The impact of professional learning and development on primary and intermediate teachers’ digital technologies knowledge and efficacy beliefs

Abstract

To prepare young people for the increasingly complex and fluid world of their future, many countries have begun introducing digital technologies concepts and skills into their curricula. In 2017, the New Zealand National Curriculum was updated to incorporate digital technologies concepts in both the indigenous Māori-medium curriculum and the English-medium curriculum. This study investigated the long-term impact of three different models of digital technologies in professional learning and development on primary and intermediate schoolteachers’ knowledge and efficacy beliefs (value beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs and teaching efficacy beliefs). Professional learning and development were found to have a positive long-term impact on teachers’ digital technologies knowledge and efficacy beliefs, yet no one professional learning and development model was found to be more effective than another. Post professional learning and development, teachers were found to want more support on how to plan for Digital Technologies curricula implementation and fully adopt twenty-first-century pedagogical practices. School environments were shown to influence efficacy beliefs, and a lack of time in the classroom to plan for and upskill in digital technologies was reported. Limitations of the study are discussed, and areas for future research are identified.