International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 10, Issue 04, April 2019, pp. 1495-1505, Article ID: IJCIET_10_04_156
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=10&IType=04
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
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ICT’S BELIEFS, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE:
EVIDENCE FROM PRIMARY SCHOOLS’
SENIOR ASSISTANTS.
Lokman Mohd Tahir, Mohd Fadzli Ali, Nukman Nasir, Noor Azean Atan and Sanitah
Mohd Yusof
School of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Scudai, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
Studies have shown that Information, Technology and Communication (ICT) has
much influence in disseminating knowledge and information through the Internet using
various channels such as the social network. In Malaysian schools, a number of efforts
have been implemented to deploy ICT as a catalyst in enhancing schools’ academic
achievement and performance. This quantitative study was designed to investigate
whether primary school senior assistants have high ICT skills and knowledge and ICT
beliefs as similar to their principals. Thus, 159 senior assistants from 72 primary
schools were randomly selected to give their feedbacks on their ICT beliefs, skills and
knowledge related to ICT. Findings revealed that primary school senior assistants
score high on ICT beliefs that ICT is able to enhance the school’s academic
achievement even improving their own performance. In terms of skills and knowledge
of using ICT, primary school senior assistants revealed that they are frequent user of
the online application but facing some problems in developing their webpage and
installing their computer software application. Inferentially, there are significance
difference in terms of primary school senior assistants’ gender on the element of skills
and knowledge but no significance differences in terms of primary school senior
assistants ICT beliefs. Based on respondents’ age factor, there are high significance
differences based on both constructs.
Keywords: Primary school, senior assistants, ICT skills and knowledge, ICT beliefs
Cite this Article: Lokman Mohd Tahir, Mohd Fadzli Ali, Nukman Nasir, Noor Azean
Atan and Sanitah Mohd Yusof, Ict’s Beliefs, Skills and Knowledge: Evidence From
Primary Schools’ Senior Assistants.. International Journal of Civil Engineering and
Technology, 10(04), 2019, pp. 1495-1505
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Lokman Mohd Tahir, Mohd Fadzli Ali, Nukman Nasir, Noor Azean Atan and Sanitah Mohd
Yusof
1. INTRODUCTION
In Malaysian education sector, the deployment of Information, Communication and
Technology (ICT) is projected to have significant impact and benefits on the teachers and also
to school administrators [1, 2] as ICT plays as a major role in enhancing the teaching and
learning capacities at schools. Since 2013, ICT was acclaimed by the Malaysian Ministry of
Education as a significant factor that should be highly deployed in distance and self-paced
learning. This in turn, will empower teachers and school administrators in the sense that they
will have access to the process of learning and also enhancing their practices. [1] With the
current education policy that is constantly changing, the prime role of ICT at schools, the role
of school administrator and their leadership styles which referred to the school principal and
their senior assistants play an essential role as technological leadership are definitely crucial
in managing school administration with the assistance of ICT in their institutional or schooling
context [3, 4] and also determine on the successful ICT implementation within school context
(5, 6, 7].
Intrinsically, as a school leader who plays a crucial role as technological leader, they should
have at least understand their own significant role as advocator, supporter and coordinator to
teachers in using technology in teaching and learning or integrate ICT within the learning
context ([22] even at the phase of technical problems solver and collaborate with teachers in
preparing teaching materials through ICT [4, 8]. At the same time, Slowinski (2003) [9] point
out that to be the supporter and advocator for ICT usage at school, school leader should have
high level of ICT competence and also understand the role of ICT in school leadership context.
Therefore, there is a strong call to integrate the technological knowledge of ICT within the
curriculum or syllabus of leadership or formal preparatory courses for school administrator to
enhance their major role as technology leaders at schools [3]. Flanagan and Jacobsen (2003)
[10] argue that school leaders have least experience with ICT and also received least formal
training on ICT. Therefore, in studying the major role as technological leader, most previous
studies frequently examined the school principals’ role as technological leader and also their
attitudes and beliefs towards ICT and also identifying their ICT competencies. As a
technological leader, Al-Harthi (2017)[3] list on tasks such as to integrate the technological
element within their leadership such as cultivating a technology-focused vision, using ICT
widely within school’s professional practice and also being role model of ethical usage of
technological issues.
However, to date, there is still lack of study that examined the ICT attitudes and beliefs
among schools’ senior assistants who are holding the second leadership posts within the
school’s hierarchy whereas the senior assistants play an important role in the school’s daily
operation. Additionally, the senior assistants are middle leaders who execute strategies and
programs in promoting the schools’ visions and objectives [11, 12] and reducing the
administrative workload of the school principals [13]. As mentioned by previous researchers
[14, 15] that senior assistants’ beliefs and attitudes towards ICT and also their ICT skills and
knowledge and even their leadership style in advocating the employment of ICT in schools
received little attention and considered as under-researched. Based on above premise, this
exploratory study was conducted to offer the first hand findings on senior assistants’ beliefs
and attitudes to ICT, their ICT skills and knowledge and how they perceived the role of ICT
within their task in school leadership and management. Based on a few prepositions by
previous researchers on ICT with school leaders, it is conclude that primary school senior
assistants’ basic knowledge and competencies of technology and ICT have strong influence on
their pertinent role models for teachers in using ICT at school contexts [18; 6].
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Ict’s Beliefs, Skills and Knowledge: Evidence From Primary Schools’ Senior Assistants.
3. ICT AND SCHOOL LEADERS
Previous studies that examined the school administrator perceptions towards ICT have shown
positive findings on those school administrators who believed that ICT have made their
school’s administration and operational tasks became faster and efficient. In this sense, most
researchers believe that the positive attitudes and perceptions shown by their school
administrators will have significant impact on principals’ strategies and supports towards the
employment and willingness to use of ICT among school’s community [4, 16].
In Sweden, Lim, Gronlund and Anderson (2015)’s [17] study examine the perceptions of
Swedish school principals towards the importance of cloud computing in education and explore
the environment surrounding schools' adoption of cloud services. A total of 342 principals from
primary and high schools in Sweden participated in the study. Findings revealed that principals
in Sweden have positive remarks on the benefits of cloud computing which provided them with
easier accessible to data and software and be able to share their learning materials and data.
However, principals also showed their concerns in terms of security and privacy of the data.
Previously in Taiwanese schools, Weng and Tang (2014) [4] conducted a study on the level of
school technological leadership applied by school administrators, their awareness and the
influence of technological leadership with effectiveness of elementary school administration.
A total of 323 school administrators from 82 elementary schools all over Taiwan were selected
go provide their feedbacks. Findings revealed that the school administrators were highly
conscious of using the technology leadership strategies and also have a high level of
effectiveness regarding school administration. In terms of inferential statistics, the
technological leadership strategies have positive influence on the effectiveness of school
administration. At Palermo, Italy, Gabriella (2014) [16] found that two types of variables that
received principals’ support for ICT usage at schools. First, the contextual variables which
comprised of the availability of ICT to teachers and students and the second variable is the
individual perception and attitudes on ICT integration into school’s operational tasks and
teaching.
In studying New Zealand’s school principals, Stuart, Mills and Remus (2009) [6] conducted
a study to identify whether ICT competence among school principals have the effect on the
intention of ICT usage within the school. The findings of the study revealed that school
principals in New Zealand’s’ schools were ICT competent using ICT and reasonably have high
levels of ICT knowledge. In this study, it was clear that principals used ICT frequently at
schools and described themselves in the role of technology leaders at schools. The findings
also showed that principals have high level of knowledge related to applications and technology
which related to ICT school management. However, they admitted that they still learning the
system development activities. Meanwhile in Oman, Al-Harthi (2016) [3] investigated the
technological self-efficacy of 67 school leaders who currently at their leadership positions
while attending a leadership preparation program at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. In
terms of their gender, 17 are females and 50 male school leaders. The findings revealed that
most school leaders that attended the leadership preparation program had high level of
technological self-efficacy and their level of technological self-efficacy has significant and
positive relationship with their demographic variables. In answering the qualitative analysis,
the Theory of Margin (TM) was used as framework to identify the factors affecting technology
self-efficacy which indicated school leaders who has power-load margin (PLM) are reported
to have internal (practicing ICT, high passion in learning technology, self-directed learning,
and high creativity in using technology) and external powers (help from friends, instructors,
family members, their subordinates, ICT resources and technological and statistical
knowledge) compared to school leaders who lower PLM has secured the internal (self-
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motivation, exchanging ideas using technology, information searching using technology, ICT
for academic achievement, in line with today work environments) and external loads (limited
usage of technology, practicing ICT only in classes, had to practice English while using
technology, ICT was described as course requirement).
As mentioned previously, most studies related to the ICT with school leaders mostly
investigated the role of school principals as educational technological leadership at school.
Therefore, study related to senior assistants’ roles in supporting and championing ICT
implementation within the school context are considered as infancy and deemed worthy of
further investigation. This triggers a strong call for more studies on the role of senior assistants
and on how their role enhances the deployment of ICT to enhance the school’s performance
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study was designed to address the following research questions:
1. Do primary senior assistants have positive beliefs toward ICT?
2. Do primary senior assistants have skills and knowledge about ICT?
3. Do primary senior assistants’ demographics show many differences within their
beliefs and perceptions towards ICT?
In this extend, we believe that this study have contribution and beneficial to the training of
school administrators in terms of their engagement with ICT and the role of ICT in helping
the smooth operation of the school administration’s and management.
4. METHODOLOGY
In this study, 159 senior assistants from 72 primary schools were randomly selected in
exploring their learning experiences dealing with ICT as a medium for school management
purpose. In terms of their gender, 86 (54.1 %) are male senior assistants and another 73
(45.9%) are female senior assistants. As for their age variables, 9 (5.7 %) senior assistants
ranging between 31 to 35 years followed 21 (13.2 %) senior assistants between 36 to 40 years
old. Another cluster that ranged between 41 to 45 comprised of 33 (20.8%) senior assistants
and the final cluster is school senior assistants who have more than 46 years old which consisted
of 96 senior assistants (60.4) which also the highest percentage.
In measuring the ICT competencies among primary school senior assistants, a total of 17
items of open ended questions were used. All items in this study were using the Malay language
since most of the senior assistants are familiar with the Malay language. Before items being
administered, a few experts in ICT made their validations towards the items and a few items
were discarded from the questionnaire. Item were adopted from various studies that examined
ICT knowledge and skills and ICT beliefs such as study by Gronlund and Anderson (2015)
[17], Weng and Tang (2014) [4], and Gabriella (2011) [16] study. Therefore, the questionnaire
was consisted into three parts: (a) the background and demographics of the primary senior
assistants are listed in Section A consists of two (2) items on their gender and their age; (b) in
section B, 8 items were developed to measure the ICT beliefs among senior assistants. (c)
Section C is measuring senior assistants’ basic skills and knowledge about ICT using 7 (seven)
items that are developed in measuring senior assistants’ ICT skills and knowledge. All items
are based on a five-point Likert scale: 1- represents Strongly Disagree, 2 - represents neither
Disagree, 3-represents neither Agree nor Disagree, 4- represents Agree, and 5- represents
Strongly Agree. All items underwent some major adjustments in ensuring the accuracy towards
the objectives of the study.
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Ict’s Beliefs, Skills and Knowledge: Evidence From Primary Schools’ Senior Assistants.
In the data collection phase, all primary school senior assistants were asked to provide their
responses to all items in the questionnaire through the online survey mode. All survey were emailed to all participated primary school senior assistants and followed with the reminder to
answer the online survey. All collected data were analyzed and presented using descriptive
statistics such as mean scores and standard deviations. Furthermore, in answering research
question 3, inferential bivariate statistics were also employed such as the t-test and the Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) in determining the significance differences based on primary senior
assistants’ gender and their age towards the beliefs and skills and knowledge about ICT.
5. FINDINGS
The first research objective relates on the primary senior assistants’ beliefs on the ICT which
described as senior assistants’ ICT beliefs. Based on the results, it shows that primary school
senior assistants believed that ICT is able to improve the school management tasks. Therefore,
they strongly support the use of ICT and even incorporated within the employment of ICT in
school management tasks (Table 1). They also believed that using ICT at their schools can
accommodate the process of school management and even can be used as repository system in
keeping and safeguarding the school’s data management. Moreover, using ICT within the
school management system is not burdensome to all senior assistants even though that most of
them are quite seniors within their age factor.
Table 1: Senior assistants’ ICT beliefs
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
ICT beliefs
safeguarding school’s data
easier access
Provide information
Connected with other senior assistants
frequently employed within the school system
improve the school management
improve my performance
not a burdensome
Mean
4.49
4.36
4.25
3.30
4.36
4.13
4.06
3.96
SD
.69
.77
.65
1.11
.77
.59
.53
.97
In the second research objective, primary senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT
are also being measured and evaluated (Table 2). Based on the survey, results provide two
categories of information in related to senior assistants skills and knowledge about ICT. Based
on the descriptive findings, it shows that senior assistants admitted that they are quite proficient
as a frequent user of ICT application of online system in terms of data storing and information
management such as e-operation and HRMIS and even e-filling system. Hence, this study
indirectly demonstrates that the school senior assistants are quite skillful in using ICT software
for management in the school. Primary senior assistants also revealed that they able to
communicate with their friends using email since they are quite familiar with the internet
system and frequently using the on-line application and internet to access latest information
provided by the ministry and the state’s department of education. In the second category which
related to ICT skills such as develop a webpage or blog, about 35 per cent (N= 55) of the
primary senior assistants disagreed and admitted that they aren’t the expert in developing or
creating their own webpage or blog for anyone to access their information (M = 3.72). In terms
of computer’s devices installation, 56 primary senior assistants also confessed that they also
facing problems in installing their computer or ICT devices (M = 3.68). Even though some of
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senior assistants revealed that they aren’t the expert of ICT, they also indicated that they able
to provide assistance to their friends who have problems in using ICT and the internet.
Table 2: Senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT
ICT knowledge and skills
Mean
SD
1
proficient in using online systems (e-operations, HRMIS and e-filing)
4.28
.53
2
3
4
5
6
7
No problem using email.
good at using forums
no problem using the online application
develop my own blog/forum/ webpage
assisting my friends
installing computer components
4.19
4.03
4.13
3.72
3.75
3.68
.52
.68
.59
.86
.85
.51
In answering research question 3, inferential statistics such as t-test and ANOVA were
employed in examining primary senior assistants’ significance differences within their
demographics towards primary senior assistants’ beliefs and their skills and knowledge about
ICT. Results based on the primary senior assistants’ gender which based on the t-test analyses
are presented in Table 3 below.
Table 3: The t-test results based on senior assistants’ gender
Variables
Gender
N
Mean Scores
t-value
df
Sig.
Skills and
Knowledge about
ICT
Male
86
3.9302
-2.179
157
.031*
Female
73
4.0599
Male
Female
86
73
4.1744
4.2329
-0.647
157
.519
ICT Beliefs
Notes: n = 159 senior assistants; significance level p < 0.05*; p < 0.01**.
Table 3 above shown the results based on the t-test analyses which measured the
significance differences of primary senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT and ICT
beliefs based on senior assistants’ gender was inspected. The t-tests reveal that there are
significance differences in terms of senior assistants’ knowledge and skills about ICT (t =
2.179; df = 157; p= 0.031). Therefore, it is assumed that there is significance differences about
senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT based on senior assistants’ gender. On the
contrary, the t-test of significance difference analyses indicated that there are no significant
differences in terms of senior assistants’ genders based on their ICT beliefs (t = 0.647; df =
157; p= 0.519). Based on results, it is assumed that there are differences based on ICT beliefs
based on their gender factor. Further, we also examined the significance differences of primary
senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT and ICT beliefs based on senior assistants’
age factor.
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Ict’s Beliefs, Skills and Knowledge: Evidence From Primary Schools’ Senior Assistants.
Table 4: The ANOVA results based on senior assistants’ age factor.
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
Between Groups
24.874
3
8.291
49.610
.000*
Within Groups
25.905
155
0.167
Total
50.778
158
Between Groups
11.993
3
3.998
57.942
.000*
Within Groups
10.694
155
0.069
Total
22.687
158
Variables
ICT Beliefs
Skills and
Knowledge about
ICT
Notes: n = 159 senior assistants; significance level p < 0.05*; p < 0.01**.
Furthermore, senior assistants’ age was also inferentially inspected using the ANOVA tests.
The findings from Table 4 show that the ANOVA tests results indicate that primary senior
assistants’ age has significant differences based on their ICT beliefs (F(df = 3) = 49.610; p =
0.00) and primary senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT (F(df = 3) = 57.942; p =
0.00). Therefore, it is hypothetically believed that there are significance differences based on
primary senior assistants’ ICT beliefs and their skills and knowledge about ICT. As a
continuation in measuring senior assistants’ ICT beliefs and their knowledge and skills about
ICT, the findings from Table 4 showed that ICT beliefs and skills and knowledge related to
ICT had significant difference regarding senior assistants’ age factor. Thus, we extended our
analyses using the LSD Post Hoc tests to identify and compare groups which had significance
differences. Based on Table 5, significant difference was indicated between senior assistants’
age in terms of ICT beliefs between senior assistants who aged between 31 to 35 years old with
senior assistants aged 36 to 40 years of age (MD = 0.35714; p= 0.030), 41 to 45 years old (MD
= 0.750004; p= 0.000) and 46 years and above (MD = 1.23958; p= 0.030). In matching senior
assistants’ ICT knowledge and skills based on their age factor, the findings indicate that there
are significant differences in terms of senior assistants’ age of 31 to 35 years old with senior
assistants aged 36 to 40 years of age (MD = 0.35714; p= 0.001), 41 to 45 years old (MD =
0.62500; p= 0.000) and 46 years and above (MD = 0.93229; p= 0.030).
Table 5: The LSD Post Hoc for comparing groups based on senior assistants’ age
Senior assistants’ age
Variables
ICT beliefs
31 to 35 years
ICT Skills and Knowledge
31 to 35 years
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36 to 40 years
41 to 45 years
46 years and above
36 to 40 years
Mean
Difference
0.35714
0.75000
1.23958
0.35714
Sig
.030*
.000*
.000*
.001*
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41 to 45 years
46 years and above
0.62500
0.93229
.000*
.000*
Notes: n = 159 senior assistants; significance level p < 0.05*; p < 0.01**.
6. DISCUSSION
This study provides new discoveries regarding senior assistants’ perceptions on their ICT
beliefs and their ICT skills and knowledge. In general, the senior assistants in the study had
positive believe on the role of ICT in improving the school management tasks and routines.
Thus, through the study, primary senior assistants revealed their supports on the employment
of ICT at schools even when completing the school management tasks. With the assistance of
ICT, they believed that ICT can fasten the process of school management even can be used as
repository system in keeping and safeguarding the school’s data management. Through the
help of ICT, primary senior assistants believe that ICT can improve the school’s academic
performance which later leads to school’s development process. At the same time, they also
perceived that using ICT within the school management system is not burdensome to all senior
assistants even though that most of them are quite seniors within their age factor. Based on the
findings, it is believed that primary senior assistants have high beliefs that ICT able to enhance
the school performance and also their performance as school leaders. This supports the findings
by previous researchers, such as a study by Gronlund and Anderson (2015)’s [17] with Swedish
principals who also have positive remarks on the benefits of ICT which provided them with
easier accessible to data and software and be able to share their learning materials and data.
Thus, it also indicates that assistant principals/senior assistants are having the same beliefs with
the school principals in Sweden that ICT have many benefits to assist with their school
leadership and management routines.
In terms of primary senior assistants’ skills and knowledge about ICT, findings revealed
that senior assistants admitted that they are quite proficient as a frequent user of ICT application
of online system in terms of data storing and information management such as e-operation and
HRMIS and even e-filling system. Hence, this study indirectly demonstrates that the primary
senior assistants are quite skillful in using ICT software for management of the schools. In
addition, primary senior assistants also indicated that they frequently communicated with their
friends using email since they quite familiar with the internet system and commonly using the
on-line application and internet to access latest information provided by the ministry and the
state’s department of education. In related to ICT skills, some primary senior assistants
honestly disclosed that they had some problems when developing a webpage or blog for anyone
to access the information from the blog or a webpage. Another related issue related to primary
senior assistants ICT’s learning is the problem of installing the computer components since
senior assistants have to learn the technical knowledge of the computer in order to install a
computer without any assistance or help from anyone. This issue was confessed by primary
senior assistants when provided their feedbacks on the questionnaire’s items.
Statistically, results from the descriptive findings indicate that female primary senior
assistants have higher level in both ICT skills and knowledge and also ICT beliefs compared
to their male colleagues. Female primary senior assistants scored higher in both constructs that
studied compared to the male primary senior assistants which indicated slightly lower mean
scores. In measuring their significant differences, ICT skills and knowledge construct had
significance differences based on primary senior assistants’ gender which reflects that there are
slightly differences in terms of ICT skills and knowledge based on primary senior assistants’
gender. However, there is no significance difference in terms of ICT beliefs based on primary
senior assistants’ gender category. Further, we also analyzed the primary senior assistants’ age
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Ict’s Beliefs, Skills and Knowledge: Evidence From Primary Schools’ Senior Assistants.
factor through the ANOVA tests in order to investigate whether there is significance difference.
The findings revealed that there are significance differences in both construct studied (ICT
beliefs and ICT skills and knowledge). Through the LSD Post Hoc analyses, there are
significance differences within the primary senior assistants’ age factor by comparing four
categories of age that comprised the primary schools senior assistants. Based on the Post Hoc
analyses, it is indicated that the wide differences are between primary senior assistants that
ranging at the 31 to 35 years with the last group which is the 46 years and above.
7. CONCLUSION
In general, findings of this study have provided better insights into ICT beliefs, skills and
knowledge among primary school leaders in the context of Malaysia schools. The study
highlighted the need for a more involvement of school leaders in ICT employment to highlight
their pertinent role as educational technology leader. Findings that put forth have merit and
should be seriously considered.
Findings of the study have given rise to several implications. First, at the policy level, it is
suggested that the Ministry of Education of Malaysia should equip all potential school leaders
with ICT skills and knowledge in preparing them to be knowledgeable and highly accountable
educational technology leaders. Thus, their leadership training and preparation should aim to
instil the ICT elements to generate better understanding of their roles of educational technology
leaders. Second, a standard criterion should be introduced by the ministry as a guideline for the
ministry on how to select, recruit and train their school leaders that were ICT literate to the
school leadership position. Thus, it definitely provides much easier for them to undertaking
their role as educational technology leader. Previously, there is still lack of standard criteria
that mentioned on the skills and knowledge on ICT to be selected as school leaders. Third,
more involvement of school leaders within the ICT framework should be enhance by the
ministry as part of informal training for school leaders. Thus, it strongly suggests that each
state department of education should initiate their ICT training unit or centre that conducts ongoing ICT courses for the potential pool talents of school leaders and least depending on the
courses provided by Ministry of Education. With this effort, the issue of school leaders that
were previously appointed without having ICT skill and knowledge in schools will be partly
disentangled.
Although this study has fulfilled its objectives, several limitations need to be
acknowledged. First, findings of this study were based on the perceptions, comments and
reflections of 159 participating primary senior assistants. Therefore, generalisation to all
primary senior assistants in Malaysia is not possible. Second, this study was conducted based
on items from a survey that all primary school leaders were required to make in response to the
questions posed. Lack of face-to-face interaction has resulted in some participating primary
school senior assistants to not respond, leaving the questions unanswered.
This study had focused on the views of primary school senior assistants from primary
public schools that may be different from their private schools counterparts. Therefore, future
study should explore the perceptions of primary school senior assistants from private schools
in Malaysia in order to provide a much bigger picture of the trends and concerns of primary
school senior assistants’ leaders. Secondly, future research should employ qualitative
interviews in order to obtain a more in-depth perception of primary school senior assistants on
the sufficiency of ICT skills, beliefs and knowledge. Qualitative interviews could in fact
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generate clearer perceptions, standpoints and also evoke emotional feelings, thereby generating
a richer set of data.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study was funded by Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher
Education and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia through the research grant
(R.J.130000.7831.4F203).
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