Educational policy planning of ict program and its effect on students’ competence development in teacher training colleges in Cameroon.

Abstract

This study entitled “Educational policy planning of ICT program and its effect on students’ Competence development in teacher training colleges in Cameroon.” This work was inspired by the institution of the 2013 computer based program in Teacher Training colleges. It was put in place to enable student teachers acquire professional skills and knowledge as they use the computer in learning and teaching within the framework of competence based teaching. The researcher seeks to understand the role effective ICT program planning plays in enhancing professional development of student teachers and to propose a model to ameliorate the planning of ICT in Teacher Training Colleges. This information will contribute to the achievement of the fourth sustainable Development goals of quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. It was conducted with the aim of attaining four(4) objectives which were:- Determine the extent to which ICTs program norm affect students’ professional development in teacher training colleges; investigate how ICTs program planning process affects students’ professional development in teacher training colleges; establish the extent to which ICTs program planning context affects students’ professional development in teacher training colleges and finally investigate how ICTs program planning constraints affect students’ professional development in teacher training colleges. A survey research design was used. Quantitative(questionnaire) and qualitative(interview) methods were used to collect data for the study. The questionnaire and the interview guides were pre tested and validated by experts from the University of Bamenda and University of Yaounde I. The population for the work included teacher trainers in teacher training colleges and ICT pedagogic inspectors in Cameroon. A sample size of 417 was chosen from a target population of 1619 student teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents for the questionnaire, while purposive sampling technique was used to select participants for the interview. Then data was collected directly using the Direct Delivery Technique (DDT) and through social media (WhatsApp, email). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data collected through questionnaire using the SPSS model. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and the mean ratings were computed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software version 25.0. at 0.05 the level of significance. Findings revealed that ICT program planning norms significantly affect students’ professional development in TTCs (P= 02.00) with a coefficient of 0.13 and 80% responses from interview to confirm; ICT program planning process significantly affects students’ professional development in TTCs (P= 02.00) with a coefficient of 0.15 in addition to 100% of respondents confirming through interview; ICT program planning context significantly affects students’ professional development in TTCs (P= 16.00) with a coefficient of 0.40 with a total of 80% participants from interview sharing same view; and ICT program planning constraint significantly affects students’ professional development in TTCs (P= 26.00) with a coefficient of 0.51 and 80% responses from interview to confirm that there is an impact . A model on ICTs program was proposed titled “A Model of ICT program planning and students’ Competence development in TTCs”. Based on the above findings, it was recommended among others that a participatory ICT planning wherein all stakeholders are involved should be encouraged.