Primary school teachers' views on use of IT in Hong Kong schools

In recent times the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been very active in promoting the use of information technology (IT) in schools. In light of the urgent need to mount extensive and comprehensive training programs for teachers, this paper will present some recent findings of teacher responses obtained from a staff development activity conducted for primary school teachers. Teacher use of IT, teacher perceptions related to issues of IT infrastructure and support, as well as leadership issues in schools will be discussed. The findings reveal how teachers currently view their capability to cope in light of government initiatives to encourage teachers to make effective use of IT. The three key elements of teachers’ perceptions were (1) lack of time to explore and experiment; (2) need for personalized/customized on-site training with on-going support; and (3) easy access to facilities. Despite the constraints teachers and principals were very supportive of government initiatives and were keen to be proactive in meeting this challenge. Copyright © 1999 Social Sciences Research Centre and authors of papers.