Attitudes of Teachers Concerning the Use of Ict Equipment in Education

Although the personalities, attitudes of students and the material conditions of schools are continuously changing, several studies have proved that it is the quality of the teacher’s work that most affects student performance. In the past few decades we could observe the development and gaining ground of information and communication technologies (ICT), ?which process, of course, has an impact on the activity of teachers, as well. Studies (e.g. STEPS, Tót, 2001) have proved that the change and development of infrastructure in itself do not precipitate profound and significant changes in the practice of teaching and its results. The spread of technology in the environment is but for nothing, it is primarily the attitudes, willingness, and activity of teachers that cause changes. There are some that cannot imagine their lessons without the new technology, but there are others who totally reject the use of computers in schools. The new devices provide today’s teachers with several possibilities, but the realization of these is determined by countless factors. This study analyzes the attitudes of pedagogues in the Hungarian public education to ICT devices and their use in the lesson. We present some findings of our Nationwide ICT research carried out in early 2009, by way of an online questionnaire, during which 1146 primary or secondary school teachers from nearly 400 towns or villages answered our questions. The replies showed that the principles advocated by interviewees and their daily practice differ, while in several cases the replies were polarized according to sex or age. We also analyzed what advantages or disadvantages our interviewees pointed out in the use of computers in schools, and closely related to this, we also examined what changes the pedagogues deem necessary in order to make the use of ICT devices in the lesson more intensive.