Teachers’ competence in the use of ICT and students’ academic performance in ICT

Abstract

Uganda like other developing countries is still in the initial stages of integrating ICT in teaching-learning process (Nyakito et al., 2021). The effective integration of ICT into classroom practices poses a challenge to different stake holders in the education sector, yet the use of ICT is essential in improving the learning abilities of learners. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of teachers‟ competence in the use of ICT to the academic performance of students in ICT in secondary schools in Hoima city. The research employed a mixed method study in which the target population consisted of two secondary Schools purposively considered due to adequate information regarding the variables of this study. Head teachers, teachers, and students of the two selected secondary schools in Hoima city were the unit of inquiry because they were deemed to be having accurate information about the study. The study used a size of 281 Respondents including; head teachers, teachers, computer laboratory assistants and students who were sampled using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) approach. Primary data was collected using survey, interview, and documentary review methods. Self-administered questionnaires and Interview guide for teaching, nonteaching staff and students were used to obtain data as well. Findings revealed that teachers generally show strong competence in simpler ICT tasks such as opening programs and transferring files. However, they struggle significantly with tasks like searching the internet, troubleshooting, and connecting computers to projectors. The results varied across the attributes of academic performance and showed that majority of schools (65%) have a fair performance in ICT, with very few schools (1.9%) achieving a very good level of performance. In other findings, the level of teachers‟ compliance to the policy of using ICT in teaching and learning was generally poor, with majority of respondents (53.8%) indicating that teachers poorly comply with bringing ICT tools to their lessons. Determinately, this study highlights that lack of the necessary ICT skills, low compliance with ICT policies in teaching as well as the current state of ICT training being largely the multifaceted issues rooted in several systemic and individual factors hindering students‟ performance in ICT within secondary schools in Hoima city. Therefore, enhancement of teachers‟ competence by the appropriate stakeholders through additional training in ICT is highly recommended. This will subsequently translate into improving teacher‟s skills in ICT use, hence student‟s academic performance in ICT.