ICT Integration into Teacher Education: Teacher Educators' Experiences of Policy at Two Teacher Education Institutions in Malawi

Abstract

Globally, teacher educators are pressured to integrate ICT as one way of fostering teachers' and teacher candidates' technology proficiency. To stimulate ICT integration, policy changes towards teacher educators are evident in many countries. Yet, although policy studies would be helpful to generate insights into strengthening the teacher educators' technology professionalism, there is limited research on policies targeting teacher educators. This case study explored teacher educators' experiences and response to policy at two secondary teacher education institutions in Malawi, utilizing semi-structured interviews with teacher educators (N=14), observations and document review. Results showed that teacher educators were unaware of national policies. However, other educators referred to curriculum as policy, and institutional practices such as sectionalism, ICT-related trainings and ‘class policy’ were evident. Among others, the findings underpin the importance of teacher educators' technology professional development in the domain of policy. Yet, more research needs to be done on how informal policies influence ICT integration.