Headteachers’ preparedness for integration of information communication technology in administration of public primary schools in Changamwe district, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the Head teachers’ preparedness for integration of ICT in administration of public primary schools in Changamwe district, Mombasa County, Kenya. Specifically to establish the availability of ICT resources for use in administration, determine the attitudes of school administrators towards integration of ICT; determine the availability of ICT support to help in the use of ICT and to establish the ICT skills used in administration of public primary schools in Changamwe district. The study targeted all public primary schools in Changamwe district with a population of 20 Head teachers, 20 deputy head teachers and 100 heads of department. A sample of 140 respondents was selected purposively. A response rate of 85% achieved. Descriptive survey research design was adopted as it brings out quantifiable information from the sample. Three sets of questionnaires were developed and administered to Head teachers, deputy Head teachers and heads of department respectively. To determine the validity, the instrument was pretested in one school with one head teacher, one deputy head teacher and head of departments. The findings show that the school administrators had very few computers for administration work in the district. The computers were used for capturing school enrollment, storage of students’ bio data, registration of KCPE candidates, data entry on pupils’ marks, analysis of pupil’s results, typing examinations, accessing the internet and for research on the subjects they taught. Most of the schools administrators in the district were computer literate with a few who are illiterate. Some of the schools had plans in place to upgrade ICT skills of their administrators. Only one third of the schools in the district had school management systems and only one school had a Website enabled system. Most of the schools either used manual records or selected computer programmes including: Microsoft’s word, Excel and internet to perform their duties. Procurement for ICT equipment and servicing of computers in schools within the district was not advised by computer experts. Only a few of administrators had a good proficiency of computers suggesting that majority of them were only average users. Challenges faced by the Head teachers while using ICT in administration include: breakdown of computers, lack of technical support on the acquisition usage and maintenance of the computers, inadequate finances to procure computers, low computer literacy levels among the administrators and regular power blackouts in the district were the key challenges in usage of ICT. The study recommended that Ministry of Education should encourage the integration of ICT in administration in schools in the district through provision of computers to schools, ICT skills courses relevant to administration work and ICT technical support to advice head teachers on procurement, usage and maintenance of computers.