International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 17, No. 3 (2021)

Beyond Optimistic Rhetoric: Social and Cultural Capital as Focal Deterrents to ICT Integration in Schools

Reuben Dlamini, University of the Witwatersrand
Alton Dewa, University of the Witwatersrand

Abstract
The pedagogical integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the contemporary classroom is inevitable and ICT integration in schools is central to this work. This research is based on a larger study whose purpose was to investigate the status of ICT in South African schools and to understand how ICT tools are being used in the classrooms. The study was carried out in thirty-seven schools from four provinces in South Africa using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. However, the work focused more on the classroom observations by researchers and was qualitatively analysed in order to understand the variations in practice. Our results indicate that there is uneven distribution of ICT infrastructure and teachers’ technological knowledge, especially in lower quintile schools. We conclude by arguing that various configurations of ICT pedagogical activities, teachers’ technological knowledge, acumen, and adequate ICT infrastructure are necessary for teachers to integrate ICT in the classroom. In addition, we argue that social and cultural capital is fundamental to the current state of ICT in schools, where the uptake has been characterized as very slow. We also argue that paying scant attention to the distribution of computing infrastructure limits the conversation and discourse on how technology fundamentally transforms education.

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