The study explores the experiences of school principals in leading and managing ICT integration into the curriculum in rural secondary schools in Buhera District. The research seeks to answer the following critical questions: What are the experiences of school principals in leading and managing ICT integration in the curriculum.
FACTORS SHAPING SCHOOL HEADS’ EXPERIENCES IN LEADING
PROVISION OF AFFORDABLE AND RELIABLE INTERNET
According to Mutasa (2010) and Mushunje (2005), Buhera is one of the poorest districts in the country. Some of the schools in rural areas have teachers who have no or very limited experience and expertise regarding ICT educational applications (Nziramasanga, 1999; Adomi & Kpangban, 2010; Bukaliya & Mubika, 2011).
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
In light of the above background, this study examines the experiences of school principals in leading and managing ICT integration in the curriculum in secondary schools in Buhera rural district. It is therefore considered important to seek to know how ICT integration in the curriculum in schools is experienced.
AIM OF THE STUDY
The rationale for this research is seen in line with Robbins and Finley's (1997) comment that change is messy, complicated, and it involves conflicting demands on managers and can be experienced differently in different contexts in which it is implemented.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
CRITICAL QUESTIONS
DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
- Leadership
- Management
- Change management
- Rural-day secondary school
The term leadership therefore overlaps with management, so every time the term leadership is used in this study, the sister term management is subsumed as they are two sides of the same coin. ICT is used in this study in accordance with Karsenti, Collin and Harper-Merrett's (2011) definition of ICT to refer to.
LITERATURE REVIEW
However, for the purpose of this study, Williams' (2003) definition of ICT integration is accepted, which describes ICT integration as the way to use any ICT tools (computers, internet, e-learning technologies, CD ROMs and other technological accessories) to improve teaching and learning. Rural secondary school in this study will be a remote secondary school located in a rural environment where pupils come to school from their homes every school day.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
A semi-structured interview is a purposeful interaction in which the researcher tries to understand what the participant knows about a topic (Greeff, 2002). The main reason for using in-depth interviews in this study is that the researcher will understand detailed information from the participant's point of view (Maree, 2007).
THE STUDY OUTLINE
Purposive sampling is a selection of sampling units within the segment of the population targeting those who have the most information or data needed for the study or are individuals with professional expertise. Chapter four presents a nuanced overview of the high school principals' experiences in leading and managing ICT integration in the curriculum.
SUMMARY
What are the experiences of principals in leading and managing ICT integration in the curriculum. What factors shape principals' experiences in leading and managing ICT integration in the curriculum.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY
The previous chapter provided a background and orientation to the study on the experiences of school principals in leading and managing the process of ICT integration in the curriculum. How principals mitigate the challenges of leading and managing ICT integration in the curriculum.
MILLER’S (1997) EVOLUTIONARY MODEL OF ICT INTEGRATION
Miller's evolutionary five-phase model of ICT integration developed in South Africa can be used as an approach in seeking to understand ICT integration processes in Zimbabwean secondary schools, as the contexts are almost similar. Therefore, it is necessary to bring all three together in seeking to understand the experiences of school principals in leading and managing the integration of ICT into school curricula.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
- LANDSCAPING ICT INTEGRATION
- AFRICA INTEGRATING ICT IN SCHOOLS
- ZIMBABWEAN SCHOOLS AND ICT INTEGRATION
- SCHOOL HEADS AND ICT INTEGRATION
- SCHOOL HEADS LEADING AND MANAGING CHANGE
- CHALLENGES IN LEADING AND MANAGING CHANGE AND ICT INTEGRATION
- MANAGING CHALLENGES RELATED TO CHANGE AND ICT INTEGRATION
If ICT integration is to be successful, school principals must be fully involved in the entire process. Afshari et al. (2009) agree with Burns (1978) who argues that transformational leadership can help school principals to increase the successful use of ICT in their schools.
RESEARCH PARADIGM
The focus of this study is to unravel the experiences of rural secondary school principals in leading and managing ICT integration into the curriculum of Buhera schools. I was involved in a process to understand how school leaders experienced the process of leading and managing ICT integration into the curriculum in their schools.
QUALITATIVE APPROACH
In this study, I used an interpretive paradigm which aims to enable an understanding of the phenomena of ICT integration in Zimbabwean rural schools as experienced by rural day school principals. The second rationale for using a qualitative approach was to capture the experiences and opinions of rural secondary school principals about ICT integration from their own point of view.
RESEARCH DESIGN
A common criticism of social research, and particularly qualitative research that uses in-depth interviews, is that it captures what people say rather than what they do, and is therefore fraught with validity problems (Miller & Dingwall, 1997). An interpretivist view would instead value data precisely because it is subjective and an interview that accesses what people say about their experiences can provide rich insight into how an individual evaluates their reality (Bertram & Christiansen, 2014).
SAMPLING
DATA GENERATION METHODS
The main advantage of using semi-structured interviews is that they capture detailed information from the participant's point of view (Maree, 2007). The flexible nature of semi-structured interviews gave participants the ability to share rich and exploratory data, which I sometimes did not expect, allowing the opportunity for new information to emerge (Greeff, 2002; Yin, 2009; Mason, 2010).
RESEARCH SITES AND PARTICIPANTS IN THE STUDY
The school is located in the central part of Buhera which is in agro-ecological region four. The school is in the southern part of Buhera which is in agro-ecological region five and is about 60 km from Murambinda growing point which houses the district offices.
AUDIO RECORDING OF INTERVIEWS
The school is located in the extreme south of Buhera, which is in agro-ecological region five and is approximately 90 km from Murambinda growing point, which houses the district offices. He has four years' experience as a headmaster and has been at this school for twenty years, rising through the ranks.
THE PILOT STUDY
After the pilot study was conducted, some questions and probes were modified to obtain the data that addresses my critical questions. During the pilot study, I discovered that the time I took was about one hour and fifteen minutes, and I need to rephrase some questions and the probes so that the interview will be within a 45-minute interval to maintain the participant's interest in the study .
DATA ANALYSIS
Bracketing and phenomenological reduction
During this phase, I engaged in rigorous listening to each word, phrase, sentence, paragraph and noted significant non-verbal communication in the transcript in order to draw out the participant's meanings. Giorgi (1975) states that the researcher during this phase tries to determine the units of natural meaning expressed by the participants.
Clustering of units of meaning to form themes
During this stage I engaged in what Giorgi (1975) recommends that the researcher should engage in openness in which the central theme of each unit is identified. He further argues that at this stage the researcher gets to the essence of the meaning expressed in a word, phrase, sentence, paragraph or meaningful non-verbal communication.
Extracting general and unique themes from all interviews and making composite summary
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Written informed consent was sought from all participants and those in the pilot study (see Appendix B, page 95). Anonymity was also ensured by the use of pseudonyms for both schools and participants as already mentioned in the consent form (see Appendix B, page 95).
TRUSTWORTHINESS
Reliability refers to an assessment of the quality of the integrated process of data collection, data analysis and theory generation. I also discussed the data produced with the participants and critical readers, as reliability is an assessment of the quality of the integrated process of data collection and data analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
SUMMARY
The aim of the study was not necessarily to generalize the findings, but rather to understand and make meaning of the way school leaders experience ICT integration into the curriculum and the changes this brings to schools. Being aware of this, I have tried to provide detailed descriptions of all my activities in the research process so that the phenomenon can be fully understood.
EXPERIENCES OF SCHOOL HEADS IN LEADING AND MANAGING ICT INTEGRATION IN THE CURRICULUM
- POSITIVE EXPERIENCES
- WORKING TOGETHER WITH PARENTS
- SHARING AND ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER TO DEVELOP ICT SKILLS
- THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
- MAKES LEARNING PROCESS EASY
- NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES/CHALLENGES
- LEARNERS NOT FULLY BENEFITING
- NATIONAL ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
- THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY NOT PLAYING A MEANINGFUL PART IN ICT INTEGRATION IN SCHOOLS
- RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
- TIME AS A CONSTRAINING RESOURCE
Principals have also experienced a number of challenges when leading and managing ICT integration into the curriculum. Principals have experienced that national economic hardship has a negative impact on ICT integration in the curriculum.
FACTORS SHAPING SCHOOL HEADS’ EXPERIENCES IN LEADING AND MANAGING ICT INTEGRATION IN THE CURRICULUM
- REMOTENESS OF SCHOOLS
- COMMITMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY
- PROPER PLANNING
- ADEQUATE RESOURCING
- STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN
- CAPACITATION OF SCHOOL HEADS
The school leaders' experiences are also shaped by the strategies they use in planning and monitoring ICT integration in the curriculum. The attitude of the community has an impact on how school leaders experience ICT integration in the curriculum.
MITIGATION OF CHALLENGES
- PROVISION OF AFFORDABLE AND RELIABLE INTERNET SERVICES For ICT integration in the curriculum to bear fruit in rural schools there is need for concerted
- PROVISION OF MORE COMPUTERS AND PROPER INFRASTRUCTURE
- FEES INCREASE AND ITS TIMEOUS PAYMENT
- PROVISION OF COMPUTER LITERATE TEACHERS AND IN- SERVICING THOSE IN THE FIELD
- ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS FOR ICT INTEGRATION
From what the school leaders said, it appears that they are far from having integrated ICT into the curriculum according to Miller's model. School leaders believe that if they manage to solve these problems, they can successfully integrate ICT into the school curriculum.
SUMMARY
By targeting the transformational changes required in the education system, principals must try by all means to take advantage of the many new value creation opportunities that parents as stakeholders bring if they have embraced the vision of the school (McVea & Freeman, 2005). The previous chapter dealt with the presentation, analysis and discussion of the data obtained from semi-structured interviews with school principals.
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
The fourth chapter presented a nuanced overview of the experiences of rural day secondary school principals in leading and managing the integration of ICT into the curriculum. The data were presented in the following topics: positive and negative experiences of integrating ICT in the curriculum, factors that shape the experiences of school leaders in leading and managing the integration of ICT in the curriculum and how to mitigate the challenges presented by the integration of ICT in the curriculum.
CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this study revealed that school leaders' experiences are shaped by a number of factors such as the location of their schools and the resources available when integrating ICT into the curriculum. It was also found that the experiences of school leaders are influenced by the attitudes of the school community towards the integration of ICT in the school curriculum.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Furthermore, the results of this study have shown that there is a need to increase the number of computers in schools to reduce the student-computer ratio if ICT integration in the curriculum is to bear fruit. Meaningful stakeholder involvement will mitigate some of the challenges school leaders face in ICT integration.
LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The integration of information and communication technology in rural schools in South Africa: A case study of schools in Malamulele. Factors influencing teachers' adoption and integration of information and communication technology in education: A review of the literature.
Biographic Information 1.1 What is your age?
ICT Integration Experiences
School heads leading and managing change
General
One interview will be conducted which will be semi-structured and will last approximately 30 minutes and will be audio recorded. Responses will be confidential and pseudonyms will be used for school principals and their schools.
