“It’s teaching Jim, but not as we know it”: An examination of the beliefs and
attitudes of teachers to the use of technology in Further & Vocational Education
from a teacher’s perspective.

Abstract

This study sought to understand the beliefs and attitudes of teachers in Further and Vocational
Education regarding the use and usefulness of technology in their teaching practice.
Policymakers and advocates view increased access to, but continued under-utilisation of
technology as indicative of how the sector is failing to meet the expectations and demands
from industry. This study examined the underlying perceptions of teachers and identified the
barriers and enablers that presented themselves to technology integration. I wanted to gain an
understanding in what ways and how often teachers were using technology in their teaching
practices. Additionally, teacher's perceptions about the potential contribution that technology
could make to their teaching practice would be explored. The study was completed in three
phases; the first was an online questionnaire distributed through the college intranet networks
and yielded 229 responses. The second phase was another online questionnaire; and this one
was distributed directly to teachers that had confirmed that they would be prepared to continue
with the study and was sent to 31 teacher’s work email addresses resulting in 21 completed
surveys. Eleven one-to-one interviews completed the third phase of the study. The interviews
used photo-elicitation to examine the beliefs of the teachers from the Further Education (FE)
colleges across a range of subject areas. Each phase of the research was designed to elicit
information relating to teacher’s perceptions of the utility and value of technology in their
teaching. The results presented in this thesis reflect many of the findings from previous
research from other education sectors, namely schools and universities; however other
perceptions reflected the uniqueness of the Further and Vocational Education sector and are
perhaps a reflection of the demographics of the sector. The main findings of the study were
that several barriers existed to the integration and use of technology, a perceived lack of time
along with lack of training and support in how to teach effectively using technology. Insufficient
provision and access to technology within colleges meant that there was a reliance on students
using personal devices to supplement lack of provision in the college, raising issues in low
socioeconomic areas. Additionally, there was a perception that technology integration had
been superseded in recent years by other CPD mandated for external audits and inspection.