KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS TOWARDS ICT INTEGRATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS IN THE SAGNARIGU MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Despite efforts such as the Ghana Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education Policy and teacher training programs, schools still face challenges in effectively using ICT to improve teaching and student performance. The present study examined the association between knowledge and attitudes of teachers on ICT and academic performance of students. Employing a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, the research analyzed data from 10 randomly selected schools, involving 309 teachers. Academic performance was assessed using 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results as a proxy of students’ academic performance. Data were collected through structured questionnaires. Multiple logistic regression was used to establish the association between the knowledge of teachers on ICT, their attitudes towards ICT and students' academic performance. Statistical significance was declared at p-value<0.05. The majority of the respondents, 164 (53.1%) reported having good knowledge of ICT. About 27% of students from schools whose teachers have good attitude towards ICT had good academic performance compared to 14% of those from schools whose teachers have poor attitude towards ICT. Likewise, 29.9% of students from schools whose teachers had good knowledge on ICT had good academic performance compared to 14.9% of those from schools whose teachers had poor knowledge in ICT. The above observed differences were all statistically significant (p<0.05). The results also revealed that students from schools whose teachers had higher levels of ICT knowledge (OR=5.20, CI=2.32-10.86, p<0.001) were 5.2 times more likely to have good academic performance compared to those from schools whose teachers had poor knowledge on ICT. In order to enhance academic performance, it is prudent that the Ministry of Education prioritizes enhancing ICT knowledge among teachers and improving ICT infrastructure in schools.