in many sectors of everyday life have created new needs in
education. Being convinced of their significant contribution, most of the teachers
search for ways to adapt to the new circumstances. However, their effort is hindered
by many factors, mainly by lack of technological and pedagogical training.
An ICT teacher’s training programme, which is both comprehensive and authentic
ought to involve a wide range of school based activities relevant to the needs of
teachers. The establishment of the lifelong learning should be under consideration.
Training efforts are generally welcomed by teachers but they consistent support.
Extensive training is necessary in order to consider themselves able for integrating
ICT in their teaching methodologies. The next key issue is the concentration on
skills and content development to the detriment of pedagogy. It is our position that
pedagogy can be crucial in any type of teaching learning activities and as such is
always at the heart of any application of educational innovation. Teachers may
attend a training course and learn such as how to word process or "surf the net" or
develop web pages, but these skills must be placed in a pedagogic context. Teachers
must be shown how to re-focus their work and lessons to take account of ICT.
Although it is apparent that small-scale studies cannot answer long-standing
problems, it can be seen that the training experience of the program of our research
was a success. For the teachers of our sample, although a technological type of
teacher’s training, regardless of the advantages in which undoubtedly it results, is not
alone an efficient and necessary condition for the ICT’s launch and pedagogical use
in classroom. Consequently, we could claim that the teacher’s technological literacy
is not enough, but, in contrary, special emphasis should be given on the ICT’s
pedagogical utilization, which is expected to happen with the start of the training
programmes (second level training, P2). We also argue that further in-house training
is required and in-house training is considered to be the most effective since it could
be directly related to the specific needs of the staff and the school (Kalogiannakis
2004).
The geographical restriction was very important and must be underlined in our
research. It was imposed for pure practical reasons. Specifically, the research sample
consisted of teachers who were trained in the Heraklion Prefecture. An element that
could be the subject of a future research is the perspective of the expansion of this
training program research in other areas in Greece in an attempt to find some local
factors—characteristics that may affect its function. Moreover, it would be very
interesting, if future researches focused on the training needs that will occur for the
teachers who have already been trained in the pedagogical utilization of the ICT in
everyday practice in the classroom, after the use and exploitation of what they were
taught. It is absolutely necessary to work more closely with the school as an
organization and to continue this research in a larger scale and through different
methods for the successful introduction of ICT in education.
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17 13
Often, the failure of an ICT teachers’training program is due to multiple factors
including under preparation of the technological and material resource requirements,
failure to motivate teachers, lack of attention to the context in which teachers work,
and an underestimation of what is involved in developing knowledge and skills
sufficient to change practice. Since the teacher is viewed as an individual who has
knowledge as a base and builds on it through constant inquiry and analysis, a shift
away from highly centralised control towards prefectures and local authorities will
promote accountability and may encourage the development of a professional culture
among school teachers would be also a good solution for the Greek teachers.
Prefectures know and understand teachers’needs better than central government,
and since they serve as the interface that helps the public overcome the physical
inaccessibility of central government, administrative decentralization appears to be
the key to an effective education system (Saiti and Saitis 2006).
The use of ICT in education is not a panacea and researchers ought to study
more deeply the complex pedagogical issues involved in the uses of ICT.
Furthermore, of utmost importance is to use ICT as a tool, and integrate it into
every aspect of academic life; however, the integration of ICT must be
"curriculum" and "student need driven" rather than "technology driven". We, as
researchers and educators, should view and try to use ICT as a catalyst for
change and pedagogical innovation in education. Studies, such as the one
presented here about the attitudes of the Greek teachers, outline how ready they
are to be involved in a process of learning, updating and implementation of ICT
in the teaching process through a two-kind training of technological and
pedagogical character. We argue that those who are involved in in-service
teacher training should think and act holistically in regards to the personal and
professional lives of teachers. It is necessary to find out more about educational
approaches within teacher training that can encourage teachers to create powerful
learning environments. The time has come for the emphasis of training courses to
shift beyond the acquisition of basic ICT skills towards improvement of teachers’
professional skills and change of the way ICT is envisaged in teaching.
Greek teachers need access to a considerable range of knowledge and skills in
order to be able to keep up with ICT and to provide students with the best education
possible. ICT must go beyond the status of a productivity tool and achieve the status
of a mind tool. A concerted effort on the part of initial teacher training institutions to
prioritize ICT policy in their strategic planning will have far-reaching results.
Nevertheless, it is important to understand that what makes the ICT valuable is the
pedagogical utilization of their facilities and not their technological aspect and in this
sector training the teachers appears to be necessary. Teachers need to understand
how to organize the classroom and to structure teaching and learning tasks so that
ICT resources become a necessary and integral part of learning rather an add-on
technical aid.
Generally speaking, a change is necessary so as an innovative teaching method
can be successful, not only concerning materials, but also concerning approaches
and beliefs. As a consequence, teachers should apply and believe in this innovative
practice so that it could be effective. However, technology alone will not help a
teacher who does not have a sound understanding of how students learn and how to
address students’needs and learning styles.
14 Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17
Appendix. Research Questionnaire
APPENDIX. Research Questionnaire
1. Sex: male female
2. Age:(years)
3. Education level of work:Primary Secondary
4. Speciality:
5. Educative level:
6. Years of teaching experience: (years)
7. Where is the school in which your work is located?
village (up to 3,000 residents) town (3000 -10000 residents)
Heraklion city (10000 residents and more)
8. You work in:
9. Do you own a computer?
If yes, for how many years:
Also, how frequently do you use it:
10. Do you have internet connection?
If yes, how many years:
Also, how frequently do you use it:
11. Have you attended computer courses in the past? Yes No
If yes, which institution supervised these courses
and which units included your training courses:
12. How would you evaluate the contribution of educational software (basic productivity tools) which you were taught,
for the improvement of training process?
Secondary
Higher Technical Education
University Degree
Master Degree
Doctorate Degree
Nursery
Primary school
High school
Lyceum
Technical School
Other
………………………...
Yes
No
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Seldom
Never
Yes
No Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Seldom
Never
13. How would you evaluate the contribution of educational software (basic productivity tools) which you were taught,
for your own personal improvement and your development as a teacher?
14. Do you believe that you will use any educational software during the next school year?
If yes, can you name which software you will be using?
1 2 3
Very positive
Positive
Indifferently
Negative
Very negative
Very positive
Positive
Indifferently
Negative
Very negative
Yes
No
Educ Inf Technol (2010) 15:3–17 15
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Never
Very seldom
Seldom
Relatively Often
Often
Yes
No
Yes
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The pedagogic use of ICT
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