Chapter One And Two.docx

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction In this era of globalisation, education is transforming by leaps and bounds. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration is a common move to enhance the approach in education. Teaching and learning experience is being magnified with the integration of ICT. Policy makers worldwide have noted the positive effect of ICT in the social and economic development of its people. Thus, many countries are investing heavily in ICT to build the nation’s human capital in order to make them capable of meeting the demands of digital and information age. Integration of ICT in education also provides the opportunities for teachers to explore advanced teaching and learning methods and materials available as well as allowing students to be more imaginative, creative and innovative (Frost & Sullivan, 2010) Nowadays, ministries of education all over the world are providing variety of trainings and facilities in order to enhance the use of technology in teaching and learning. A large budget has been placed in order to provide the equipment needed by teachers to improve the education system. There are three different approaches on the usage of ICT whereby ICT can be a subject learned, ICT as a skill to be used in a discipline or profession or it is used as medium or tool for teaching and learning process. Teachers are muddled on the approach of ICT, where teachers are supposed to focus on the usage of ICT as a skill, a tool or medium in teaching and learning. Hence, teachers should use ICT and guide learners on the method to use it, so that learners could use it at home and gain more knowledge

through technology. This is very important as the independence in using ICT could help them to learn independently and build social skills such as cooperation, communication, problem solving and lifelong learning (Drent, & Meelissen, 2008). However many teachers are still in their chalk and board phase where they are not utilizing technology. Most of the countries are facing similar problems whereby the teachers are not maximising the usage of the technology provided (Petko, 2012).This has become a serious matter as many previous research have proven the usage of ICT in teaching and learning process can improve students’ achievement (Emily et al., 2008; Sime & Priestly, 2005). Many, researchers have taken an effort to analyse the factors that are affecting teachers’ acceptance of ICT usage in the classrooms. This shows the major barrier in implementation was the teachers’ attitude as teachers are the main character in education approach that influences the usage of ICT in classes. Moreover, research (Gao et. al, 2010) shows that the correlation of teachers’ attitude and the use of ICT is high. This is apparent as human nature, the usage of any tool depends on their attitude or belief and perception. A person who does not believe and does not have faith in it, will neglect the usage of the tools. Therefore, teachers need to change their belief and perceptions in order to improve their skills and accept ICT integration. This is due to the importance of teachers’ role especially in the usage of ICT in pedagogy which could increase the achievement of the students, their creativity and thinking skills. According to Mama and Hennessy (2013), the integration of ICT in teaching and learning will not only improve learners’ learning skills but also improve the learners’ motivation. This is because the integration of ICT would cultivate independent learning where the learners could learn by themselves after school. Learners are able to use the ICT tools in order to assist them in their revision and help them to communicate and discuss with others whereas previously learners could only get assistance during school hours or they have

to visit their friend’s house for a discussion after school hours. Hence, this will motivate learners to build their confidence allowing them to be more knowledgeable. Moreover, this habit will cultivate the culture of endless learning process in life because these days students only learn during their school hours. Therefore, ICT has abolished the limit and boundaries of learning. Finally, it will help to enhance the learning capacity and thinking power of people as they discover limitless new facts and therefore making them prudent in planning, and problems solving.

1.2 Background of the Study In Malaysia the government has implemented the integration of ICT in learning and teaching process in the early 1970’s. This is due to the importance of technology literate which produces critical thinking workforce that can face and involve in the global economy (Eng, 2006). Lately, we can see the heavy investment in the ICT for education which is proven by the “Smart School” is an initiative by Ministry of Education that was implemented through its policy on ICT in education (Wan et al., 2009). The Smart school is defined as: “… a learning institution that has been systematically reinvented in terms of teaching and learning practices and school management in order to prepare children for the Information Age. A Smart School will evolve over time, continuously developing its professional staff, its educational resources, and its administrative capabilities. This will allow the school to adapt changing conditions, while continuing to prepare students for life in the Information Age. To function effectively, the Smart School will require appropriately skilled staff and well designed supporting processes” (Smart School Project Team, 1997a) This was a major plan when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former Malaysian Prime Minister visualized the future of Malaysia and named the plan as Vision 2020. The main objective of the vision is to have more science – based students with high human values and

scientifically as well as technologically literate. With the presence of smart school program, school culture and teaching process will evolve and enhance more thinking skills, creativity skills and train learners to be responsible for their learning processes. As the students are exposed to the Information Age, they will be more independent in the learning process as they will be able to access to such a huge resource in the Information Age database (Ong, 2006). Any questions can be answered by using Google or any other search engines. It will help the government upgrade the literacy level of the nation and produce more potential in a holistic and integrated manner. The smart schools are the pilot projects that led to the ICT integration in all other school in Malaysia. Under the smart school project, about 8000 schools were equipped with computer facilities at the end of year 2005. In the year 2006, there were about 9200 schools equipped with broadband Internet access (Ministry of Education, Malaysia, 2006 in Wan Zah et al., 2009). The most recent update on the facilities provided to the public schools, is the outcome of the partnership between Ministry of Education and Yeoh Tiong Lay (YTL) Communications. YTL received the contract to provide internet access to all public schools in Malaysia. YTL who has the 4G network which ease them in providing such facilities to all public schools in Malaysia (Win, 2013). We can observe that the government is working aggressively to provide schools with ICT facilities which need to be utilized by the teachers to improve and change the education culture in Malaysia. The next step is to enhance and implement the ICT facilities by the teachers. We know the backbone of education is teachers and they will need to utilize the facilities provided and give the best to their students for them to learn. Lately, teachers are provided with laptop in order to integrate ICT in their lesson. The government of Malaysia realizes that teachers need a laptop in order to integrate ICT as they could use it after school to plan their lesson and obtain more idea from the wide resources available. Research shows that the

integration of ICT by teachers does not depend on the teachers alone but also the administrative support and the technical support. Administrative and technical support will facilitate and encourage teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching approach. The technical support will help in solving problems faced and reduce the wastage of time. Teachers will use ICT in classroom as they are encouraged and supported by their leader (Moses, et al., 2011). Furthermore, Ministry of Education is aware and concerned of the expected challenges that future generation will face, has therefore transformed the education system to fulfill the current need of the global market. As considered in the blueprint, the seventh shift in the new Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013 – 2025) shows that government attempts to provide internet access and virtual leaning environment to all 10, 000 schools in Malaysia with 1BestariNet. In the near future, all students and teachers will get access to the 4G network which will be the base of virtual learning to provide an opportunity to teachers, learners and parents to share source of learning, making the learning process more interactive and communicate virtually. The Ministry of Education will also increase their investment in training the teachers to avoid wastage of resource. This is because high investments are made to provide the tools and teachers are not utilizing it. Moreover, government would also like to reduce the ratio of the students to device from 1:30 in 2011 to 1:10 by 2020. This will also provide a comfortable environment for the learning process which integrates with ICT. Government would also like to increase the collaboration among teachers nationwide where video on the best teaching method in Malay Language, English, Mathematics and Science will be produced and saved as video library in 2013. These videos can be easily accessed by teachers and students where teachers can acquire more ideas and provide more activities in teaching and learning process. On the other hand students can learn or revise by using these videos. More subjects will be added in the future. This sharing will also help

teachers obtain more ideas in teaching a particular subject with the integration of ICT. The seventh shift also maximizes the use of ICT in distance learning and independent learning which helps to increase access to the best teaching method without considering the location or the capacity of the learners. Learners can also explore any other subjects that are not offered in school and read any books that are not available in the country. Learners will understand the objective of learning and become wiser with vast knowledge enrichment (Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025). In 2010, a research done by the Ministry of Education shows that about 80% of the teachers are using ICT less than an hour per week and only one third of the learners experience stable ICT integration by their teachers. This results show that, most of the teachers are yet to accept the change and implement the new system to upgrade the learners’ level of learning. The research done by UNESCO shows that the level of ICT integration by the teachers are only at the integration of Microsoft Word software whereby there are many resources and other software which can be integrated to improve learning process and enhance vast thinking skills. Hopefully, with the effort made, the end result will produce a community that is enriched and more open minded towards ICT. Furthermore, the ministry is trying to reduce the cost to install the computers by purchasing basic computers and cheaper laptops or invent mobile library which provides access to computers and internet to rural areas. It will indirectly reduce the gap between the urban and the rural area students as every student or learners will be provided with internet access and equal resources for learning. Effort on integrating ICT relies heavily on the role of the teachers as being the sole executor of the tools. The technology itself will have no educational value and it will only become important when it is being used in teaching and learning process (Singh & Chan, 2014). Ismail, Zakaria and Aziz (2007) (as cited by Irfan & Yussof, 2014), reported that teacher’s level of technology integration is still low although it has been years since the

implementation of various technology initiatives in Malaysian Education systems. Also, Keong, Horani, and Daniel (2005) found that in their preliminary observation that the use of technology was under-utilised by the teachers in Malaysia especially in Maths teaching. Many researchers are more prone to researching on integration of ICT in teaching English, Maths and Science as Malaysia government has emphasized more on it when they first introduced the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. This is the reason for most of the articles that are researching on ICT integration would mainly concern on this three subjects. Since the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English has been abolished, the ICT integration has been expanded to all the other subjects encouraging teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching. Therefore, Ministry of Education has to provide a lot of training and resources in order to encourage the teachers to utilise the ICT resource provided. As, it was mention previously, the teachers are the sole executor of the tools and it will benefit the students if it is utilised wisely.

1.3 Statement of the Research Problem According to Konstantina (2014), usage of ICT by teachers can be distinguished in two categories that are used for teachers’ own needs and the usage inside the classroom. As seen

in an ecosystemic approach, ICT is identified as invaders in the school environment; the ecosystem. This disturbance in the balance of the existing environment is caused by the computer applications by teachers. This will definitely lead to uncomfortable environment in which the teachers being the pivotal role in this ecosystem could lose in the invasion. The knowledge and proficiency levels of handling ICT is one of the major issue as well. In the observation of Seiter (2008, as cited by Livingstone, 2012); struggles of teachers in the classroom with technology is caused by the many digital skills that are required for it. As the software has its own method and way of using it which require a lot of practice in order to be proficient and familiar with the software. Therefore, it required time of trial-anderror and freedom to develop the much needed understanding of software and this is nearly impossible to practice in a public school computer lab. This is because teachers in government schools are engaged with so many managerial works together with their teaching commitment. The teachers tend to ignore the technology provided and use the traditional method as usual. Despite the big investment for the ICT in education for the past two decades in Malaysia, findings by MHS Resources (2005, as cited in Keong, Horani, & Daniel, 2005) shows that the use of ICT equipment was too low. Hardwares such as liquid - crystal display (LCD) projectors procured by the school in the study were under utilized as the number of operation hours recorded by each machine on average was only 29 hours for the period of two years. That is considered as low usage. Teachers are not utilising the projector as the teachers need to source out for videos or any clips which is suitable for the students and the topic of the day. Again this is consuming a lot of time and it will definitely need to be done at home after school as the time in school is just sufficient for their school work.

Recent studies has found that ICT has been seen as an unconventional approach in teaching and the utilization of ICT hardware are limited to only for certain tasks of finding information and preparing simple Powerpoint presentations (Yunus, Nordin, Salehi, Embi, & Salehi, 2013; Raman & Mohamed, 2013). These tasks are used only because the teachers are forced to or apparently it was demanded by their superior. The teachers are only using the ICT at the niche moment. Apparently, there are no significant changes in the integration of ICT in teaching in the recent years and yet teachers are more focused in using the traditional method. There are several factors that hinder ICT integration in teaching as being outlined by researchers and the first factor differs according to different subjects being taught and teachers’ demographic factors (Alazzam, Bakar, Hamzah, & Asimiran, 2012; Singh & Chan, 2014). Next, training and ICT experience (Mahmud & Ismail, 2010), lack of technical support (Sim & Lau, 2007), level of computer usage and perceivedlevel of ability to use computer (Mohamed, Afghani, Ghavifekr, & Siraj, 2013) are among the factors affecting the success of ICT integration in teaching and learning in schools. All the factors are focusing on teachers holding the most important role in the integration of ICT in teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education has to play an important role to help the teachers in integrating ICT in teaching and learning. This is because teachers will definitely change when there is necessity and it is required in their profession.

1.4 Theories and the Conceptual Framework

In the focus of ICT integration in teaching in primary schools, the objective of the study found two theories which are more suitable for this study. The theories are the “Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory” and “Technology Acceptance Model” are used to develop the conceptual framework for this study. Both of these theories explain how a technology is being accepted or adopted by the members in a system. The elaborations on the detailed of the theories are presented in the following sub sections:

1.4.1

Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory

This theory focuses on both adoption and the diffusion of technology of an innovation, the emphasis on the element of adoption and diffusion is the main guideline for this research. Diffusion is a process where an innovation is communicated through some channels over time between the members of a social system whilst innovation is a new idea, practice or object which was perceived by an individual or other unit of adoption (Rogers, 2003). It has been more than 30 years that the process of innovations has been studied and Rogers’ model has been one of the popular adoption models according to Sherry and Gibson (2002, as cited by Sahin & Thompson, 2014). Although this theory was developed in the field of sociology, it has been widely used in different discipline and is considered to have a more humanistic approach in looking at the adoption and diffusion of technology.

Innovation and technology are used as a synonym term and all these steps explained on how a technology is being integrated in a system. A particular crucial point in the innovation – development process is the decision to begin diffusing an innovation to potential

adopters. Finally, an innovation may diffuse, be adopted and eventually, cause consequences, the final stage in the innovation – development process. There are five steps of innovationdecision process which are knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation as in Figure 1.1 (Rogers 2003).

Figure 1.1: Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 2003)

That model explains that knowledge of the person which is prior to conditions such as previous experience, and norms, characteristics of socioeconomic and personality will persuade the person in making their decision. As the decision is made, they will implement it and this will actually provide the framework in analysing the findings of this research later. It would lead to either re-invention where an innovation is changed or modified by a user in the process of its adoption and implementation which could help in higher rate of adoption or discontinuance which is divided into two categories. The first one is the replacement

discontinuance where an idea is rejected to adopt a better idea and the second one is the disenchantment discontinuance where idea is adopted and rejected due to dissatisfaction of its performance.

1.4.2

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Another model that is being used in guiding this research is Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989). They stated that computer system cannot improve organizational performance if they are not fully utilized in an organization. ICT integration in teaching would not improve the teaching standards if it is not used properly. Resistance towards this technology is noted and as to better predict, explain and increase the ICT integration in the system, the reasons need to be identified.

Figure 1.2: Technology Acceptance Model (Source: Davis, 1989) The TAM has been investigated later by Venkatesh & Bala (2008) who has revised the model and restructured a small part of the model and it is called the TAM 2. The researchers identify

and theorize about the general determinants of perceived usefulness which are subject norm, image, job relevance, output quality, result demonstrability and perceived of use.

Figure 1.3: Technology Acceptance Model 2(Source: Vengkates & Bala, 2008) These are the factors that influence the teachers in integrating ICT compared to the TAM in 1989. The perception of the teachers in integrating ICT is being taken account and based on this model it will provide guidance for constructing the surveys and analysing the findings.

1.4.3

The Conceptual Framework In identifying the factors regarding the ICT integration in the teaching, a conceptual

framework has been drawn based on the two models mentioned earlier. Those models are Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 2003) and Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989)

Knowledge or skills, policy on ICT integration, and administrative support of the teacher will be the external factors according to the Technology Acceptance Model and this is classified as the knowledge which is the first stage in Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory. It is the main attribute in influencing the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the ICT in the process of teaching. The external variables will help the teachers to see the benefits gained by the students after integrating ICT and their familiarity with the tools provided. The external variables will determine the main attribute in determining the attitude of the teachers in integrating ICT in teaching and learning. Those are the factors that will be analysed in this research. As the first stage will influence the ‘perceived usefulness’ and ‘perceived ease to use’. Teachers will be able to see the benefits which the learners gain from the integration of ICT in teaching and learning process. Moreover, teachers will get familiar with technology integration and integrate it in their teaching and learning process where this affects the teachers’ attitude towards using ICT. This stage is collaboration of the second stage in Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory and the attitude toward using and behavioural intention in Technology Acceptance Model. This causes teachers’ perception to play an important role in the success of the adoption of technology and later will lead to the integration of it in the teaching process. The teachers need to accept and change their attitude in order to accept the new change which is the acceptance level in the conceptual framework. As the teachers accept and are ready to use it, then teachers will implement the technology provided in their career including teaching and learning process. Teachers will integrate ICT in their teaching and learning process and confirmed the success of ICT acceptance by teachers in teaching and learning process (output). This conceptual framework will help in guiding the discussions.

1.5 Research Objectives In this study, four main research objectives are being addressed: 1. To identify the skills and knowledge required by teachers to use ICT in primary schools 2. To identify the level of teachers’ attitudes towards ICT acceptance in primary Schools in Kuala Lumpur 3. To determine the relationship between primary school teachers’ attitudes towards ICT acceptance and demographic factors such as age, gender, education, years of experience in teaching and types of school 4. To determine the relationship between primary school teachers’ attitudes towards ICT acceptance in terms of computer competency, ICT policy, and administrative support

1.6 Research Questions This study focus on an overview of the teachers’ attitudes towards ICT acceptance in classroom, therefore, the following research questions will be addressed: 1. What are the levels of primary school teachers’ attitude toward ICT usage in classroom? 2. What are the teachers’ perception of their level of ICT acceptance in terms of computer competency, administrative support, and ICT policy in primary schools? 3. What is the relationship between computer competence and school teachers’ attitude toward ICT acceptance? 4. What is the relationship between ICT policy and school teachers’ attitudes toward ICT acceptance?

5. What is the relationship between administrative support and primary school teachers’ attitude toward ICT acceptance?

1.7 Research Hypotheses The central interest of this study was to investigate the factors affecting primary school teachers’ attitude towards ICT acceptance in Kuala Lumpur. The predictor variables were the primary school teachers’ attitude, administrative support, background of the school, influential factors in teachers’ acceptance of ICT, computer competency and ICT education policy, in addition to some selected demographic and job related variables. In another words, the main research question was whether the above variables could collectively predict the level of the teachers’ attitude in integrating ICT in classroom. H1: There is a significant relationship between skills and knowledge required by teachers and ICT integration in primary school H2: There is a significant difference between gender, age, and highest academic qualification of teachers with primary school teachers’ attitude H3: There is a significant difference between education, years of experience and types of school with primary school teachers’ attitude in ICT integration H4: There is a significant relationship between computer competency, ICT policy, administrative support and primary school teachers’ attitude in ICT integration H5: There is a significant difference between government school and non government schools’ teachers’ attitude in ICT integration

1.8 Significance of Study

This study can benefit the policymakers in education that is the Ministry of Education of Malaysia. It will provide an idea of the level of ICT integration in primary schools by the teachers including the external factors such as the administrative support, and policy. Findings from this research will help teachers to see the bigger picture of teachers’ attitude regarding the ICT integration in the teaching and learning process in and out of the classroom. Identifying the factors that influence teachers’ attitude will help to identify the needs of the teachers in order to make ICT integration in teaching a success. This will also be the platform or the voice for the teachers in explaining the current situation of the implemented policy of ICT integration in teaching. Moreover, the clients of the schools, who are the parents and students, will gain an insight on why the integration of ICT in teaching remains a slow progress in these recent times. This will provide a better understanding of the factors faced by teachers in integrating ICT in the teaching and learning process. A better understanding will lead to more realistic expectations towards the quality of teaching and learning experience in primary schools. There are researches on the ICT integration in teaching in Malaysia (Alazzam, Bakar, Hamzah, & Asimiran, 2012; Mahmud & Ismail, 2010; Irfan & Yussof, 2014) but there are not many done in the field of teaching in primary schools in Malaysia regarding ICT integration in general. Therefore this study will definitely benefit the society for being an information provider on the factors faced by primary school teachers in integrating ICT in teaching learning process.

1.9 Limitations of Study

In this study, there will be several limitations. First, the challenges faced to collect the data from the government school teachers as they are quite busy in schools. Moreover, many portfolios are given to the teachers to be handled other than their teaching profession. In addition, it is the middle of the year where teachers are busy preparing the mid-year examination papers for the students.

According to Malaysia Educational Data Sector, the Malaysia Educational Statistics (updated as of July 2014) states that there are 7, 751 national secondary schools in Malaysia with 240, 385 teachers. There are an additional 1,359 teachers teaching in schools under other government agencies and 3,290 teachers in for all private institutions. In Kuala Lumpur, there are 200 primary schools with 9588 teachers teaching in these schools.

The population size of the primary schools in Kuala Lumpur is vast. As for the samples used in this research, it is 300 respondents who are the primary school teachers from random schools in Kuala Lumpur. The scope of the research covers only the factors affecting the teachers’ attitude regarding the ICT integration in teaching and learning process in national and private primary schools.

As the samples in this research are selected randomly in Kuala Lumpur and only primary school teachers are being selected, these findings may not represent Malaysia’s ICT integration in education wholly. Therefore, the findings of this research will be limited to the selected samples only and a much localized result. The generalizations to represent the whole nation current situation are highly not applicable. A bigger scale research is needed to justify the said situation.

1.10

Definition of the Key Terms

Several key terms used in this research: i.

Attitudes

This can be defined as the feeling or way of thinking that affects a person’s behaviour (Merriam-Webster, 2015). In this research, attitude will be seen as factors that hinders the progress of ICT integration in primary schools in Kuala Lumpur.

ii.

Information Communication Technology (ICT)

“Information and Communication Technologies are defined as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information”. These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television) and telephony (UNDP, 2000 as cited in Policy on ICT in Education, 2010, p. 72).

Furthermore, for the Malaysian education context, ICT is defined as “all digital resources including tools, applications and learning objects, which are deployed as enablers for effective teaching and learning and education management which ultimately encourages creativity and innovation towards achieving a knowledge-based economy (Policy on ICT in Education, 2010, p. 72).

iii.

ICT acceptance

This refers to the acceptance of the tools in the process of teaching and learning by teachers. In the context of this research, it is the usage of ICT in primary schools. ICT is the implemented policy in Malaysian education and it delivers an impactful approach in the process of teaching and learning for all the stakeholders in the education system.

iv.

Primary Schools

In the context of Malaysian education, primary school setting includes the student age range from 7 – 12 years old in national primary schools and private primary schools.

v.

Computer Competency

This can be defined as the knowledge and ability to use computer and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels from elementary to advance (Wordpress, 2015). In this research, it will be seen as the competency of the teachers accepting ICT integration in primary schools in Kuala Lumpur.

vi.

ICT Policy

This can be defined as the definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions (Merriam-Webster, 2015). In this research, policy will be referring to the latest blueprint which insists teachers to accept ICT integration in teaching and learning process.

vii.

Administrative support

Support can be defined as to give help or assistance to someone or something (MerriamWebster, 2015). In this research, administrative support will be referring to the help or assistance given by the administrative of the school, district, state and ministry to assist teachers to accept integration of ICT in teaching and learning process.

Summary It is known to the educational society that ICT integration has been a problem since it was implemented years ago and various studies done in and out of the country has been conducted to highlight the factors on hindering the acceptance of ICT integration in teaching. The focus of this study is on the factors affecting teachers’ attitude in accepting ICT integration in teaching and learning process. The findings are hoped to provide a better picture on how ICT integration policy should be implemented. The population of primary school teachers in Malaysia is big and to investigate the factors on hindering the acceptance of ICT integration in teaching will be a stepping stone for the stakeholders and clients in the education system to understand this problem better although this research will present a much localized result. Related literatures regarding this matter will be reviewed and be presented in the next chapter.

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter presents an overview of previous studies which are related to the current interest of this study. It is important to review similar articles of other scholars as it serves as the benchmark for this study. Although, there are some of the findings of present study which might be intensive compared to those that exist in the literature. Nevertheless, reviewing previous studies will indicate the level of adequate knowledge that a researcher has in the research scope. This review is also done to identify the existing factors that affect teachers’ attitude towards ICT acceptance in primary school in Kuala Lumpur. For the purpose of this study, this chapter is divided into three main sections including elaboration of Information Communication Technology (ICT), ICT and critical success factors and ICT integration in Malaysian context which are in the following sub sections.

2.2 Information Communication Technology (ICT) ICT has been initiated since 1936 when the modern computer theory began and it was followed by the launch of world’s first satellite in 1957. The technology keep expanding and improving and in 1960 the first fully automated car phone system was created. The improvement was moving vigorously as the creation of a packet – switched network of computers in 1969 and first email was sent successfully in 1971. In this 21st century, ICT is being used by every organisation in managing and operating their organisation. The world is transforming towards the information society to yield the benefits from the main component of information and communication technology. Everyone is chasing after to be a part of the information society and it depends on the exposure and the facilities available in order for them to be ICT intellect. The ICT infrastructure of a country will show the level of the ICT competency of their citizens and

this will create a large gap between the societies from different countries. On the other hand, it also divides those who are information – rich and those who are information – poor but it eliminate the boundary of the nations as everyone can access any information which exceeded their nation’s boundary (Hanafizadeh et. al, 2009). From that, the education department could see the significance of ICT integration in teaching and learning process as it helps in improving the process. This has made the education system in nationwide to integrate ICT in the system to improve the quality in learning outcome. The education system has been adopting ICT over the last 30 -40 years and it has been using the internet for decades where the usage is yet increasing substantially (Hsu, 2010). The education system needs to develop technological and learning competencies for teachers and students in order to ensure ICT improves the learning outcomes in the recent century (Pineida, 2011). This is because, currently most of the schools are providing the ICT technology and it is used to teach but not to enhance technological and learning competencies. Moreover, most of the education systems in the world are using different approaches and methods to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process. So, researchers found that every teacher has been using different approaches in integrating ICT as teachers have different nature of knowledge. In that case, the teachers could only improve themselves by getting engaged in professional development activities. Teachers with ICT literacy portray a set of capabilities that a teacher has to complete instructional tasks, including cognitive information and ICT based task. ICT integration by teachers is defined as a set of knowledge that involves the type of technology used and the method to incorporate with pedagogical design (Hsu, 2010).

2.2.1 The Need for ICT Integration in Education The ICT integration has played an important role in education nowadays as we can see obvious scientific progress in all the fields such as medicine, education, economy, construction, engineering, agriculture and etc. The students need to keep to the pace as they are crucial to the current worldwide society. Teachers need to make sure the pedagogical approach involve the application of real world and it is connected to the community around their location. This could help the students to understand the application of ICT and the importance of it (Pineida 2011). The education system needs to make sure students understand and learn the usage of ICT in the current knowledgeable society. The education system will expose three different aspects which are the use of ICT as a subject of study, the use of ICT as aspect of profession and the use of ICT as medium of teaching and learning. In this case, the students are able to see the usage of ICT in various fields and this shows the students the application in future. The main benefits of the ICT being a medium in teaching and learning process is, it helps to achieve learning goals more effectively (Drent & Meelissen, 2008). It means that the students will understand the subject taught easily when the teachers are using ICT in teaching and learning process (Varol, 2013). These help students to perform better in their academic and indirectly improve the capability of the student and excel in their future profession. Nevertheless, the ICT integration could also increase the motivation of the pupils but somehow some conflicts show that it distracts the pupils (Mama & Hennessy, 2013). As every technology has the pro and con of the tool, teachers have to explain and make sure the students are disciplined when they are dealing with the ICT tools. Nowadays, students are distracted with the variety of entertainment which reduces the concentration of the

students. This leads to the teachers ought to make their lesson more interesting with variety of activities to get the attention of the students in classroom. By doing so, the teachers will make an impact on the curriculum and on classroom strategies as the integration of ICT takes place. Furthermore, the ICT integration could help in promoting creative and self directed learning which is highly in need in this 21st century. The ICT could give the students a lot of information which acts as a guide for their independent learning and ideas to be creative in their assignments or projects. Therefore, this could help in connecting or reducing the gap between the developed and developing countries, urban and rural area and so on. The students will be able to get the same facilities without looking at the demographic factors of the teachers (Schulte, 2015; Mama & Hennessy, 2013; Elsaadani, 2013). The students could get more information and able to support and enrich the teaching and learning process in classrooms. The environment of the class will change to be more interesting and healthy as the students will be prepared and have a lot of information to share and create educational discussion. Moreover, the integration of ICT could enhance the lifelong learning culture as the student will understand that they can research and learn any subject without any barrier at anytime (Elsaadani, 2013). This will also cultivate the reading habit within the students as they could get any type of reading material from the internet and they do not need to buy and carry many books along. It will then affect the maturity of our nation as they are exposed to various culture and facts which their mind set and make them think more practically. The nation would be able to make better decision for them and the country as every citizen plays a role in their family and country.

Another importance of integrating ICT in teaching and learning process is that, it helps to enhance critical thinking (Elsaadani, 2013). This is because the integration of ICT will provide vast information from various resources which could confuse the students as some of the resource might accept the topics discussed and some might object the topics discussed. The students need to think critically to analyse and process the information obtained. It also helps the teachers to prepare student-centered learning activities as many resources are available in the net. The method discussed will help to cultivate the studentscentered learning environment which is emphasized by current ministry of education.

2.3 ICT and Critical Success Factors There are big challenges in integrating ICT into school system especially in teaching and learning process when Ministry of Education tries to implement it at first. This process is having hard time to be implemented as most of the experienced and veteran teachers are comfortable with the books and the traditional method that they are using to teach the students. As it is the nature of human being, it will take time in order to accept changes in their normal routine. There are many factors that affect the acceptance of ICT in teaching and learning process where the main factor is the teachers’ belief as the teachers are the main element in integrating ICT in teaching and learning process (Higgins & Moseley, 2007; Ana-Belen, Juan-Jose, Maria & He, 2012; Mama & Hennessy, 2013; Shih, 2011). The other factors are the factors that affect the teachers’ attitude in integrating ICT such as the teachers’ skills and knowledge (Varol, 2013; Drent & Meeliseen, 2008; Terry & Roy, 2008), teachers’ competencies (Antoni, Julio, & Carles, 2013; Agyei & Voogt, 2010, Pineida, 2011; Inan & Lowther, 2010; Yuan & Lee, 2012), administrative support (Mama & Henessy, 2013; Lim &

Khine, 2006; Tonduer, Keer, Braak & Valcke, 2008; Badia, Menses & Sigales, 2013) and ICT policy (Lim & Khine, 2006; Tonduer, Keer, Braak & Valcke, 2008; Badia, Menses & Sigales, 2013).

2.3.1 Teachers’ Belief and Attitude towards ICT Acceptance Teachers’ belief which comes from the outcomes of the acceptance of ICT plays an outmost important role in integrating ICT in the teaching and learning process (Higgins & Moseley, 2007; Ana-Belen, Juan-Jose, Maria & He, 2012; Mama & Henessy, 2013). Teachers’ belief will form their attitude into accepting the change. In United Kingdom, a research which involves the primary and secondary school teachers was carried out. It shows that as the teachers did not believe in ICT integration could improve the outcome of the students, therefore the ICT integration in class is very low. This is because the teachers believe that the printed books or material is more useful and effective for the teaching and learning process but it depends on the grade that the teachers is teaching. Even if the teachers are IT literate, they will still not use the ICT as they don’t have beliefs that the ICT integration is making a significant difference. It highlighted that the teachers need to be trained and show the difference that they could achieve after using ICT in teaching and learning in order to create the believe in the teachers and integrate it (Higgins & Moseley, 2007). Moreover, findings of a research by Ana-Belen, Juan-Jose, Maria and He (2012) have indicated that an important factor which affects the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process is also the teachers’ attitude towards the integration of ICT. This research has investigated teachers who teach preschool to high school as their sample. The research shows that most teachers are willing to use the ICT in their teaching process

when they realise the ICT tools could help in improving learners learning process and enriche the students’ learning process because all the information are available in the web. It also helps the ICT tools enrich teachers with a lot of resources. Teachers are very positive in using the tools as they believe and understand the advantages and disadvantages in using ICT in classroom. This helps to influence teachers’ attitude in integrating ICT in teaching. The teachers found the training very positive and approachable but the practical implementation faced some difficulties such as lack of specific programs and scarce institutional support and the absence of the technician. So, these are the pull back in integrating ICT tools in teaching. A research done by Mama and Hennessy (2013) in Cyprus could see the difference of the ICT usage according to the beliefs of the teachers in ICT integration. In this research the teachers are divided into four groups according to their beliefs on ICT integration. The group A is the teachers who believes that ICT encourages constructivist instead of traditional teaching, group B are the teachers who believes that ICT help to enrich and make the lesson more attractive, group C is teachers who believe that ICT could facilitates administrative activities and group D believe that ICT is unnecessary and it threatens teachers’ authority. Basically the group A to C is positive about ICT integration yet it differentiates the frequency of the ICT integration in teaching and learning process. The group A and group C claim that they are integrating it frequently and mostly on word processing, internet browsing, email communicating and web based social networking as they realise the advantage of the tools. Group B claims that they are still exploring the integration of ICT and their integration of ICT is gradually increasing. Group D is the group with the least integration of ICT in teaching and learning process as they don’t find it useful for students.

Moreover, another research by Shih (2011) who studied about the ICT integration of teachers in instructional practice in Taiwan it shows that the government and ministry of education have invested a big sum of money to support the ICT integration project in schools. They found that the teachers who believe in students- based learning will be more likely to enhance ICT in instructional practice but the integration will cause the teachers to hold the instructional in lecture – based activities. This is because it depends on the teachers concern in their objective of instruction. Most teachers who are concern on high achievement in examination and completing the content in the textbook will not integrate ICT as it will disrupt their objective of instruction. This research shows that the teaching technology, teaching experience and support were not the major factors but teachers’ belief is the main factors in integrating ICT in Taiwan. Similarly the factors affecting acceptance of ICT integration by Singaporean teachers are teachers’ belief where teachers felt that they could teach faster and better with the traditional way compared to the new method which integrate ICT in teaching and learning process. Moreover, the teachers’ beliefs that the mere use of ICT could excite and motivate students to learn are using ICT just to change the methodology of the pedagogy and use the technology poorly causing the students to be distracted from their learning tasks (Lim & Khine, 2006). From this study we could see the effects of teachers’ belief and genuine effort in ICT integration in students learning motivation. Teachers’ belief in ICT integration will be taken crucially as the acceptance of the teachers plays an important effect on the students learning motivation and capacity. The main factor is actually the teachers’ belief which influences the teachers’ attitude. On the other hand, there are a number of factors that are affecting teachers’ attitude in integrating ICT in their teaching and learning process such as teachers’ skills and knowledge, administrative support, background of the school and computer

competency which will be explained further in the next sub section. As this factors are the supportive factors and it is the pillar of the working environment in a school. The supportive factors and environment is encouraging and positive, it will definitely influence an individual to change and perform to their best.

2.3.2 Teachers’ Skills and Knowledge Teachers’ skills and knowledge is one of the factors that influence the teachers’ attitude in integrating ICT in teaching and learning process. As teachers who has high skills and knowledge are highly encouraged to integrate ICT in their lesson but not the teachers with low skills and knowledge as they face challenges in using ICT and applying it in their lesson. This will cause a lot of time wasted in integrating it. Varol (2013) has found that the teachers need to have sufficient knowledge in order to integrate ICT in classroom as the appropriate tools will be able to increase students’ understanding. The research shows that most of the teachers are only using the internet, emails, software packages to create presentations and multimedia text processing programs where these are the basic tools and it does not necessarily help in student based learning concept but it can be used just for practice and drill exercises. The teachers need to be given more exposure on ICT technology, methods to deal with it and cultivate positive attitude towards ICT integration in teaching and learning process. Moreover, this process needs to be highly implemented during the teachers training program. It is not only the basic knowledge and skills but teachers also need to keep themselves updated with the progress of technology as the technology is advancing rapidly in the current century. Factors that keep teachers to integrate ICT and implement it with innovation in teaching process is when they are willing to spend more time with

colleagues and ICT experts who could help them to develop their ICT skills and keep themselves updated about the most recent technology. Teachers will be influenced to integrate ICT when they see and experience the advantages of the innovative use of ICT and this will help them perceive change. As they integrate ICT in classroom, the approach used by teachers will be described as student – oriented approach where this approach is the approach that every teacher is trying to implement in this 21st century. This shows that the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process depends on the teachers’ personal entrepreneurship in stimulating the ICT integration in classroom, as the school level factors which were expected to have direct relationship towards ICT integration is not supported by the data (Drent & Meeliseen, 2008). The implementation of ICT integration has to be carried out very tactfully in order to make sure teachers are provided with sufficient skill and knowledge which will influence their attitude to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process. In Terry and Roy (2008) shows the process of introducing integration of ICT to teachers in two secondary schools. The teachers were given training before being exposed to ICT integration in the classroom and they will be having discussion among teachers to discuss and explore the technology used. The teachers will definitely not be positive towards the plan but the implementation has to be well planned in order to make them comfortable in accepting the change. The researcher found that the teachers need to be encouraged to do it and try using the ICT before deciding on using it in their teaching routine. From there, they found that the teachers needed support in order for them to integrate the technology in their lesson and the teachers needed freedom to focus on their preferred ICT agendas rather than a list of competencies given which need to be fulfilled. Finally is to change the top down approach in introducing a new system as they will monitor and supervise to make sure the teachers implement and utilise the system given. It will be better to use the bottom up

approach in introducing the ICT integration as the teachers will utilise it and approach the top level for further professional improvement. Therefore, the teachers will have their space in learning and integrating ICT in their teaching and learning process. That was the three main factors which help the teachers to continue using the technology introduced and appreciate it (Terry & Roy 2008).

2.3.3 Teachers’ Computer Competencies Teachers’ competency is an important factor to influence the acceptance of ICT by the teachers. As the teachers need to know the method to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process because it will affect teachers fluency in teaching and learning process with ICT. As the teachers are not used to integrating ICT in lesson, it will take up too much of time in setting up and preparing it which could cost waste of time as it happen during lesson. Teachers need to have basic competency which will help them to accept ICT integration and implement it effectively. As in Spain, a research (Antoni, Julio & Carles, 2013) done in schools which are fully equipped in order to investigate the factors that will be the barrier of ICT integration in teaching process. They believe that there are only two types of factor which is the contextual factors and factors related to the characteristics of the teachers. Contextual factors is divided to five main categories which are utility and educational setting of the ICT, teacher support in the use of ICT, teacher’s self perceived expertise in the educational use of ICT, availability and access to ICT in the classroom and access to ICT outside the classroom. The data were collected from teachers in kindergarten to teachers in secondary education. As the technologies are provided, teachers need to make sure that they are familiar and expert in using the technology provided. Teachers are competent in

using the technology, they will have a higher believe with the tools and the advantage of using the tools, teachers positively integrate the new change and help the students to learn better and gain more knowledge. Teachers need to make sure they are competent to the facility provided in order to accept ICT in teaching and learning process and integrate it successfully (Antoni, Julio & Carles, 2013). The 21st century’s teaching and learning process has changed compared to the previous centuries as many technologies have been provided by the government in order to be in the same pace as the students’ advancement in technology usage. This step is definitely affecting the teachers as they have to accept and implement the usage of ICT in classroom. In order to succeed in carrying out ICT integration in teaching and learning process, teachers need to obtain sufficient knowledge about the technology provided and the development progress of the technology (Agyei & Voogt, 2010). Teachers need to continuously engage themselves in learning about the latest and best practice in their area of study and learn about the new contents of the taught discipline including the latest teaching approaches. It shows that teachers that have good teaching, learning and professional competencies have a higher probability of using ICT in teaching and learning process efficiently. This mean teachers who have good teaching, learning and professional competencies most probably have better computer competency which allows them to accept and integrate ICT in teaching and learning process as they are familiar with technology and frequently use it. This shows the computer competency of the teachers is depending on the teachers’ involvement in continuously learning which expose them to the usage of current technology available (Pineida, 2011). Furthermore a research (Inan & Lowther, 2010) that was done in States shows that the availability of the technology in school does not necessarily lead to ICT integration and improvement in teaching process as there are

many other factors that influence the

teaching process. As the technology usage in school is grouped into three categories which are the instructional preparation, technology for instructional delivery and technology as learning tool (Inan & Lowther, 2010). All the three categories of technology usage are depending on the teachers as the main core element in accepting ICT integration in teaching and learning process. The teachers need to do a lot of research and continuously engage themselves in current technology and software available which can be used in teaching process and benefits the students (Lim & Khine, 2006). This represents the factor of teachers’ computer competency in affecting the teaching process. As the computer competency level is high, the teachers will be more creative in integrating ICT teaching and learning process and involve communication and collaboration with peers, students and parents which will highly improve the teaching process when the technologies are available in school. On the other hand, the introduction of Magic Board in Mathematics teaching has shown the same factor which is the teachers’ computer competency will be the main factor influencing the acceptance of new technology (Yuan & Lee, 2012). As the teachers need to be familiar with the technology provided in order for them to use it. This shows that the teachers need sufficient training and opportunity to use it in order to familiarize with the technology provided. In addition, it also shows that the teachers are not supposed to only receive training but also be exposed to the successfulness of others in integrating the technology.

2.3.4 Administrative Support A teacher who would like to accept the integration of ICT in their teaching and learning process definitely needs the knowledge to handle equipment and the support from the

administrative department in order to ease the integration process. This is because teachers are not necessarily familiar with the equipment provided and they need a technical team to help them when they face in prompt to problems during the lesson. Technical team could help to solve the problem in shorter time which helps to avoid wastage of time in teaching and learning process. As in the research done by Mama and Hennessy (2013) who develops a typology of teachers beliefs and practices concerning classroom use of ICT found that unavailability or inappropriateness of technological equipment in schools, lack of ongoing technical support, and insufficiency of ICT training programs were also the factors that affect teachers attitude in integrating ICT in classroom. This is because the equipment are provided without training and technical support and teachers are expected to use the equipment efficiently causing teachers to disbelief the benefit of equipment provided and lose interest in integrating it. The administration department shall be aware of these factors and concern on teachers need in order to avoid teachers from giving up about integrating ICT in classroom especially the experienced teachers who are new to ICT integration. The administrative department shall always figure out the way to improve teachers’ belief in ICT integration in teaching and learning process. In Singapore, the teachers are facing difficulty in finishing ICT mediated lesson in fixed time lesson (Lim & Khine, 2006). This is because the will be unforeseen hardware or software problems that could occur during the lesson which causes teachers to waste valuable teaching and learning time in order to solve the problem. This problem is due to the lack of technical support in the schools as teachers who are not familiar with the equipment take a lot of time in solving the problem and it demotivate them to use it again. This is the effect when the leaders are not playing their role in managing teachers need during ICT integration in teaching and learning process. Leaders shall see the importance

of administrative support in encouraging and influencing the acceptance of teachers in integrating ICT in classroom (Lim & Khine, 2006). The research (Agyei & Voogt, 2010) in Ghana also shows that the importance of the administrative support as the administrative support including the training that the teachers needed in order to accept the ICT integration. In this study, the researchers found that teachers are facing technical problem while using the software and lack of confidence among teachers during the integration due to poor administrative support (Agyei & Voogt, 2010). The teachers need technical support and training in order for them to get familiar and be more confident in handling the technology in teaching and learning process. By taking these steps, teachers will be able to see the advantages of integrating ICT and the support given by the administration department which gives positive impact on teachers’ beliefs in accepting ICT integration in teaching and learning process. Nevertheless in Tondeur, Keer, Braak and Valcke (2008) study which shows that training, internal support and ratio of pupil to computers in schools are the other factors other than ICT policy, affecting teachers ICT integration in classrooms. This is because the principals of the school were not aware of the content of the policy which was the cause teachers did not get sufficient support from administrative department. In this study, the ICT coordinator is giving support to the teachers but yet it is limited as they also did not get sufficient support from the administration department. This shows that the administrative department plays an important for the teachers and ICT technical staff to fulfill the objective of the ICT policy. Moreover, administrative support is an important role as it influences the school environment and culture. As the administrative department is encouraging and gives support to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process, all the teachers will be

cooperating and inspired to accept the integration of ICT in classroom (Teo, 2008 in Badia, Menses & Sigales, 2013). They will understand the need of the teachers while integrating ICT and providing sufficient assistant to the teachers such as training and technical support. It creates cultural values and norm which influence teachers to accept and enhance the integration of ICT in classroom. The institutional environment which influenced by administrative department is playing an important role in influencing teachers’ belief and attitude towards accepting ICT integration in classroom. 2.3.5 ICT Policy Nevertheless the ICT policy by the Ministry of Education plays an important role in influencing teachers’ attitude in ICT integration as the ICT policy makes sure that all the departments and elements in school organization are hand in hand in accepting integration of ICT in teaching and learning process. The ICT policy also initiates the equipment that will be provided to schools and ensure the ICT department organizes training for teachers to improve their ICT integration skills. A research (Lim & Khine, 2006) was done in Singapore on the methods to manage teachers’ barriers in integrating ICT in schools. It shows that teachers are frustrated in integrating ICT as the computers provided are outdated and limited. This occurs due to some of the programs found by the teachers can only be used as the low end computer where it could not run the latest and current software or programs. Moreover, the amount time needed by teachers to look for the suitable resources in order to integrate it in the classroom as the resources given by Ministry of Education is insufficient (Lim & Khine, 2006). This means that the policy on ICT is not providing sufficient tools and resources for the teachers in order for the teachers to integrate ICT in the classroom. ICT policy plays a main role in deciding the role of every department in preparing the training, tools

and resources that will influence the acceptance of the teachers to integrate ICT in classroom. From the previous research, it shows that the problematic communication of the policy to school leaders and negative school culture on the innovations was also affecting the teachers’ belief and acceptance in ICT integration (Mama & Hennessy, 2013). As the leaders do not understand the core message of the policy and they cannot comprehend ICT integration activity in school which will cause the school culture to avoid and disbelief the benefit of ICT integration. This study also shows that different teachers are facing the same barrier during ICT integration in classroom. It means that the higher authority has to take steps to solve this barrier as many teachers are facing the same barrier. ICT policy also indicates the sufficiency of the pedagogy tools as the tools are provided by the Ministry of Education to schools for teaching and learning process. ICT policy is playing a major role too in affecting teacher beliefs and acceptance in ICT integration. The government of Ghana who realizes the importance of ICT integration in teaching Mathematics after analyzing the report on Developing Science, Mathematics, and ICT (SMICT) education in Sub Saharan Africa. Ghana has introduced ICT into their school system and implemented ICT integration in teaching and learning process. A study on ICT use in teaching of Mathematics found that teachers could not integrate ICT as the schools are not sure on the effectiveness of ICT integration and they are not interested in integrating ICT in schools (Agyei & Voogt, 2010). This means that the implementation or the communication of the policy is not enforced efficiently which causes the barriers to occur. The communication of the policy and the enforcement of the policy plays an important role so that teachers has sufficient support and tools including motivation and training to accept and integrate ICT in classroom.

A similar study was done by Tondeur, et. al, (2008) who looked at the potential of ICT policy in school influencing teachers’ acceptance in ICT integration. The study confirmed that teachers are using ICT more regularly when the schools have explicit ICT policy which stresses shared goals in schools. As it also shows that teachers’ perception regarding the ICT content of the ICT policy are making significant impact on ICT integration in classroom compared to the actual content of the ICT policy. This shows that the ICT policy plays an important role in ensuring the ICT integration in classroom but with a condition, teachers must be aware of the content. This is because it helps to ensure the objective of the policy is achieved successfully.

2.4 ICT Integration in Malaysian Context In Malaysia, the ICT development was started ever since the fourth prime minister announce the Vision 2020 as the new vision of the country in 1991 where this vision would like to make a paradigm shift for the next generation. It emphasizes a holistic approach to quality human development to ensure development of cognitive, affective and psychomotor. The first step by Malaysia government is to make sure the schools are developing in line with the Malaysian super corridor (MSC) project. One of the major projects done was the Smart School projects where the school emphasizes teaching with modern technology integration (Rahimah, 1998). This project was to be implemented in 1999 but not to provide computers and technology to schools whereby they encourage the practical learning with thinking skills by using the unlimited resources and be responsible for it. The Smart school projects were planned with 5 levels of implementation but due to the economic downturn in 1998, the implementation has changed to three levels which are the A level (full class model), B+ level (restricted classroom model) and B level (laboratory

model). These three levels involve 90 schools all over the nation where 9 schools are newly built and the rest 81 will be developed from existing schools. The rest of the schools throughout the nation were encouraged to source out from other resources such as stakeholders, parents and private sectors organization to help in providing technology to the government schools which are not in the levels (Wan et al. 2009). Lately most of the schools in Malaysia except some of those in rural areas were not equipped with technology and internet facilities. In 2005, about 85% of the schools are provided with multimedia projectors which mean the government is providing technology facilities to most of the schools in the nation (Kazi, Ahmad Zabidi & Mosa, 2012). Government is providing technology tools to all the school as stated in the Blueprint Education. The main objective of the Smart school project is to change school culture and pedagogical practices used by the teachers. They are trying to change the memory based learning method to stimulate thinking environment with creativity and finally be responsible for their own learning (Ong, 2006) The pedagogical practice that Smart School will be practicing is the student centered learning with appropriate mix learning strategies to ensure mastery basic competencies and enhance holistic development. The new pedagogical approach also allows the different learning style among students which will enhance the performance of the students. It shall have a compatible classroom environment which could integrate the new pedagogical approach. At the same time, teachers could use variety of teaching materials in order to achieve the curricular and instructional needs and motivates the student with more activities. The most important skill to be implant by the smart school projects is to make the students to be an ICT literate whereby they shall be able to use the technology according to the need of the ICT age.

On the other hand, in 2003, Ministry of Education has encouraged teachers to teach by using laptops. This was introduced ever since the subject Mathematics and science has been taught in English as teachers could get a lot of resources from the internet and make the lesson more interesting. In this program, students are using the technology to understand the concepts and it helps to increase the high order thinking skills. This happens as the student could share their knowledge by communicating with one another in order to solve problem solving questions (Keong, Sharaf & Daniel, 2005). The initiative is still carried out till now in encouraging teachers to use ICT or the technology in their lesson. Not only that, the ministry of education has placed a big sum of money ever since 2012 to give more chance for ICT integration and create dynamic ICT environment in schools. This step has been taken as the integrating of ICT could help to improve the teaching and learning practices and process. It is because the ICT integration could transform and create innovative pedagogical approaches in the teaching and learning process. By only providing the technology is insufficient as technology is a tool which is advancing rapidly. Teachers need to always be in touch with a technology literate member to keep themselves up to date on the latest update of software and features of a program. As the teachers are updated with the current technology, it will help the teachers to educate the students by using latest technology which will help to attract students’ interest and engage their attention in class (Moses et al, 2011)

2.4.1 Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013 – 2025). The new policy Malaysia Education Development Plan (Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia, PPPM) for the transformation of Malaysia’s education has been published and is being actively discussed by educator, parents, private organisation and students. The Ministry

of Education (MOE) has realized that the previous education system did not give equal education to all citizens all over Malaysia, the deficiency of thinking skills among teenagers and the lack of citizenship among Malaysian. The MOE has done a research and implement the new policy to transform the education system in order to produce high order thinking, united, and efficient generation in future. All the three elements are the core value of the five aspiration of the new blueprint. In this new policy it includes the improvement of teaching profession, transform the capabilities and capacities of MOE and the involvement of parents in children’s education. The blueprint shows a very comprehend policy which tries to improve every element and involve more parties in the development of Malaysia’s education system (Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013 – 2025). There are eleven paradigm shifts in order to achieve the five aspirations that have been mentioned previously. The seventh shift state that they will leverage ICT to scale up quality learning across Malaysia. This means that Ministry of Education is looking towards the integration of ICT in the education system in order to improve quality learning in schools. The seventh shift is looking at ICT in enhancing the teaching and learning happening in all 10 000 schools in Malaysia. This shift is trying to provide wider range of learning scope with engaging and interactive content. It will give an opportunity for the students to learn some lesson at their own pace and it reduces the limitation of their interest of learning through distance learning programs. The most important, teachers and principals are having national and international learning resources and communities in order to help them improve their practice in teaching and learning process in classroom. This shift is also to ensure there is no urban rural division in enhancing ICT as a part of schooling life with all teachers and students being equipped with appropriate skills in order to use technology meaningfully and effectively.

The seventh shift stated that the Ministry of Education will provide internet access and virtual learning environments via 1BestariNet for all the schools. This net will provide all the students, teachers and parents with a 4G network which provide them a virtual learning platform that allow them to share learning resources, run interactive lesson and communicate virtually. The next mission in the seventh shift is to augment online content to share best practices starting with a video library in 2013 of the best teachers delivering lessons in Science, Mathematics, Bahasa Malaysia and English language. It will provide teachers with many exemplary teaching resources online which will help the teachers to innovate their teaching and learning process in the classroom with ICT integration. The videos can also be provided to students as a revision tool after lesson in schools. The last aim in this shift is to maximize the use of ICT for distance and self-paced learning to expand access to high quality teaching regardless of location or student skill level. This aim will give an opportunity to students to learn any subject that are not offered in the school and learn it with the best teachers in nation through distance learning programs. The new policy of education plan has shown the importance of ICT in the education system which helps in providing more efficient and productive education for the next generation but it needs an efficient execution plan. The Ministry of Education has also exhibited their plan in executing the transformation in three waves. The first wave from 2013 to 2015, they are supporting teachers with turn around system and focusing on core skills. The second wave form 2016 – 2020 will accelerate the system improvement and finally in the third wave they are moving towards excellence with increased operational flexibility. It shows that the Ministry of Education has systematically layout their plan in order to achieve all the 11 shifts in providing a new system to education in Malaysia.

2.4.2 ICT and Critical Success Factors The implementation of ICT in education system in Malaysia was started with Computer in Education program with the construction of computer laboratories and providing basic necessities. This was the step where the government would like to provide the computer in education from the primary level in April 2005 (Rossafri, 2012). The objective of this step was to make sure all students starting from year one to have foundation to develop their ICT capabilities in future years. The students will be exposed to computer education as they step into primary schools and it will educate them gradually on the ICT literacy till they finish their primary school. Ministry of Education is aware of the importance of ICT integration and enhances it more significantly in the new education policy with more improvements but yet teachers are facing a lot of barriers in integrating it in the classroom (Kazi, et al., 2012). Before looking at the barriers faced by the teachers, the perception of teachers’ plays a main role as it influences the acceptance of ICT integration by the teachers. In the previous studies (Rossafri, 2012; Keong, et al.,2005), it shows that teachers in Malaysia are aware of the significant and benefit of integrating ICT in their teaching and learning process as they believes that it help to improve and increase achievement of students. Teachers are positive towards ICT and it help to reduce teachers routine task when their lesson plans and resources are incorporated in the provided software application. It shows that teachers are having a very positive perception and believes on ICT integration but the barriers that occur during ICT integration will withdraw the acceptance of the teachers to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process.

There are various barriers that teachers are facing in Malaysia and the barriers faced by Malaysian teachers are also similar to the barrier faced by teachers in other countries. The first barrier faced by the teachers is the administrative support which includes technical support for teachers’ acceptance on ICT integration (Moses, et al., 2011; Kazi, et al., 2012). Teachers are wasting a lot of time during teaching and learning when they face a problem during ICT integration in classroom as they do not have technical support team to assist them. As problems will occur during the implementation due to certain unforeseen circumstances which needs an ICT professional staff who familiar with the software and hardware of the computers (Keong, et al., 2005). This shows that the importance of technical support in helping teachers to integrate ICT in classroom and avoid wastage of time teaching and learning. Furthermore, teachers in Malaysia also face problem where they could not integrate ICT for teaching and learning due to low computer literacy among teachers (Rossafri, 2012). In this study, it is found that there are many teachers who are not competent in integrating ICT after ten years of ICT implementation in education. The competencies of the teachers are very low in ICT knowledge and skills especially in using several software applications that were provided by the Ministry of Education. This is due to the inadequate time for the teachers to learn and familiarize themselves with the tools, knowledge and skills provided. It also shows that there are no differences between teachers’ gender in ICT competency in integrating ICT in classroom. Moreover, the barrier that the teachers face is the unawareness of the ICT policy content which causes the teachers to be unaware of the requirement and the advantage of ICT integration in teaching and learning process (Kazi, et al., 2012). This study also shows that the schools should have their own ICT policy for the school level in order to enhance the ICT policy by the Ministry of Education. It shows that only 36 percent of the schools are

promoting or support ICT based innovation by the teachers whereby all the schools are supposed to work hand in hand in to promote and support the teachers for ICT based innovation and integration. This means that the Ministry of Education is not significantly ensuring all the schools to execute the ICT policy by them which cause the ICT integration project is not implemented as whole in the nation. The ICT policy by the government need to be explained and conveyed to the schools clearly and strictly be executed by schools which help in forming a community to improve and enhance the ICT integration (Kazi, et al., 2012).

Summary From the previous studies, there are many factors that influences the acceptance of a teacher to integrate ICT in their teaching and learning process and this is involving all the elements of a school organization. The significance of ICT integration in classroom is becoming very important until the Ministry of Education need to look into the factors that influence the teachers’ belief in order to make sure the execution of ICT integration is being done. In the next chapter will the methods used in analyzing the data collected on factors that influence the acceptance of teachers’ belief in integrating ICT in teaching and learning process will be discussed.