The professional development of teachers' classroom use of ICT through mentoring

Podhraški, Ivan Edward (2009). The professional development of teachers' classroom use of ICT through mentoring. EdD thesis The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0000eb59

Abstract

This study is concerned with the effective mentoring of teachers. It is qualitative by nature and is organised as two case studies; the first being conducted in a primary school and the second in an inner city mixed comprehensive school.

The study considers the process of mentoring as a mechanism to build on skills developed by New Opportunities Funding (NOF). It therefore considers the confidence and competence of teachers in using Information Communications Technology (ICT) in their teaching. Two main questions were posed:

* Can mentoring improve staff attitudes towards the use of ICT in the classroom?

*Can mentoring be used as a tool to enhance CPD in ICT and hence encourage staff to increase and develop their use of ICT in the classroom?

Data was collected over a period of three years in the form of field notes, semi-structured interviews, documentation, pupil group interviews, book scrutiny and classroom/lesson observations from teachers (the mentees), their mentors and their pupils.