engleski

Gender Differences in Teachers' Self-Efficacy for Using Information and Communication Technology: Exploring the Moderating Effect of Age

The ICT is a critical component of societal development and our daily life. Consequently, it becomes increasingly important in education. In spite of efforts to reduce the gender gap in the ICT area, various studies point out that the ICT field is still male dominated. The figures indicate that in the EU only 24.9% of women graduate in the ICT field and very few of them enter the sector (13%) (European Commission, 2016). In Croatia, out of the total number of graduates in the ICT field in 2013, only 16% were women (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). One of the ways of reducing the ICT gender differences is the effective integration of ICT in education. Among factors influencing a successful integration of ICT, of special importance are teachers' beliefs about ICT and their ICT competence (Buabeng-Andoh, 2012, Kocak Usluel, 2007). Literature, following Bandura's (1994) definition of self-efficacy „as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives”, often relates these concepts to teachers' computer (ICT) self-efficacy. Although the concept of self-efficacy has been conceptualised in a variety of ways (Vekiri and Chronaki, 2008 ; Kocak Usluel, 2007), in most of the studies similar patterns of gender differences emerge. According to Tømte and Hatlevik (2011) in Nordic countries male students reported more self-efficacy in ICT than female students. Vekiri and Chronaki (2008) pointed out that from elementary school to university and across borders male students have more confidence in their ICT abilities than female students. The gender differences in favor of men have also been identified for teachers (Sherer and Siddiq, 2015). The studies also indicate the association of teachers' ICT self- efficacy with the frequency of teachers' ICT use for teaching and the length of ICT use (Kocak Usluel, 2007). It is thus of particular importance to identify teachers' ICT self- efficacy and to explore it in the light of the gender differences as it may influence their intention and the actual use of ICT in teaching. Based on an empirical research, our presentation is also focused on gender differences in teachers’ self-efficacy in using ICT in primary and secondary education in Croatia. Its goal is to identify gender differences in teachers' ICT self-efficacy using the moderating effect of age, a variable which role in ICT self-efficacy of teachers has been neglected in research. Based on studies following Bandura's concept of self-efficacy (Sherer and Siddiq, 2015) we accept the idea that a domain specific self- efficacy provide more detailed information. Accordingly, we define teachers' ICT self- efficacy as their beliefs in their capabilities to use ICT in different activities for instructional purposes. In this context, in the presentation the following questions will be addressed: 1. Are there gender differences in teachers' ICT self- efficacy? 2. What is the relationship between gender differences in teachers' ICT self- efficacy and teachers' age? 3. Does the relationship between gender differences in teachers' ICT self-efficacy and teachers' age change after controlling for the variables: the frequency and length of teachers' use of ICT for instructional purposes, the frequency of teachers' ICT use for student oriented instructions and teacher oriented instructions? In accordance with the above said, we expect that gender differences in teachers' ICT self- efficacy will be lower in younger participants than in older age groups. We also hypothesize that gender differences in teachers' ICT self- efficacy will be reduced with longer and more frequent use of ICT in teaching and with higher levels of technical and professional support in schools. METHOD: This study was based on the broader research project “The use of ICT in learning, teaching and assessment in Croatian primary and secondary schools” that was conducted by the Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNet and the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb. The data were collected in September 2018 using the online questionnaire that was distributed to the principals of all primary and secondary schools in Croatia. The questionnaire was created using the LimeSurvey platform (Schmitz, 2019). The school principals were asked to forward the questionnaire link to all teachers who work in their schools. About 13 % of all primary school teachers (N = 4395 ; 85.2 % females) and 8 % of all secondary school teachers (N = 2218 ; 69.6 % females) in Croatia completed the questionnaire (total N = 6613 ; 80 % females). The differences between the sample and the population of teachers in Croatia regarding gender and type of school ratios were negligible (χ² = 467.10 ; p <.01 ; Cramér's V = .084). Among other constructs, the questionnaire contained the following items / scales: items on demographics (e.g. teacher’s gender, type of school, age, years of ICT use), the scale of teachers’ self- confidence (self-efficacy) in integrating ICT (7 items ; α = .88 ; Papanastasiou & Angeli, 2008), the scale of student versus teacher-centred teaching with or without ICT (2 factors ; student-centred teaching, 4 items, α = .84 ; teacher-centred teaching, 4 items, α = .71 ; European Schoolnet, 2013), and the scale of the perceived technical and professional support for using ICT in school (7 items ; α = 0.86 ; Papanastasiou & Angeli, 2008). The principal axis factoring was used in order to check the factor structure of the scales. The findings supported the unidimensionality of all aforementioned constructs. The series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to address the research problems. The teachers’ self-confidence in integrating ICT was used as the outcome variable in all multiple regression analyses. On the other hand, the teachers’ gender, age, gender- age interaction, type of school, the length of ICT use in teaching (in years), the frequency of student-centred and teacher-centred teaching, and the estimates of technical and professional support for using ICT in schools were introduced as predictors in different multiple regression models. All statistical analyses were conducted in IBM SPSS 20. EXPECTED OUTCOMES: In accordance with our hypothesis, male teachers report higher levels of self-efficacy for using ICT in teaching. As expected, gender differences are larger among older teachers and negligible among the youngest ones. This finding holds for both the primary and the secondary school teachers. The gender-age interaction in predicting teachers’ self-efficacy for the ICT use is statistically significant, even after the introduction of other predictor variables in the regression model (namely, the perceived technical and professional support for using ICT in school, the estimates of the student / teacher-centred teaching and the length of ICT use). The teachers who report higher estimates of technical and professional support for using ICT in their schools also have higher self- efficacy, as well as those teachers who use different teaching activities more frequently (both the student and the teacher-centred). Furthermore, teachers who use ICT for a longer time tend to be more self-efficient. The results indicate that the gender differences in self- efficacy for using ICT in teaching decrease over generations, which is a positive finding. Furthermore, the younger teachers are more self- efficient for the ICT use than the older teachers are. This is especially characteristic for female teachers. This finding is relevant for educational policies in all school systems that are characterized by the increasing growth of ICT use, for example, for school systems in different European countries (e.g. European Schoolnet, 2013).

gender ; age ; information and communication technology ; teachers ; self-efficacy

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