Investigating the Effects of Continuous Professional Development on ICT Integration in the Classroom the Case of Foundation Phase Mathematics Teaching and Learning

Investigating the Effects of Continuous Professional Development on ICT Integration in the Classroom the Case of Foundation Phase Mathematics Teaching and Learning

Marius Simons, Chloe Senosi

University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.909000631

Received: 04 June 2025; Accepted: 12 June 2025; Published: 23 October 2025

ABSTRACT

The use of technology is becoming the norm in the 21^st century classroom to enhance teaching and learning. This rapid move to incorporate technology in the classroom brought the need for teachers to be upskilled on the use of technology as a pedagogical tool. Through this study the researcher sought to investigate the effects that Continuous Professional Development (CPD) has on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) integration in the classroom, with a specific focus on the teaching and learning of mathematics in the Foundation Phase. The mixed method research design will be underpinned by the conceptual approach of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition (SAMR) frameworks and supported by a constructivist learning theory approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The TPACK framework builds on Lee Shulman’s construct of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) which integrates technological knowledge. Through the analysis of data in the study the researcher found that although teachers are trained in using ICT there are factors that hinder the successful integration of these acquired skills in the Foundation Phase mathematics classroom.

INTRODUCTION

In the realm of education, the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade. Embracing various ICT devices, such as smartboards and tablets, educators and learners have sought to enrich the learning experience (Ghavifekr et al., 2014). This shift marks a significant departure from earlier technologies, such as overhead projectors, which were first introduced in classrooms during the 1960s (Akanegbu, 2013). Today, the educational landscape is teeming with an array of ICT equipment, smart devices, and applications, transforming the teaching and learning process. The recent global pandemic has further accelerated the adoption of technology in schools, establishing it as an essential tool for sustaining education during challenging times. As alternative pedagogical methods utilizing ICT gain traction worldwide, the need to equip teachers with effective ICT integration skills becomes increasingly apparent.

South Africa’s Foundation Phase, encompassing Grades R to three, represents a critical stage of formal education, where foundational skills in literacy and numeracy are nurtured, particularly in mathematics, forming the bedrock for students’ ongoing development (Jordan et al., 2009). Given the growing emphasis on incorporating ICT into education, it becomes imperative to ensure that Foundation Phase teachers receive continuous training and remain updated on the advancements in ICT as a pedagogical tool. Therefore, this study focuses on exploring the availability of adequate continuous professional development (CPD) programs aimed at enhancing ICT integration in the Foundation Phase mathematics classroom and investigating their effects on the teaching and learning of mathematics.

In 2003, the South African Department of Basic Education released an e-Education white paper, outlining its vision and objectives for harnessing the potential of ICT in classrooms (Department of Education, 2003). The white paper envisioned every South African learner in general and further education and training bands becoming ICT-capable by 2013, confidently and creatively utilizing ICT to develop essential skills, knowledge, and global citizenship (Department of Education, 2003). However, after nine years, the full realization of policy implementation remains unfulfilled. Despite this, progress has been made in equipping schools with ICT tools and encouraging learners to utilize mobile devices during educational activities (Pegrum et al., 2013). Similar initiatives, like Australia’s Digital Education Revolution (DER), have aimed to enhance students’ ICT skills and learning experiences across the curriculum (Albion et al., 2015).

Yet, to make these policies effective, providing adequate training for teachers is crucial. Merely providing ICT infrastructure without proper teacher training renders integration efforts ineffective (Hennessy et al., 2010). Teachers need the necessary skills, pedagogical knowledge, resources, and confidence to effectively employ online tools and systems to engage learners (AICTEC, 2009). Research consistently identifies teacher competence as a key barrier to successful ICT integration in classrooms (Agyei & Voogt, 2011; Jones, 2004; Afshari et al., 2009). Insufficient or inadequate training may hinder teachers from fully exploiting technology’s potential in both classroom and online settings (Jones, 2004).

Numerous initiatives worldwide have focused on continuous professional development for teachers on ICT integration, reaching millions of educators globally (Hennessy et al., 2010). Projects like Australia’s Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) aimed to address the technological pedagogical knowledge gap among teachers (Albion et al., 2015). Similarly, African nations like Ghana and Uganda have witnessed successful continuous professional development initiatives, like the World Links program, to enhance teachers’ technological competence and integration abilities (Hennessy et al., 2010). Despite these global efforts, there remains a scarcity of research examining CPD programs specifically targeted at ICT integration in Foundation Phase mathematics teaching and learning.

Addressing the teacher competence gap is critical to unlock the full potential of ICT integration in classrooms. This study seeks to explore the effects of CPD programs centered on ICT integration in Foundation Phase mathematics teaching and learning. By examining the nature of CPD programs, their impact on both the teaching and learning of mathematics, and their influence on teachers’ Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK), this research aims to shed light on the crucial role of continuous professional development in leveraging the power of technology for effective education. The primary objective of this study was to explore the nature of continuous professional development on ICT integration in Foundation Phase Mathematics teaching and learning, with a specific focus on the following research question: What are the effects of continuous professional development on ICT integration in Foundation Phase mathematics teaching and learning?

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The topic of this study looked at continuous teacher professional development with regards to ICT integration in mathematics education and sought to investigate the effects this ICT teacher professional development has on the integration of ICT in Foundation Phase mathematics teaching and learning. This literature review looked at the broader literature and then draws in narrower and speaks to the topic of this study. The following literature was discussed under the following headings: ICT in education which looks at the first introduction of technology into education as well as the further integration of ICT into education and the integration of ICT into Foundation Phase mathematics education. The following heading that was discussed is continuous professional development, what it is and what it entails.

Educational technology is defined by Lathan (2022) as “the technological tools and media that assist in the communication of knowledge, and its development and exchange”. The rise of the use of technology in schools began in the early 1980s when “computers in education started to become popular in educational policymaking” (Pelgrum & Law, 2003, p. 19). “Later, near the end of the 1980s, the term ‘computers’ was replaced by ‘IT’ (information technology), signifying a shift of focus from computing technology to the capacity to store and retrieve information. (“The Use and Management of ICT in Schools Strategies for School Leaders”) This was followed by the introduction of the term ‘ICT’ (information and communication technologies) around 1992, when e- mail started to become available to the general public” (Pelgrum & Law, 2003, p. 19). The introduction of ICT into education “brings a new paradigm in education in various aspects especially in mathematics teaching and learning, among others are the change from traditional learning to new learning, information delivery to information exchange and teacher-centred to student-centred” (Alcantara, Veriña, & Niem, 2020, p.27).

ICT (Information and Communications Technology) is defined as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information” (Tinio, 2003, p. 4). ICT “refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunication” (Ratheeswari, 2018, p. 45), primarily focusing on communication technologies including the internet, cellphones, and other forms of communication mediums (Ratheeswari, 2018). “ICT literacy is using digital technology, communications tools, and/or networks to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge society” (Panel, 2002, p. 2) meaning ICT’s are considered skills for life rather than merely just software systems and applications (Adesote & Fatoki, 2013). Thus, ICT as a “skill for life” was introduced into the curriculum at schools in developing nations. (Adesote & Fatoki, 2013).

Globally the introduction of ICT into schools often started with the rationale that learners needed to learn how to use ICT and to develop 21st century skills (Ford & Botha, 2010). 21^st century skills in education go beyond reading and writing (Geisinger, 2016), and focuses on skills such as intrapersonal, cognitive, interpersonal, and technical skills (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009). To meet the demands of the 21^st century, it is necessary for new and innovative skills of communication, technology, and collaborative practices to be introduced into education and the workplace (Geisinger, 2016). Integration of ICT into teaching and learning is not a method but a medium in which a variety of methods, approaches and pedagogical philosophies may be implemented (Salehi & Salehi, 2012).

“Modern technology offers many means of improving teaching and learning in the classroom (Lefebvre, Deaudelin & Loiselle, 2006).” (“Barriers to the successful integration of ICT in teaching and learning …”) Globally many countries (especially developed countries) have integrated modern technology into their curriculum. According to Pulkkinen (2007), over the past two decades ICT integration has been one of the leading aspects in educational development in developing countries such as European countries.

Globally, programs such as Google classroom were invented in 2014 as a new tool to be used in education (Shaharanee, Jamil & Rodzi 2016). “This classroom facilitates the teachers to create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently, and communicate with their classes with ease” (Shaharanee, Jamil & Rodzi 2016, p. 5). In 2007, the Australian government implemented a policy called the Digital Education Revolution (DER) (Albion, Tondeur, Forkosh-Baruch & Peeraer (2015). The policy “was intended to ensure that all students would complete schooling with knowledge and skills for using ICT in employment, and that learning across the curriculum would be enhanced by the application of ICT” (Albion, Tondeur, Forkosh-Baruch & Peeraer (2015, p. 660). Along with the policy came a project to upskill both teachers and pre-service teachers’ professional development (DEEWR, 2010). Hence projects like the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project were introduced across Australian institutions aimed at developing pre-service teachers to be competent in ICT integration before they become teachers (Albion, Tondeur, Forkosh-Baruch & Peeraer, 2015).

Locally, in South Africa in 2003 the minister of Education drafted an e-Education white paper which set out the intention of e-Education and the goals of the DBE. “Every South African learner in the general and further education and training bands will be ICT capable (that is, use ICT confidently and creatively to help develop the skills and knowledge they need to achieve personal goals and to be full participants in the global community) by 2013.” (“SURVEY OF ICT IN SCHOOLS IN SOUTH- AFRICA – National Department of …”) (Department of Education, 2003). It has been nine years since the target date, and this has not been achieved. However, there has been programmes and projects run over the years to develop ICT in schools. In response to what the minister has set out, “the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), as well as the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), launched various ICT initiatives known as paperless or smart-classrooms in their provinces” (Saal, Graham & Van Ryneveld, 2020, p. 253-254). These initiatives were mainly aimed at disadvantaged schools equipping them with technological devices such as smartboards and tablets (Gina & Kubayi, 2016).

Weigand & Bichler (2010) highlight the fact that only providing ICT resources to schools is not sufficient for successful ICT integration. Adequate teacher training is necessary to develop teachers and encourages a ‘buy-in’ from teachers to integrate technology into classroom practice (Drijvers, Doorman, Boon, Reed, & Gravemeijer, 2010) and thus the CPTD programs need to be looked at.

Continuous professional development (CPD) “refers to any activities aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of teachers by means of orientation, training and support” (Coetzer, 2001, p. 78). “Well-structured CPD can lead to successful changes in teachers’ practice, school improvement and improvements in pupils’ achievement” (Bolam and Weindling 2006, p. 113). Since education is everchanging, CPD “is essential for upgrading and updating teachers because the rate of social and educational change makes pre-service training an inadequate basis for long term professional competence” (Luneta, 2012, p. 360). (“(PDF) The critical role of continuous professional development for …”) “Effective PD experiences are designed to help teachers build new understandings of teaching and learning through direct experiences with strategies that help students learn in new ways” (Lee, 2001, p. 2). “Teaching nowadays requires every educator to equip themselves with up to date teaching strategies, teaching competencies, incorporate contemporary teaching strategies, and become apprised of advancements in subject knowledge” (Ibrahim, Norman, Nordin & Mazin, 2020, p. 1). Therefore, Ibrahim, Norman, Nordin & Mazin (2020) posit that “it is necessary to design extensive CPD programs, which include the use of successful strategies to reach the ultimate goal of CPD”. According to Al-Madani & Allaafiajiy (2014) for ICT to be successfully integrated into the teaching and learning process, it requires teachers’ skills, knowledge, and confidence in ICT to be developed.

There have been various CPD programmes to upskill teachers in ICT globally. The Vital program established in England is a CPD programme aimed at helping teachers use ICT to enrich their lessons and find new ways to engage learners (Bradshaw, Twining & Walsh, 2012). There has also been CPD programmes focusing on pre-service teachers at higher education institutions. The Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) program, which centers around pre-service teachers was aimed at revitalizing teacher preparation to enhance teaching and learning with ICT at several Australian teacher education institutions (TEI) (Albion, Tondeur, Forkosh-Baruch & Peeraer, 2015). When it comes to CPD focusing on ICT integration in mathematics, countries like Latvia created a program for mathematics and science teachers. Between 2006 and 2011 mathematics and science teachers attended CPD training programs on ICT integration in the classroom.

On the African continent, CPD programs such as the World Links programme in Ghana and Uganda, and the Connectivity for Educator Development programme in Uganda are examples of successful professional development programmes (Hennessy, Harrison & Wamakote, 2010). These programmes focus more on “helping teachers to use technology as a tool, and to transform their classrooms into interactive learning environment” (Hennessy, Harrison & Wamakote, 2010, p. 46). Locally, in South Africa, the Information Communication and Technology for Rural Education Development (ICT4RED) programme was created as part of the “Technology for Rural Education Development (TECH4RED) research programme, which aims to contribute to the improvement of rural education via technology-led innovation” (Botha & Herselman, 2015, p.1). The programme, which was carried out in the Eastern Cape involved distributing tablets to twenty-six rural schools (Botha & Herselman, 2015). The professional development component of this programme aimed at meeting teachers at their level of ICT knowledge and scaffolding those teachers’ skills and understanding of ICT integration to reflect 21^st century teaching and learning (Botha & Herselman, 2015).

In the Western Cape, the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI) provides various ICT courses and professional development programmes to upskill teachers on ICT integrated teaching and learning (WCED, 2021). The main aim of the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI), which falls under the WCED directorate, is to enhance the professional development of teachers to enable them to manage and implement the curriculum (Mettler, 2016). As stated in the Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT, CPTD “programmes should be subject-specific and relevant to the learning areas” (Hindle, 2007, p. 4). Therefore, CTLI offers various ICT integration courses that are phase and/or subject specific such as the ICT Integration course for the Foundation Phase and an ICT Integration course for High School Language teachers, as well as courses for school managers such as an ICT course for principals (WCED, 2021).

Since the rise of technology in education, it has become a vital tool in Mathematics education today (Niess, 2006). According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) (2000) the use of technology in education can aid mathematical understanding, reasoning, problem solving and mathematical proofs (NRC, 2000). “ICT improves the way mathematics should be taught and enhances student understanding of basic concepts” (Keong, Horani & Daniel, 2005) and is essential for Mathematics teaching and learning (Ittigson & Zewe, 2003). Becta (2003) stated key benefits to using ICT in Mathematics teaching and learning (Keong, Horani & Daniel (2005). One of the benefits stated by Becta (2003) was that the use of technology in Mathematics “supports constructivist pedagogy, wherein students use technology to explore and reach an understanding of mathematical concepts” (Becta, 2003 as cited in Keong, Horani & Daniel, 2005, p. 43). Therefore, it develops problem solving and higher order thinking skills in mathematical acquisition (Becta, 2003). Clarke (2006) opined that ICT is in line with numeracy and literacy as a skill that every person needs to be confidently possess in a modern society (Clarke, 2006).

Theoretical Framework

The TPACK and SAMR frameworks

Both the TPACK and SAMR frameworks are concerned with the integration of technology into the classroom (Kihoza, Zlotnikova, Bada, & Kalegele, 2016). The TPACK framework looks at the role of technology in teaching (Swallow & Olofson, 2017) and how teachers knowledge of integrating technology is used to create an effective classroom (Mishra & Koehler, 2008). This framework has three core knowledge components, technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK). The diagram in figure 1 shows how these components intersect to form the bodies of knowledge: technological content knowledge (TCK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).

The SAMR model looks at how teachers can integrate technology into their classrooms through four levels, Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition (Hilton, 2016). “The SAMR model stands on the theory that classroom technology integration is fabricated on the transformation or enhancement of traditional pedagogies to the use of new efficient technologies, either through the substitution, augmentation, modification or redefinition of educational tasks” (Kihoza, Zlotnikova, Bada, & Kalegele, 2016, p.111).

Figure 1: TPACK and SAMR frameworks correlation

[Taken from (Kihoza, Zlotnikova, Bada, & Kalegele, 2016)]

Figure 1 above shows the correlation between the two frameworks. Kihoza, Zlotnikova, Bada, & Kalegele (2016) describe how these frameworks are linked, the Technological Pedagogical Knowledge and Modification (TPK-M), Technological Knowledge and Augmentation (TK-A), Technological Content Knowledge and Modification (TCK-M), Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Modification (PCK-M), Content Knowledge and Augmentation (CK-A), Pedagogical Knowledge and Augmentation (PK-A) and Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge and Redefinition (TPACK-R) (Kihoza, Zlotnikova, Bada, & Kalegele, 2016, p.113). According to Drugova, Zhuravleva, Aiusheeva, & Grits (2021) combining these two frameworks can reinforce one another and “provide valuable insight into where challenges emerge and opportunities exist when choosing technologies for student learning. “TPACK helps to contextualise the teacher knowledge required for technology integration.” (“Toward a model of learning innovation integration: TPACK … – Springer”) SAMR assists in analysing the specific levels used for enhancement and transformation and presents an opportunity to examine the integration from both the teachers’ and students’ perspectives” (Drugova, Zhuravleva, Aiusheeva, & Grits, 2021, p.4928).

Method

The research was conducted in the Metropole South Education District of the Western Cape Education Department in South Africa, specifically situated in Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town. This area includes 148 public primary schools (excluding special needs schools) with a total of 123,649 learners and 6,346 teachers (Western Cape Education Department, 2022).

For this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, making it a mixed-method research study. Mixed method research integrates techniques from qualitative and quantitative methods to address research questions (Byrne & Humble, 2007, p. 1). Despite being a mixed method study, it is important to note that the research is primarily qualitative and utilizes quantitative tools for data triangulation to better address the research questions.

The research focused on Foundation Phase teachers in the Western Cape province, South Africa. Teachers were selected to participate in the study and were asked to complete an online questionnaire. Additionally, four Foundation Phase classrooms were observed, and the teachers in those classrooms were later interviewed.

The qualitative data collection tools used in this study were classroom observations and interviews. The researcher observed the participants in their natural environment, providing insights into their behavior in a naturalistic setting (Cowie, 2009, p. 166). The observations were specifically aimed at understanding the learning of mathematics through ICT integration, as one mathematics lesson of each of the four teachers was observed with ICT integration as a compulsory focus.

Following the classroom observations, semi-structured interviews were conducted to reflect on the observed lessons. The interviews primarily focused on the teachers’ experiences with ICT training, particularly in terms of CPD (Continuous Professional Development) programs they attended, how useful they found the training, whether they applied it in their mathematics classrooms, and whether it enhanced their pedagogy.

In terms of the convenient sample employed to collect quantitative data was a web-based Google Form questionnaire that was used and employed as a survey. Participants could access the Google Form using their internet browser. Since the survey was online, the researcher could receive the teacher’s responses as soon as they submit the forms. The survey questionnaire was sent to 31 Foundation Phase teachers and 25 respondents completed the survey as they completed the training in ICT integration. Table 1 below show the breakdown of the qualitative sample of the 4 teachers used for this study.

Qualitative sample:

Table 1: Teachers grades they currently teach and years’ experience

Three of the teachers taught grade 3 and one of the teachers was teaching grade 1. Two of the grade 3 teachers had more than 30 years teaching experience in the Foundation Phase and the other two 10 years and less. Table 2 below shows a breakdown of the percentage of teachers per grade that took part in the survey.

Quantitative sample:

Figure 2: Grades teachers currently teach

Table 3 below shows the years of experience of the teacher who completed the online survey.

Figure 3: Teachers years’ experience

FINDINGS

Introduction

Through the inductive data analysis, several salient themes emerged Caulfield, (2022), shedding light on essential aspects of the research topic. These themes included [list the specific themes identified in the study]. Each theme played a crucial role in providing valuable insights into the research domain, offering a comprehensive perspective that enriched the overall understanding of the phenomenon under investigation.

It seemed like you had provided an overview of two main themes related to ICT integration in the mathematics classroom and teacher perceptions towards ICT. These themes emerged from data collected on teacher practices, beliefs, and experiences with ICT integration and CPD programs. We further explored each theme and the sub-themes that emerged:

Theme 1: Barriers to ICT Integration

This theme focused on the challenges and obstacles that teachers faced when attempting to integrate ICT into the Foundation Phase mathematics classroom. The sub-themes that emerged from this theme included:

Frequency of ICT Training: This sub-theme examined how often teachers received training on using ICT tools and technologies in their teaching practice.

Frequency of ICT Integration: This sub-theme explored how often teachers incorporated ICT into their mathematics teaching in the classroom.

Reasons for Not Integrating ICT: Here, teachers provided their reasons for not incorporating ICT into their daily classroom practice. These reasons could include a lack of training, limited resources, time constraints, or perceived inefficacy of ICT tools.

Theme 2: Teacher Perception Towards ICT

This theme delved into teachers’ perceptions and beliefs related to ICT integration in the mathematics classroom. The sub-themes that emerged were:

Teachers’ Epistemic Stance: This sub-theme looked at teachers’ confidence and outlook towards using ICT in the mathematics classroom. It explored their comfort level with technology, attitudes towards innovation, and reasons behind their perceptions.

Teachers’ Epistemological Beliefs and Efficacy Towards CPD Programs: Here, teachers shared their feelings and thoughts regarding the CPD programs they attended to enhance their ICT integration skills. They expressed their opinions on the effectiveness of these programs and how it impacted their teaching practices.

Theme 3: Implications for Teaching and Learning:

The implications for teaching and learning were explored in the study, analyzing the impact of CPD programs attended by teachers on various aspects of education. The following sub-themes were examined to address the research questions:

1. Curriculum Delivery: The study investigated how the training influenced teachers’ ability to deliver the CAPS curriculum effectively.
2. Effects of ICT Integration on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and Pedagogical Knowledge (PK): The impact of integrating technology into teaching and learning on teachers’ PCK and PK was examined.
3. Conceptual Practice and Mathematical Understanding: Classroom observations provided insights into how teachers used ICTs to enhance students’ understanding of mathematical concepts.
4. Resources in Teaching and Learning: This theme explored the resources utilized by participants for mathematics teaching and learning, encompassing both ICT tools and concrete materials.
5. ICT Tools and Applications: Various ICT tools, applications, and programs used by the sample teachers in their mathematics lessons were identified.
6. Combining Concrete and Abstract Resources in Teaching and Learning: Many teachers utilized both concrete resources and technological tools, with some considering ICTs as a supplementary enrichment rather than a primary resource.
7. Benefits and Effectiveness of ICT: The study revealed that teachers shared positive sentiments about the effectiveness of ICTs in saving time, reusing materials, and improving overall teaching practices.
8. Assessment: One teacher highlighted the role of ICTs in facilitating assessments, particularly in preparing students for systemic tests using online applications.

In summary, the research explored how CPD programs impacted teaching and learning, focusing on curriculum delivery, the effects of ICT integration on knowledge domains, conceptual practice, resources used, and the benefits of ICT implementation. The findings provided valuable insights into the value of ICTs in enhancing mathematics education and teachers’ practices.

What is presented below is a summary of the findings.

Barriers to ICT integration

Figure 1: How often teachers integrate ICT into their mathematics lessons.

Figure 2: How often teachers are trained on ICT integration.

One of the central themes which emerged from both the qualitative and quantitative data was the hesitance of some teachers to use ICT’s in the classroom. The figure above (figure 6) illustrates the number of teachers who make use of ICT in their lessons very often, often, sometimes, and never. 17% of teachers indicated that they did not make use of ICT’s in their mathematics lessons. 83% of the teachers indicated that they make use of ICT’s in the mathematics classroom, however, majority of those teachers stated that they do not use the methods taught in their professional development programmes in their lessons but rather other methods they were taught. Figure 7 shows us how often teachers are trained on ICT integration in mathematics. Many teachers (88%) indicated that they are trained sometimes. Considering that the other categories were very often and often, the sometimes tells us that they were not trained often.

When asked whether the teachers use the applications and programmes taught in their practice, all interviewed teachers stated that they make use of these applications and programmes however, Teacher B stated that it is not always appropriate, so she does not make use of these applications and programmes daily like the others.

One of the other barriers that came up in the teacher interviews was the financial barrier. Lack of resources was a reason teachers indicated to not using ICT’s in their classrooms, but a common trend came up amongst teachers who make use of ICT’s, the lack of access to free “sites” or free online resources. Teacher C stated she would like to know of more online mathematics tools to use but it is “a bit of struggle” to find free apps. The teachers shared that their schools do not pay for membership or subscriptions to any sites and therefore they have resorted to looking for free websites to use.

Teachers perceptions towards ICT

Teachers epistemic stance towards integrating ICT into their practice

Figure 3: How confident teachers integrating ICT in mathematics teaching and learning

Lack of confidence was listed as one of the contributing factors towards teachers not integrating ICT into mathematics teaching and learning. The figure above (Figure 8) shows teachers confidence towards integrating technology into their mathematics teaching and learning. Majority of the teachers indicated that they are either very confident or somewhat confident with only 8% indicating that they are not confident. Teachers A and C both shared the same sentiments about the CPD programmes making them more confident in using ICT in mathematics lessons. In the questionnaire teachers were asked to rate their level of confidence towards various ICT tools. The results are illustrated below:

Figure 5: How confident teachers are using the tablet for mathematics lessons.

Figure 4: How confident teachers are using cellphones in the mathematics lessons.

Figure 7: How confident teachers are using a Smartboard in the mathematics lessons.

Figure 6: How confident teachers are using IWB for mathematics lessons.

Figure 8: Teacher’s confidence towards using computers or laptops for mathematics lessons

From the figures above (figure 9 – 13) we see that the teachers are not “very confident” in using the various ICT tools.  For most tools, majority of the teachers indicated that they are between very confident and somewhat confident.

Teachers epistemological beliefs and efficacy towards the CPD programmes   they attended

The teachers felt that the ICT training was “helpful” and “informative”. Teacher B offered a difference perspective, she expressed that their “philosophy” is that they as a school or grade will look at what they were taught in the CPD programmes and decide whether they will use it or not, “we won’t use something just because it’s new, we will look and see does it make it better” and if it is going to add to what they are already doing.

The figure below (figure 14) shows the percentage of teachers who attended an ICT integration course at the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI). Of those teachers who attended the CT

Figure 14: Teachers who have attended an ICT integration course through CTLI.

Figure 15: Teachers indicated whether the ICT integration courses offered at CTLI were useful.

LI course/s only two teachers (illustrated in figure 15) indicated that they did not find the training course/s useful in helping them integrate ICT into their teaching.

Implications for teaching and learning

Curriculum delivery

Figure 9: Teachers views on the CPD programmes assisting them with curriculum delivery.

The figure above (figure 16) shows teachers views on whether the CPD training they received assisted them in the delivery of the mathematics curriculum. 76% of the teachers who participated in the study indicated that  the training they received positively impacted on their ability to deliver the curriculum content in mathematics.

Table 2: How CPD programmes assisted in mathematics curriculum delivery

Table 4 above and table 5 below shows the teachers experiences of how the CPD programmes they attended assisted in mathematics curriculum delivery. All the interviewed teachers (table 4) mentioned the benefits that their training had on their curriculum. That it “enhanced” their understanding of mathematics and made delivery of the CAPS curriculum easier with special mention to the MCO (Maths Curriculum Online) programme. Teacher B stated that it was added to the curriculum and open more options for the teachers. Teacher D mentioned that it helped her teacher in a more “holistic way” and that she has moved away from the traditional chalkboard to a fully digital and ‘smart’ teaching and learning approach. Teachers felt that these programmes exposed them to different ways of teaching mathematics and broadened their “knowledge of number sense”. It helped learners understand complex concepts better using visuals.

Table 3:Results from survey data on how CPD assisted teachers with curriculum delivery

Teacher confidence was also mentioned as teachers spoke about their confidence and comfortability when delivering the mathematics curriculum due to their training. A common trend that was discovered in the survey data was that teachers found their training allow them to deliver the mathematics curriculum and in more “interesting” and “entertaining” way and that it assisted them in creating more “diverse lessons plans”.

The effects of ICT integration on Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

Figure 10: Mathematics content areas that were covered in the CPD programmes

In figure 17 we can see that teachers were trained on a variety of content areas. 48% of the participant teachers covered Numbers, Operations and Relationships while 24% stated that their training covered mathematics in general. 16% covered Space and Shape and 8% covered Patterns, Functions and Algebra. There were no teachers who attended a CPD programme on how to integrate ICT into Data Handling.

Table 4: How skills acquired assisted teaching and learning

Conceptual and mathematical understanding

As illustrated in the tables below (Tables 7 – 10), the teacher’s successful integration of ICT into teaching and learning and learners conceptual and mathematical understanding improved learners’ mathematical achievement using the ICT tools and applications. However, in the case of Teacher B, learners conceptual understanding improved due to the use of concrete resources like her whiteboard and their pages they worked with on the mat. The teachers philosophy (as mentioned earlier) was based on using what is needed for the lesson and she felt the use of concrete examples and resources were better suited to teach that specific concept. Teacher A and Teacher D also made use of concrete resources, Teacher A used flash cards and Teacher D the mini whiteboards, to scaffold. Overall learners’ understanding of the concepts taught did improve but it was not entirely using ICT.

Table 5: Observations for Teacher A

Table 6: Observations for Teacher B

Table 7: Observations for Teacher C

Table 8: Observations for Teacher D

Resources in teaching and learning

Through the CPD programs teachers are trained to use various ICT devices for mathematics teaching and learning. Through the data we see that, not only make use of various tools and applications that they were trained on, but they also combine ICT with the concrete examples in their teaching and learning

ICT tools and applications

Figure 18 shows the devices teachers have been trained to use. 54% have been trained to use the boards like the Smartboard (22%) and the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) (32%). These devices cannot be used alone and therefore teachers need to be trained to use a laptop, PC or even a cellphone or tablet to project the content. 21% of teachers are trained to use the laptop or PC, 18% for the cellphone and 5% are trained on the use of a tablet for teaching and learning. This tells us that although teachers are being trained to use the boards (Smartboard and IWB), they are not being trained to use the devices that need to connect to the boards. Without knowing how to use the laptop, PC, cellphone, or tablet, they might not be able to connect successfully to the boards and effectively make use of the boards. Figure 16 further shows us that although 54% are trained to use the boards (Smartboard or IWB), only 36% of teachers make use of the boards in their classrooms. The main ICT tools used by this sample set of teachers is laptops or PCs (37%).

Figure 19 below depicts the number of teachers trained to use various devices, 26% of teachers are trained in using YouTube for integration however, figure 21 shows us that 46% of teachers use YouTube in their mathematics lessons, which tells us that although teachers are not trained for this application, they still make use of it for teaching and learning. When asked the question’ “What ICT programs have you been trained to use in mathematics lessons”, 19% indicated that they use other programs other than the ones listed by the researcher, these include Twinkl.com, Education.com, WhatsApp, Khanya Lab, Microsoft, Blue Book, MCO, Google Tech Facebook Group, Bitmoji Craze for Educators, Virtual Library.

Figure 18: ICT devices teachers have been trained on

Figure 11: ICT apps and programmes teachers have been trained to use.

Figure 12: Devices teachers make use of for mathematics teaching and learning.

Figure 13: Apps and programmes teachers make use of for mathematics teaching and learning.

Combining the concrete and the abstract for effective teaching and learning

One of the trends found in the data collection was the use of concrete resources in conjunction with the use of technology in the Foundation Phase classroom. During the classroom observation it was observed that Teacher A, B and C made use of concrete resources to enhance conceptual understanding. Teacher A made use of flash cards, mini whiteboards, and counters (table 7), Teacher B used a mini whiteboards and learners writing pages on the mat (table 8) and Teacher C made use of mini whiteboards and her big whiteboard.  Teacher A and C used these concrete resources as a means of scaffolding and to better learners understanding. The resources were used integrated with the ICT tools to better teaching and learning. However, Teacher B use the concrete resources throughout the lesson and the ICT tool was merely used as a board to project the consolidation sums.  There was not much integration of the concrete and technological resources.  During a discuss and follow-up semi-interview with Teacher B, she shared that her philosophy is to teach Foundation Phase learners using concrete examples and that children really enjoy the concrete examples as technology is a “novelty” to them.

Benefits and effectiveness of ICT

The teachers who were interviewed and observed all echoed similar sentiments about the effectiveness of ICT integration on their time. Teachers mentioned the fact that they reuse the slides and data for the next year or for revision which ultimately saves time and resources making teaching and learning more effective and meaningful. Teacher A and D shared that they download all their concept at home and then they are ready to teach during class time. Teacher C stated that she creates her own videos, learners can then watch it when she is not there, or they were absent. Teacher B shared that as a grade they have a shared room using Google Drive where they store all their concept and use when needed. “The nice thing with having the Smartboard and having the Google Drive and everything is that once you have got something you can keep it like now for instance, we developed a shared per room where we got lots of it like little game sites that we found.

Assessment

Teacher C, a grade 3 teacher mentioned in her interview that one of the benefits of ICT is for assessment, specifically the Grade three systemic tests.  Teacher C stated that the Maths Curriculum Online (MCO) helped prepare the teachers for the Grade 3 systemic tests as “it’s quite similar in the way they word the questions”.

Summary

In this chapter we looked at the data that was gathered through for the observations, interviews, and questionnaire responses.  As discussed in chapter 4, the data was analyzed and categorized into various themes and sub-themes according to certain codes that were created from the patterns that emerged in the data. The themes that emerged were as follows, barriers to ICT integration, teacher perceptions towards ICT,  implications for teaching and learning, resources for teaching and learning, benefits and effectiveness of ICT and assessments. Some of these themes had sub-themes which were analyzed in this chapter as well. This chapter illustrates these findings into graphs and tables and the findings will be discussed in the next chapter.

DISCUSSION

The themes that will be discussed in this chapter are the barriers to integrating ICT into mathematics teaching and learning, teachers’ perceptions towards ICT will be looked at specifically teacher confidence in using ICT and how teachers feel about the CPD programmes they attended. The implication of ICT on teaching and learning; one of the biggest themes; will be discussed in sub-themes namely, curriculum delivery, the effects of ICT integration on teaching and learning and conceptual and mathematical understanding. Within the theme of implication of ICT on teaching and learning, the resources in teaching and learning will be looked at in two parts namely, ICT tools and application as well as combining the concrete and the abstract for effective teaching and learning. Another theme that will be discussed is the benefits and effectiveness of ICT and the last theme that will be discussed is Assessment.

Barriers to integration

From the data analysis we see that 83% of teachers indicated that they make use of ICT in the classroom, the other 17% of the sample teachers indicated that they do not make use of ICT in the classroom (Figure 6). Lack of resources was the main reasons for teachers indicating that they never use ICT in their mathematics lessons. Not enough training and lack of confidence were stated by some of the teachers. One of the teachers specifically stated that there was “no training received for mathematics use”, another stated that there was simply not enough time for technology integration in the mathematics lessons. As we can see from the above, the barriers to ICT integration does not only stem from lack of training. The sample teachers had some sort of ICT training in their careers but still do not make use of technology in their classrooms due to lack of access to technological resources, lack of confidence, insufficient time and no further training is provided after an initial training.

Of the 83% of teachers (figure 6) who indicated that they do make use of ICT in the mathematics classroom, majority of those teachers stated that they do not use the methods taught in their professional development programmes in their lessons but rather other methods they were taught. This tells us that the methodologies taught in the CPD programmes are perhaps not realistic and programmed to suit the teachers way of teaching. This calls for a need to alter the current programmes to what is happening in the classroom and offer methods that teachers will find useful in the classroom.

Figure 7 shows us how often teachers are trained on ICT integration in mathematics. Most teachers (88%) indicated that they are trained sometimes. The other categories were very often and often, the sometimes tells us that they were not trained often. Considering that technology is everchanging,  it is vital for teacher to be trained often. For continuous professional development to be continuous, it needs to be ongoing.

When asked whether the teachers use the applications and programmes taught in their practice, all interviewed teachers stated that they make use of these applications and programmes however, Teacher B stated that it is not always appropriate, so she does not make use of these applications and programmes daily like the others. The reasons for Teacher B’s reluctance was because she feels Foundation Phase learners learn best using concrete materials and she merely uses ICT as an additional tool mostly for homework and enrichment activities. This can be seen as a barrier to ICT integration as it speaks to the hesitance of teachers to shift from traditional methods of teaching. This is commonly found amongst more experienced teachers as is the case with Teacher B who has been teaching for thirty-seven years.

One of the other barriers that came up in the teacher interviews was the financial barrier. As mentioned previously, lack of resources was a reason teachers indicated for not using ICT in their classrooms, but a common trend came up amongst teachers who make use of ICT, the lack of access to free “sites” or free online resources. Teacher C stated she would like to know of more online mathematics tools to use because it is “a bit of struggle” to find free apps. The teachers shared that their schools do not pay for membership or subscriptions to any sites and therefore they have resorted to looking for free websites to use. There are several stakeholders that can be held accountable for this, firstly, the school and the departments of education both local and national should give teachers access to free sites and apps to use. For language the Foundation Phase teachers have the Jolly Phonics app which is free to download and use. There needs to be more free websites and applications for Foundation Phase mathematics. Something else that the above statement made by Teacher C tells us is that there is a need for the CPD programmes to include showing teachers free websites and applications to use for Foundation Phase mathematics. In the data collection teachers listed Twinkl.com, YouTube and Khan Academy as some of the online applications they make use of but they are limited to using those as it is free.

Teacher perceptions towards ICT

The next theme that emerged from the data was the perceptions of teachers. This theme discusses all aspects of the teachers feelings towards ICT that can impact on the success of ICT integration in the mathematics classroom. The first sub-theme that emerged was teacher confidence and the second was the teachers’ feelings about the CPD programmes they attended.

Teachers epistemic stance towards integrating ICT into their practice

Lack of confidence was listed as one of the contributing factors towards teachers not integrating ICT into Foundation Phase mathematics teaching and learning. From the data (figure 8) we see that 92% of the teachers indicated that they are either very confident or somewhat confident with only 8% indicating that they are not confident, this is a good indicator as it shows that although it is a barrier for some, it is perhaps not the biggest barrier to the lack of successful ICT integration. Teachers A and C both shared the same sentiments about the CPD programmes making them more confident in using ICT in mathematics lessons. In the quantitative data, teachers were asked to rate their level of confidence towards various ICT tools in the mathematics. The ICT tools were tablets, cellphones, Smartboards, interactive whiteboards, and computers and/or laptops. For most of the tools (tablets, cellphones, Smartboards, and interactive whiteboards) most of the teachers indicated that they were between somewhat confident and very confident. For the use of computers and/or laptops, 68% indicated that they were very confident. From this data we see that teachers are more confident using computers and/or laptop for mathematics lessons. However, it is a narrow margin compared to the other tools. Overall, teacher confidence is between somewhat and very confident and teachers could benefit from additional training on a variety of ICT tools to enable them to be “very confident” in using them for mathematics lessons. This is in line with what was found by Jones (2004), that there is a link between teacher competence and teacher confidence.

Teachers epistemological beliefs and efficacy towards the CPD programmes they attended

The teachers felt the ICT training was “helpful” and “informative”. Teacher B offered a different perspective, she expressed that their “philosophy” is that they as a school or grade will look at what they were taught in the CPD programmes and decide whether they will use it or not, “we won’t use something just because it’s new, we will look and see does it make it better” and if it is going to add to what they are already doing. This perspective of Teacher B and by extension her school; tells us that teachers are selective with the skills they are taught in the CPD programmes and as mentioned earlier, the CPD programmes need to then be altered to suit the teacher and learner needs so that teachers do not feel the skills taught is not useful and choose not to make use of it. If teachers do not use what is taught, training is pointless.

Figure 14 shows that 84% of teachers attended an ICT integration course at the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI). This is a good indicator as it shows that many teachers are making use of the training programmes offered by the WCED. Of those teachers who attended the CTLI course/s only two teachers (illustrated in figure 15) indicated that they did not find the training course/s useful in helping them integrate ICT into their teaching. Although this is merely 10% of the sample, it shows that teachers do not feel the programmes offered by this departmental training institute is not sufficient.

Implications for teaching and learning

This theme looks at the implications the CPD programmes teachers attended had on mathematics teaching and learning. The sub-themes that emerged from the data were curriculum delivery, the effects of ICT integration on teaching and learning, conceptual and mathematical understanding, and the resources in teaching and learning both the concrete and the technological resources.

Curriculum delivery

From the data (figure 16) we see that 76% of teachers had something positive to say about the impact the CPD training had on their ability to deliver the mathematics curriculum. From the data in table 4 we see that the CPD programmes “enhanced” their understanding of mathematics and made delivery of the CAPS curriculum easier with special mention to the MCO (Maths Curriculum Online) programme. Teacher B stated that it added to the curriculum and opened more options for the teachers. Teacher D mentioned that it helped her teach in a more “holistic way” and that she has moved away from the traditional chalkboard to a fully digital and ‘smart’ teaching and learning approach. This contrasts with teacher B who still prefers the more traditional methods even after seeing the benefits of ICT on curriculum delivery.

Teachers felt that these programmes exposed them to different ways of teaching mathematics and broadened their “knowledge of number sense”. It helped learners understand complex concepts better using visuals. Teacher confidence was also mentioned as teachers spoke about their confidence and comfortability when delivering the mathematics curriculum due to their training. A common trend that was discovered in the survey data was that teachers found the training allowed them to deliver the mathematics curriculum and in more “interesting” and “entertaining” way and that it assisted them in creating more “diverse lessons plans”. Overall, the sample teachers felt the CPD programmes positively impacted on their curriculum delivery.

The effects of ICT integration on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)

In the Foundation Phase there are five content areas namely, Numbers, Operations and Relationships, Patterns, Functions and Algebra, Space and Shape, Measurement and Data Handling (DBE, 2011).  When asked what content areas the CPD programmes covered (figure 17) 24% of the sample stated that their training covered mathematics in general meaning the training did not have a specific content area but rather spoke to mathematics in general. 48% covered Numbers, Operations and Relationships while 16% covered Space and Shape and 8% covered Patterns, Functions and Algebra. There were no teachers who attended a CPD programme on how to integrate ICT into Data Handling. From these statistics we see that there is a need to train teachers on integrating technology into the five content areas. Teachers need to be shown methods and applications to integrate ICT into all five specific areas.

How did CPD assist teaching?

From the data in table 6 we see that teachers had a positive view on how the CPD programmes attended assist their teaching. Teacher A spoke of mentorship as she is the Foundation Phase Head of Department (HOD), the training allowed her to mentor her colleagues. Teachers B and C referred to the resources that can be used in their teaching and how effective it is and the positive impact it has on learners. Teacher D mentioned the benefit of technology during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the training allowed her to send videos of herself teaching to parents to ensure teaching and learning even when learners had to attended school every school day.

How did CPD assist learning?

All the interviewed teachers shared the same sentiments when it comes to technology bringing excitement to the classroom. Teacher C stated she found it motivates learners when ICT’s are integrated into the mathematics lessons. Teacher A and D referred to how “meaningful” ICT can be, to assist learners in learning and how it helps bring across concepts in a better manner. Teacher B also shared how learners like technology however, she maintains that concrete objects are ideal and in her view for 21^st century learners, technology is a “novelty” which they get bored of, so they much rather enjoy the concrete objects and examples.

Overall, we see from the data that the CPD programmes have indeed assisted in teaching and learning and that teachers feel the CPD programme benefitted them in the teaching of mathematics. There is however a gap in the CPD programmes, it does not cater specifically to each content area.

Conceptual and mathematical understanding

Through classroom observations the researcher was able to get a glimpse of whether the teachers could better learners conceptual and mathematical understanding using ICT integration. In tables 7 – 10 we see that the teachers could successfully integrate ICT into teaching and learning and learners conceptual and mathematical understanding improved using the ICT tools and applications. However, in the case of Teacher B, learners conceptual understanding improved due to the use of concrete resources like her whiteboard and their pages they worked with on the mat. The teachers philosophy (as mentioned earlier) was based on using what is needed for the lesson and she felt the use of concrete examples and resources were better suited to teach that specific concept of division with triple digits. Teacher A and Teacher D also made use of concrete resources, Teacher A used flash cards and Teacher C the mini whiteboards Unlike Teacher B, the concrete resources used by teachers A and C were used in addition to ICT tools and were only used at the end of the lesson as a method of scaffolding for those who did not understand the concept. Through the observations, this researcher noticed that learners conceptual and mathematical understanding had improved but it was not entirely using ICT. Teachers A, B and C are all Grade three teachers. Teacher D; a grade one teacher; was the only teacher observed who strictly used ICT in the lesson. She noted that she uses ICT in all her lessons, even handwriting.

Resources in teaching and learning

This theme looks at the various technological resources that teachers have been trained to use and are making use of in the Foundation Phase mathematics classroom. One of the sub-themes that rose from the data was the use of concrete resources and it can be used in conjunction with the abstract or technological resources for effective teaching and learning. These will be discussed below.

ICT tools and applications

Teachers were asked what devices and applications or programmes they have been trained to use in the mathematics classroom. 54% have been trained to use the boards like the Smartboard (22%) and the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) (32%). These devices cannot be used alone and therefore teachers need to be trained to use a laptop, computer (PC) or even a cellphone or tablet to project the content. 21% of teachers are trained to use the laptop or PC, 18% for the cellphone and 5% are trained on the use of a tablet for teaching and learning. This tells us that although teachers are being trained to use the boards (Smartboard and IWB), they are not being trained to use the devices that need to connect to the boards. Without knowing how to use the laptop, PC, cellphone, or tablet, they might not be able to connect successfully to the boards and effectively make use of the boards for teaching and learning. Figure 18 further shows us that although 54% are trained to use the boards (Smartboard or IWB), only 36% of teachers make use of the boards in their classrooms. This tells us that although teachers are trained to use the equipment, not all of them are able to put those skills into practice. According to the data, the main ICT tools used by this sample set of teachers are laptops or PCs (37%). Although laptops and PC’s are valuable resources to use in the classroom, using them to show learners concepts proves to be quite difficult as the screens might not big enough for all to see and thus a Smartboard or IWB would be ideal to use with the laptop or PC to project the work to the learners.

Looking at ICT applications and programmes, the data tells us that 26% of teachers are trained in using YouTube for integration (figure 19) however, figure 21 shows us that 46% of teachers use YouTube in their mathematics lessons, which tells us that although teachers are not trained for this application, they still make use of it for teaching and learning. When asked the question’ “What ICT programmes have you been trained to use in mathematics lessons”, 19% indicated that they use other programmes other than the ones listed by the researcher, these include Twinkl.com, Education.com, WhatsApp, Khanya Lab, Microsoft, Blue Book, MCO, Google Tech Facebook Group, Bitmoji Craze for Educators, Virtual Library. We can see from this that teachers are making use of applications and programmes available to them that are free to use, all these programmes the teachers found themselves or heard about from peers they were not introduced to these applications and programmes through the CPD programmes. This reaffirms the need for CPD programmes to show teachers what free applications and programmes they can use.

Combining the concrete and the abstract for effective teaching and learning

One of the trends found in the data collection was the use of concrete resources in conjunction with the use of technology in the Foundation Phase classroom. During the classroom observation it was observed that Teacher A, B and C made use of concrete resources to enhance conceptual understanding. Teacher A made use of flash cards, mini whiteboards, and counters (table 7), Teacher B used mini whiteboards and learners writing pages on the mat (table 8) and Teacher C made use of mini whiteboards and her big whiteboard (Table 9).  Teacher A and C used these concrete resources as a means of scaffolding and to better learners understanding. The resources were used integrated with the ICT tools to better teaching and learning. Richards (2005) tells us that in a child’s formative years using both the concrete and the abstract can be effective for teaching and learning, this is also the view of the three teachers mentioned above.

As mentioned previously, Teacher B use the concrete resources throughout the lesson and the ICT tool was merely used as a board to project the consolidation sums and the homework.  There was not much integration of the concrete and technological resources. During a discuss and follow-up semi-structured interview with Teacher B, she shared that her philosophy is to teach Foundation Phase learners using concrete examples and that children really enjoy the concrete examples as technology is a “novelty” to them. This speaks to the hesitance of teachers to move from the traditional to the technological and modern. Teacher B stated that she only makes use of ICT where necessary and that she will not make use of ICT just because it is there but rather if it proves to add to learners learning. Research shows us that Teacher B is not the only one who has this outlook on ICT integration. Richards (2005) shows us that many researchers agree that the use of technology can be used if it is the most efficient and effective method and that there needs to be a link between the activities and the ICT tools used (Richards, 2005).

Benefits and effectiveness of ICT

There are many benefits already mentioned about ICT integration. One that is yet to be mentioned and that was echoed by all teachers was the effectiveness of ICT integration on their time. Teachers mentioned the fact that they reuse the slides and data for the next year or for revision which ultimately saves time and resources making teaching and learning more effective and meaningful. Teacher A and D shared that they download all their concept at home and then they are ready to teach during class time. Teacher C stated that she creates her own videos, learners can then watch it when she is not there, or they were absent, both Teacher C and D mentioned the benefit of these teaching videos during pandemic times. Teacher B shared that as a grade they have a shared room using Google Drive where they store all their concept and use when needed. “The nice thing with having the Smartboard and having the Google Drive and everything is that once you’ve got something you can keep it like now for instance, we developed a shared per room where we got lots of resources like little game sites that we found.”

Assessments

Teacher C, a grade 3 teacher mentioned in her interview that one of the benefits of ICT is for assessment, specifically the Grade three systemic tests.  Teacher C stated that the Maths Curriculum Online (MCO) helped prepare the teachers for the Grade 3 systemic tests as “it’s quite similar in the way they word the questions”. This shows us the value of ICT in preparing learners for assessments. One of the participant teachers mentioned that during the assessment time she makes use of the Smartboard to project the assessment script onto the board so she can go through the questions with learners, and they can all see the question she is referring to. This makes assessments more effective, and learners are able to better understand the questions.

This study analyzed the classroom observations and the responses of teachers to determine whether the CPD programmes attended by teachers assisted in the successful integration on ICT into mathematics teaching and learning in the Foundation Phase. The researcher makes the following recommendations.

The present study proposes enhancements to the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in mathematics education, particularly concerning the Foundation Phase. It advocates that Continuous Professional Development (CPD) developers should adopt a persistent approach to training, incorporating the utilization of free applications and concentrating on precise mathematics content domains. Additionally, it is recommended that education departments enforce compulsory ICT training, furnish educators with complimentary resources, and ensure the availability of requisite technological tools within schools. Moreover, schools are encouraged to cultivate a culture of professional development among teachers, promoting the successful implementation of ICT in the classroom. Consequently, teachers are urged to proactively acquire new skills and actively incorporate ICT tools into their pedagogical practices. Lastly, the study underscores the need for further research to evaluate the influence of CPD programs on student outcomes and to assess the adequacy of the program’s instructional content.

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