The relationship between the teacher individual characteristics and their ICT using

There are ambiguous attitudes to ICT by different users In the educational process, but the use of technology still becomes important. There are various factors that influence the adoption of technology in the learning process. The technology acceptance model (TAM, Davis, 1989) takes into account the usefulness of technology, ease of use, attitude to using and behavioural intention. Some research adds to this model external variables, such as teacher’s gender, work experience and subjective norms (Venkatesh and Morris, 2000). Along with the mentioned factors, some studies were devoted to other individual or contextual characteristics: the frequency and success of ICT practices are related to the age of the teacher (Teo, 2008; Yaghi, 2001), experience (Egbert, Paulus & Nakamichi 2002), gender (Russel & Bradley, 1997; Todman 2000).

On the one hand, resistance to change can be just a marker of other problems related to the integration of technologies into education process, for example, lack of ICT skills or support [Bingimlas, 2009]. In this case, the elimination of the solution of such primary difficulties eliminates the connection between resistance to changes and teachers’ use of ICT in education. On the other hand, resistance to change can be an independent personal characteristic of a teacher [Oreg, 2003], mediating the relationship between his ICT skills and actual use in the classroom. In this case, the school environment can increase teachers’ resistance to change, as teacher workflow and reporting are often focused on routine activities.

Not many studies examine the relationship between teachers individual characteristics and their ICT using. However, when introducing innovations in the educational process, we cannot ignore the individual characteristics of teachers and specifically resistance to change, because it is related to the success of using technology (Bingimlas, 2009). Moreover, there are contradictory results in Russia: while there was a big shift towards increasing the availability of digital educational resources in schools, the use of ICT is still rather low (OECD, 2016).

The goal of this study is to analyze the relationship between teachers individual characteristics and their ICT using in Russian schools. We used data from 338 schools from two Russian regions, which participated in the experimental study of the effectiveness of electronic textbook Yandex.Uchebnik. The survey was conducted before the experiment in October 2018 by the electronic form. The sample was 347 primary school teachers (344 women and 3 men). The questionnaire included socio-demographic information and scales “Using ICT in mathematics lessons”, “Using ICT in language lessons”, “Resistance to changes”, “Use of ICT for personal purposes” and “Development of ICT skills”. The database also included information about school type, number of computers available for use by third-graders, Internet speed in school and type of settlement.

The structural modeling (SEM) was used. As a dependent variable, the values ​​of two scales “Using ICT in the lessons” and “Using ICT outside classrooms” were chosen. We tested scales ““Development of ICT skills” and “Resistance to change” as mediators. Independent variables of the models were the teacher’s age, type of settlement, school type, Internet speed and the number of computers available for use by third-graders and scales. The first model assessed the relationship between the teachers’ ICT skills and their use of ICT in classrooms with resistance to changes as a mediator. In the second model, on the contrary, the ICT skills acted as a mediator of the connection between resistance to change and teachers’ use of ICT in classrooms.

Results show that RtCh and ICT skills are connected negatively (Table 1). Both variables have a significant relationship with ICT using at school: RtCh—negative, skills—positive. However, while skills are positive related to ICT using outside classrooms, RtCh does not show any significant relationship with such activities.
The technical equipment and even teachers’ age do not related to ICT using at school while controlling their skills and RtCh. The speed of the Internet even shows a negative relationship: the higher the speed, the less often teachers use ICT. The teachers’ age is significant only for ICT using outside classrooms and shows a negative relationship.

Thus, the role of the teacher should be taken into account not only in terms of the influence on the formation of students’ personality (Rooda et al., 2011), their socialization (Ladd, Birch, & Buhs, 1999), behavioral characteristics (Graziano et al., 2007), development skills and academic achievements (Skinner, Wellborn, & Connell, 1990; Valiente et al., 2008) and others, but also when introduced in educational process of new practices and technologies.

Daria Kolygina is a second-year student, intern researcher at the International Laboratory for Evaluation of Practices and Innovations in Education, Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics.