Investigation of the Relationship between Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Education and Support for ICT and ICT Competencies

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of education and support for ICT and ICT competencies, and to find out the relationship between these two variables. The research was conducted on 420 pre-service teachers studying in the faculty of education at a state university in Turkey in 2019. Within the scope of the research, a questionnaire was applied to obtain the perception of pre-service teachers about education and support for ICT, ICT competencies and a variety of demographic information. According to the data obtained from the study, it was observed that the perception of pre-service teachers about education and support for ICT was lower than the medium level. Although male pre-service teacher' perceptions of education and support for ICT were higher than female pre-service teachers, there was no significant difference between male and female pre-service teacher' ICT competencies. Even though the ICT competencies of pre-service teachers in the 3rd grade were higher than those in the 4th grade, it is seen that the perceptions of pre-service teachers about education and support for ICT do not differ in terms of grade level variable. It can be said that ICT competencies of pre-service teachers studying in Mathematics and Science Education programmes are higher than those studying in Pre-school Education programme. As a result of the correlation analysis carried out, it was found that there was a positive and moderate relationship between pre-service teacher’s perception of education and support for ICT and ICT competencies. It was concluded that the perceptions of education and support for ICT was a significant predictor of ICT competency and that the themes of education and support perceptions for ICT explained 30% of ICT competency.