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Article

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes towards the Use of Information Technology in Classrooms

by
Otilia Clipa
1,
Clapona-Simona Delibas
1,2,* and
Liliana Mâță
3,*
1
Department of Science of Education, Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania
2
Petru Rares Technological High School, 710001 Botosani, Romania
3
Teacher Training Department, Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău, 600115 Bacău, Romania
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 1001; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101001
Submission received: 19 July 2023 / Revised: 16 September 2023 / Accepted: 29 September 2023 / Published: 1 October 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning)
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Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

:
This research aims to measure the level of integration of ICT in teaching, learning, and assessment practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose measuring teachers’ attitude, self-efficacy, and skills in using technology because the quality of education during the pandemic was influenced by these factors. An online questionnaire was distributed amongst 189 teachers from all levels of education, from kindergarten to high school, and the sample was described using the means, distribution, and number of years of experience in education. The statistical analyses employed for the quantitative data included correlational study and mediation analysis. We found a correlation between gender, environment, barrier level and teachers’ attitude, self-efficacy, and skills. Also, the teachers’ attitude mediates the association between ICT skills and ICT integration in the educational process. The results reveal high positive scores in terms of ICT integration in teaching practices, teachers’ attitude, self-efficacy, and ICT skills. The novelty of this research is that this is the first time a questionnaire based on attitude, self-efficacy, ICT skills, and ICT integration in the classroom has been applied in the northern Moldavian region of Romania, and the results underline the educational implications for in-service teacher training.

1. Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of information and communications technology (ICT) increased dramatically, affecting educational paradigms and practices. Although the Internet has been extolled for giving people the ability to maintain a somewhat normal life, the pandemic brought to the fore digital inequalities and the lack of skills of many, thus, exacerbating the negative effects of the crisis. During 2020–2021, digital skills became a practical need, not just a social policy, because of the pandemic [1]. The educational system was affected by these special challenges (isolation, lack of social and emotional relations, using technical devices for communication, etc.), and all the actors in this field were made to adapt to this new reality [2,3,4]. Recently, research has been conducted to measure the factors that the integration of ICT into teaching depend upon [5,6,7]. The results indicate that personal, technological, and institutional determinants greatly influence the integration of ICT into the teaching and learning process [8,9].
Teachers’ attitude towards ICT integration in teaching, teachers’ self-efficacy in the use of technology, and teachers’ skills in the use of ICT are essential human factors involved in the integration of ICT in the classroom. An equally important finding was that appropriate equipment, technical assistance, a stable Internet connection, etc., are material factors that guarantee quality technology integration [9,10,11,12,13]. ICT integration into the teaching–learning process may depend on the level of these factors to a greater or lesser extent, but what is certain is that when the scores of these factors are high, the chances of integrating ICT in the classroom increase.
In Romania, digital skills have become a highly challenging issue for in-service teacher training during the pandemic, as underlined in specific research [14,15,16] in which the authors analyzed the perceived digital competence of 3419 teachers from Romania and looked for correlations with their status, the location of the school, their age, the subject taught, and the level of participation in in-service courses for online teaching.

2. Factors That Contribute to Technology Integration in Education

2.1. Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Use of Information Technology in Classrooms

Teachers’ attitudes towards the integration of ICT in teaching and learning are the main criteria for the successful implementation of new technologies [17]. As far as teachers are concerned, we can state that their attitude shows whether they like using technology in the classroom [4,8,18]. The findings of study of the authors Onurbodur, Brinberg, and Coupey (2000) revealed that a person’s attitude can be determined by their beliefs [19].
The proposal to increase teachers’ use of technology to raise the level of student learning entails analyzing the extent to which teachers’ current practices are rooted in and mediated by their existing pedagogical beliefs [20,21]. The integration of technology in the classroom, along with teachers’ acknowledgment of its usefulness, depends on teachers’ attitudes and beliefs to a large extent [18]. Research shows that if teachers’ attitudes towards the use of ICT in the educational process have high scores, they will be able to integrate ICT more easily in the classroom [22,23]. Consequently, teachers with a positive attitude towards ICT can enhance its integration in the classroom compared to teachers whose attitude is negative [24,25]. Predictive variables for attitudes towards ICT integration are age, project participation, gender, and face-to-face and/or online teaching [10,26].
The findings of the study revealed that teachers with high digital skills frequently use ICT in education, but that there are differences in terms of gender, certain forms of ICT, and the use of ICT in different school subjects [27]. Elfatihi and Ait Hammou [28] conducted a study to identify the difference between male and female teachers in terms of ICT use in the classroom by measuring the level of ICT integration in school practices. The results revealed that male teachers were more eager to use ICT in the classroom than female teachers. More precisely, although the male teachers in this study demonstrated that they possessed greater ICT skills and better integrated ICT in the classroom than their female counterparts, it was concluded that gender did not statistically significantly affect the level of ICT integration in teaching. This result is consistent with a range of studies on this topic, but inconsistent with some others.
Kollia et al. [29] conducted a study including 333 teachers in which they investigated whether teachers’ age and years of service influenced their perception of educational technology in Greek public schools. The results revealed statistically significant differences: the younger the teachers, the higher the positive values of their perceptions of the importance of ICT in the educational process and teachers with fewer years of service perceived the importance of ICT as positive to a larger extent compared to their more experienced colleagues. These results were consistent with other studies conducted in other countries on the same topic. Computer competency, computer access, training in computers, and level of use of computer programs were found to be good predictors of teachers’ attitudes [30].
While no gender- and environment-based differences were found, it was noted that there was a difference in terms of teachers’ age with respect to the process of technology integration into the educational process, and the benefits of using technology in the classroom are a reality [28,29]. This gives rise to a proposal to identify the main obstacles to the use of ICT in the classroom, with these results being meant to sound the alarm to those responsible for solving problems and streamlining learning through technology [12]. This results in the necessity of implementation of technology in education and the significant role of the attitudes of teachers in this process.

2.2. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Using ICT in Education

Self-efficacy is a concept that refers to a person’s belief in their ability to display successful behavior and to the confidence that one can control one’s own motivations, behavior, and social environment [31]. In relation to teachers, self-efficacy translates into a “judgment of their capabilities” to attain the proposed outcomes by involving students in learning, even when they may be difficult or unmotivated [32,33,34]; it is a factor relevant to efficiency in terms of the efforts for and implications of teaching activities [35]. To understand why some teachers use ICT in the classroom, a research study was conducted, which found that their level of self-efficacy was much higher than that of teachers who did not use ICT, which demonstrated the existence of a positive relationship between self-efficacy about using digital tools and the use of ICT for teaching purposes [36,37,38].
A clear-cut distinction is made between confidence in using ICT on one’s own and using it for pedagogical purposes [39]. In line with this information, we could say that, to train others, self-efficacy concerning one’s own ICT skills is not enough for using with efficacious ICT skills in education and must be accompanied by a positive attitude toward using ICT in educational applications. Self-efficacy of ICT integration in educational process was a challenging issue in the pandemic period when teachers had the opportunity to develop the digital skills; be more confident in utilizing diverse apps, software, digital materials, and open resources; and maintain authentic communication with students [40]. A study conducted in 2015 and 2018 found a connection between self-efficacy in basic and advanced ICT operational and collaborative skills and self-efficacy in computer use for instructional purposes, but, at the same time, they were treated separately [41]. This self-efficacy is positively correlated with digital competences that are grouped into the following categories: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, and problem-solving. Studies have shown that the competence of teachers in the field of information technology is a key factor in the effective use of ICT in the classroom [42,43]. Hershkovitz [44] explored the factors contributing to a sense of success and self-efficacy in integrating technology in teaching following the experience of teaching during COVID-19. Afari et al. [45] measured the association between the ICT self-efficacy of teachers and pre-service teachers’ intentions to use technology.
Hatlevik and Hatlevik [11] aimed to investigate the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy in using ICT for educational purposes, ICT use in teaching practice, general ICT self-efficacy, collegial collaboration in the use of ICT in teaching, and the school management’s lack of facilitation of the use of ICT in teaching. The results showed that teachers’ general ICT self-efficacy was associated with their ICT self-efficacy for educational purposes and that collegial collaboration was positively associated with ICT self-efficacy for training purposes. At the same time, teachers’ ICT self-efficacy for educational purposes and collegial collaboration had moderate positive associations with teachers’ ICT use in their teaching practice. The lack of facilitation was negatively correlated with both collegial collaboration and general ICT self-efficacy, while collegial collaboration and general ICT self-efficacy were positively correlated. The lack of facilitation correlated negatively with both collegial collaboration and general ICT self-efficacy, while collegial collaboration and general ICT self-efficacy were positively correlated. The lack of facilitation by the school management of ICT use in teaching had no significant direct association, neither with teachers’ ICT self-efficacy for educational purposes nor with their use of ICT in teaching. These results were consistent with those obtained in other research studies.
The goal of this research was to measure teachers’ attitudes, self-efficacy, and level of skills regarding technology integration into the educational process in Romania. Another aim was to ascertain the challenges faced by pre-university teachers in incorporating ICT in teaching in the period December 2020–January 2021. This research shows the influences of teacher’s attitudes and self-efficacy on the perception of digital competence and level of integration of ICT in educational activities. The novelty of this research is that a similar questionnaire has never been applied in the Moldavian area of Romania in terms of attitude, self-efficacy, skills, and ICT integration in the classroom. This region is important for exploring such issues because it is a large rural region of Romania and has the poorest population. The mean income is below the European mean (24% from GDP, Eurostat, 2022). The future development of this region, and the entire country, is influenced by the quality of education. During the pandemic, achieving a high level of digital education depended on ICT integration. Therefore, we propose analyzing the factors that affected the level of ICT integration when developing digital education strategies. The results of this article will be presented and used in future in-service training for teachers and leaders of educational institutions. These results are LAO relevant to educational policymakers who will decide on how to implement national projects for the development of ICT skills. We propose following up this study some years after the pandemic and after the implementation of these in-service courses.

2.3. Research Objectives and Hypotheses

The objectives of this investigation were to explore existing correlations between human factors that influence the use of technology in classes (attitude, self-efficacy, and skills) and the integration of ICT into the instructional process, and to identify the challenges faced by school teachers (K–12 level) in the new context created by online teaching.
We made four hypotheses:
H1: 
There are positive correlations between attitude, self-efficacy, and teachers’ skills in using ICT and the integration of technology in the classroom.
H2: 
There are negative correlations between the level of barriers and ICT integration into schools.
H3: 
There are significant gender- and environment-based differences in terms of attitude, self-efficacy, ICT skills, and ICT integration into teaching practices.
H4: 
Teachers’ attitude mediates the association between skills in ICT and ICT integration into schools.

3. Methods

The research was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 (10 months after the pandemic began) in three counties in the north of Moldavia: Botoșani, Neamț, and Suceava.

3.1. Participants

A total of 189 teachers were surveyed, with the average age being 45 years; 159 were women and 30 were men (this was to be expected given that in the education field most teachers are female). Moreover, 133 teachers worked in city and town schools and 56 in rural areas. Specifically, 145 of the respondents were from Botoșani County, 31 from Neamț County, and 13 from Suceava County. The sample included 9 teachers working in preschool education, 35 in primary education, 55 in secondary education, and 89 in high schools.
The level of training and qualifications of the interviewed teachers was notably high, as 65.1% had obtained a high teaching qualification in the Romanian system of secondary education called a “first degree,” while only 6.9% had just embarked on their career.

3.2. Research Instrument

The questionnaire used items from two questionnaires applied in two other recent studies: the questionnaire designed and used by Seifu [12]—attitude scale, self-efficacy scale, competency scale, and scale for barriers in ICT integration; and the questionnaire used by Hatlevik and Hatlevik [11]—a scale for assessing ICT use by teachers in the classroom. A questionnaire with 56 items was thus obtained, consisting of seven sections measuring five aspects: teachers’ attitude towards ICT integration (15 items with quantitative answers on a five-point Likert scale, where 1 = disagree strongly, 2 = disagree, 3 = slightly agree, 4 = agree, and 5 = agree strongly, e.g., ICT increases students’ motivation for learning); teachers’ self-efficacy regarding the use of ICT technology (10 items with quantitative answers on a five-point Likert scale); teachers’ skills in using ICT tools (10 items with quantitative answers on a five-point Likert scale); ICT use in school (7 items with quantitative answers on a three-point Likert scale, where 1 = never, 2 = sometimes, and 3 = often); and barriers encountered in the incorporation of ICT in the educational process (14 items with quantitative answers on a five-point Likert scale).
High scores on the scales for attitude, self-efficacy, and skills would indicate that teachers are willing to accept the integration of technology in the classroom, that they feel able to do this, and that they have the necessary skills to use ICT in their teaching practice. If low scores were obtained with respect to ICT use in schools, it would indicate that ICT integration into the schools where the interviewed teachers work has not taken place or has only been achieved to a small extent. If high scores were obtained on the obstacle scale, then it would indicate that problems still exist in certain respects, preventing a successful integration of technology into the teaching practice. The reliability of these tools was tested, and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were over 0.80 (Table 1).
The questionnaire was created using Google Forms and distributed online to fellow teachers from schools in these three counties. The teachers gave their voluntary consent to participate in the research by checking the agreement box in the online questionnaire. They were informed about how the data they provided by completing the questionnaire would be used and reassured that their answers would be kept confidential.

3.3. Data Analysis

The data analysis methods used here are quantitative. Quantitative data were processed using the statistical software Jamovi, version 1.8.1, with Cronbach’s coefficient being calculated and descriptive, correlational, and comparative analyses being performed [46]. These data were collected from the questionnaire. We used descriptive analyses, correlations (H1 and H2), comparative analyses (H3), and mediation (H4). We utilized the mediation tool from Jamovi, where teacher skills were considered the predictor, ICT integration constituted the criteria, and teacher attitude was the mediator. To calculate the indirect effect of the teachers’ attitude on skills and ICT integration, 5000 bootstrap samples were used. Also, biases were adjusted at 95% confidence intervals (CI). If the confidence interval does not include zero, it indicates that the indirect effect is statistically significant at p < 0.05 [47].

4. Results

4.1. Descriptive Statistics

The values obtained for teachers’ attitudes towards the use of ICT were as follows: M = 61.9, SD = 10.7, and variance = 115 (Table 2). The high positive scores indicate that teachers have a positive attitude towards the use of ICT in the teaching–learning process.
The average total scores of teachers’ self-efficacy in relation to the use of ICT were M = 43.9, SD = 6.28, and variance = 39.4. The high positive scores obtained indicate that teachers have a high confidence level in the use of ICT in the teaching–learning process.
The data obtained regarding teachers’ skills reveal the following total scores: M = 43.2, median = 45, SD = 6.29, and variance = 39.6. These values are high, implying that the respondents are competent in using ICT tools in the teaching–learning process.
Technology integration in the classroom obtained high positive scores: M = 17.7, SD = 3.11, and variance = 9.7. ICT integration in the classroom was largely successful. This was expected, if we consider the high scores obtained for the measured human factors: attitude, self-efficacy, and skills in technology use. The extent to which the barriers encountered prevented ICT integration in the classroom was analyzed. The results were as follows: M = 51.9, SD = 9.53, and variance = 90.9. Here, too, the value of the median was higher than the value of the mean, which means that positive scores were obtained in the case of barrier levels as well. However, this result is not favorable, as it implies that there is a high level of barriers to integrating ICT into schools.

4.2. Correlational Analysis

H1: There are positive correlations between attitude, self-efficacy, and teachers’ skills in using ICT and the integration of technology in the classroom.
The values obtained for the Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the significance threshold were interpreted to test the first hypothesis of the research. The attitude and ICT integration variables were positively correlated and the Pearson’s correlation coefficient r (187) = 0.49 (Table 3). The significance threshold value of p < 0.001 indicates that the relationship between attitude and ICT integration in the classroom was also statistically significant. A positive correlation of r (187) = 0.36 was found between the variables self-efficacy and ICT integration. As the significance threshold was p < 0.01, the relationship between self-efficacy in using ICT and the ICT integration variables was statistically significant (Table 1). The results obtained following the calculation of the correlation matrix between the skills variable and the ICT integration variable show that these two variables have a strong positive correlation, with r (187) = 0.49. As the significance threshold value is p = 0.001 < 0.05, the relationship between the variables is statistically significant.
To ascertain which of attitudes, self-efficacy, and skills had the strongest relationship with ICT integration in the classroom, a linear regression analysis was performed. The results obtained after testing the significance of relationships between attitude, self-efficacy, and skills are shown in Table 4. The value obtained for the variance inflation factor (VIF) for the three predictors was not more than 2.33. There are several different cutoffs for VIF. Some authors say that VIF should be no higher than 3, 4, 5, or even 10. Therefore, multicollinearity was not an issue with our data, no matter the cutoff that was opted for.
The value of R2 = 0.38 (coefficient of determination) is quite high (Table 2). This means that the three predictors account for 38% of the variance of ICT integration in the classroom. To determine the significance of our predictors, the p-value was analyzed, which was less than 0.05 for both attitude and competence, but higher than 0.05 for self-efficacy. This means that both attitude and competence are statistically significant predictors of ICT integration in the classroom. In contrast, self-efficacy is a statistically insignificant predictor. Finally, the nature of the relationships between attitude, self-efficacy, skills, and ICT integration in the classroom can be noted by analyzing the value of the standardized regression coefficient: β = 0.38 for attitude, β = –0.05 for self-efficacy, and β = 0.43 for skills. This indicates that the attitude and competence predictors have a strong positive correlation with ICT integration in the classroom, compared to the self-efficacy predictor, which has a weak negative correlation with ICT integration. Thus, competence is found to be a stronger predictor than attitude towards the integration of ICT.
H2: There are negative correlations between the level of barriers and ICT integration into schools.
The results show that r (187) = 0.06, i.e., a value close to zero. Under these circumstances, it can be said that a relationship does not exist between the level of barriers and the ICT integration in the classroom variables. Analyzing the value of the significance threshold, we see that p = 0.82 > 0.05, which means that this almost nonexistent correlation is not statistically significant either. In other words, there is no correlation between the level of barriers to the introduction of ICT in classrooms and the integration of technology in teaching and learning practice.
H3: There are significant gender and environment-based differences in terms of attitude, self-efficacy, ICT skills, and ICT integration into teaching practices.
The t-test results show that there are no significant gender differences in terms of attitude, i.e., t (187) = 0.74 and p = 0.45 and ICT integration into teaching practices, i.e., t (187) = −0.06 and p = 0.94 (Table 5). In contrast, in terms of self-efficacy, i.e., t (187) = 3.7 and p < 0.01 and ICT skills, i.e., t (187) = 2.42 and p = 0.02, there is a significant gender difference between the means of the two groups: males show higher self-efficacy and skills means than females in using technology.
The results of the t-test for the three human factors and ICT integration into teaching practices in relation to the school environment reveal no significant differences in terms of environment between the means for attitude, i.e., t (187) = −1 and p = 0.32 and ICT integration into teaching, i.e., t (187) = 1.64 and p = 0.10. In contrast, there are differences between the mean of self-efficacy, t (187) = −3.60 and p < 0.01, and the mean of skills, t (187) = −2.51 and p = 0.01 (Table 6).

4.3. Mediation Analysis

H4: Teachers’ attitude mediates the association between skills in ICT and ICT integration into schools.
Simple mediation analysis illustrates significant paths and indirect effect (a = 0.50, p < 0.001; b = 0.11, p < 0.001; a × b = 0.05, p < 0.001, CI [0.0268; 0.0860]) (Table 7, Figure 1).
The direct and total effects are also statistically significant (c′ = 0.19, p < 0.001; c = 0.25, p < 0.001) (Table 8).

5. Discussion

The mean score of teachers’ attitudes towards ICT use was high, indicating that teachers had a positive attitude towards ICT use in the teaching, learning, and assessment processes. The result obtained is in line with the results of previous similar studies [10,12,18,48]. Teachers’ attitude is one of the main human factors influencing technology integration in the classroom [15]. This means that if attitudes are positive, technology is more likely to be used by teachers in school and vice versa; if scores are low, they indicate a negative attitude of the teachers in terms of accepting ICT in the classroom, which means that it is less likely that technology would be introduced into educational practices [12,13,23].
Teachers’ self-efficacy mean score towards ICT use is high, suggesting that teachers are confident about the benefits of using ICT. This indicates that teachers are likely to use technology in the classroom. This result is consistent with the results obtained in previous research [11,12,15,18,42]. Teachers’ self-efficacy is also viewed as an important human factor in integrating technology in the classroom. This means that if self-efficacy reveals high positive values, there is a greater chance that technology will be used by teachers in the classrooms and vice versa; if the scores obtained are low, it means that there is a low value of teachers’ confidence with ICT in the classroom; accordingly, there are lower chances of introducing technology in the classroom. The correlation between self-efficacy and ICT integration in educational activities is positive. This result agrees with that of Seifu [12], who obtained a considerably high correlation coefficient between the self-efficacy variable and the ICT integration in schools variable. Teachers’ ICT self-efficacy for educational purposes exhibited a moderate positive associations with teachers’ use of ICT in their teaching practices [11]. The existence of a statistically significant positive correlation between self-efficacy and integration for the teachers surveyed in this research increases the likelihood of ICT integration by these teachers into their classrooms.
In terms of the skills possessed by teachers to use ICT, their mean is in the high score range. This implies that teachers know how to use ICT tools in the teaching–learning–assessment process. The result is similar to other results obtained from similar research [12]. Based on the results obtained from the analysis of the teachers’ responses, we can state that the integration of ICT in the classroom has been successful, as evidenced by the high positive scores. This result is similar to that of research studies conducted in Norway [11] and in Romanian schools [15].
The high scores of the human factors, namely, attitude, self-efficacy, and ICT skills, lead to the conclusion that technology is highly likely to be successfully applied in the classroom, a result that is also confirmed by the high score obtained on technology integration in the classroom. The most important human factors in ICT integration in the classroom revealed by this study are teachers’ skills and attitudes.
The t-test results show that there are no significant gender differences in terms of ICT integration in the classroom. These scores are similar to those obtained in other research, which show that, although there is a gender difference in terms of male teachers exhibiting higher mean scores for integrating technology in the classroom than female teachers, it is not statistically significant [28,49]. On the other hand, our results contradict those obtained in another study conducted in 2001, wherein differences between the female and male means existed and were statistically significant: men scored higher on average than women in terms of technology integration in the classroom [50,51,52], or female teachers used ICT more frequently in education [53]. Regarding the environment in which teachers work, the t-test shows that there are no significant differences between the means in terms of ICT integration. The level of barriers is high, which means that problems still exist in schools in Botoșani, Neamț, and Suceava in terms of IT equipment, Internet connection, and other technical factors. Other research conducted in Romania has underlined the lack of ICT resources as well [54].
The results of recent studies [55,56,57,58,59,60,61] demonstrate the high level of effectiveness of teachers and positive attitudes towards the integration of innovative technologies in teaching. According to the results of the study carried out by Ikhlas and Dela Rosa [30], the predictors of attitude and self-efficacy are technological skills, training in this field, and the level of use of computer applications.
It is concerning that over 45% of teachers are not interested in improving their ICT skills. Given these circumstances, we need to learn how to use ICT tools precisely to diversify and improve the current teaching methods so that the information shared with pupils is as complete, accurate, and attractive as possible. Seifu [12] established the same results; in the case of the university studied in that research, there were still barriers preventing ICT integration in the classroom. However, it is good to know that these barriers do not correlate significantly with ICT integration in the classroom, which means that technology integration can be successfully achieved in the classroom using the right skills and a positive attitude.

6. Conclusions

The results of this study indicate the extent to which the integration of ICT into the teaching–learning–assessment process is influenced by human factors in the case of teachers from three counties in Romania. We chose this region because it is a large rural area of Romania and he future development of skills depends on ICT integration in schools. The next generation is influenced by the level of digitalization in schools. We analyzed the factors that affect the level of ICT integration because we are interested in pre-service and in-service teacher training in this region. The study also highlights the nature of the problems that teachers face. Concurrently, the findings could send a warning to those in charge of verifying the proper practices of conducting online courses in in-service training teacher (commission for accreditation from the Ministry of Education, educational management of the school, etc.). For these courses, it will be very important to develop a positive attitude toward using ICT in school by presenting research that indicates the value of implementing new technology. Also, it will be very useful to suggest applications for education and to increase the level of self-efficacy about ICT integration in teaching and education in general. In this study, teachers’ skills, attitude, and self-efficacy have positive values, which shows that teachers integrate ICT into their educational activities. This was a necessity during the pandemic, when online or hybrid learning methods were implemented in education. It will help to identify the types of remedial action that need to be undertaken with the aid of school headteachers wherever needed, such as teacher training and professional development in ICT, as well as the purchase of electronic devices for both students and teachers to ensure the effective integration of technology into the education process.
No correlation was found between the level of barriers and the integration of technology into teaching and learning. In other words, even if there are various barriers to integrating technology into teaching, it can still be achieved if the teachers’ skills and attitudes score highly. According to our results, the essential human factors on which ICT integration into the classroom depends score positively. This indicates that we are highly likely to witness effective technology integration. A positive score was also obtained for technology integration in the classroom, which was expected, given the results obtained for attitude, self-efficacy, and skills in using technology. The lack of computers, lack of an adequate Internet connection, and a lack of interest on the part of the teachers in updating their teaching methods constitute the problems that are still faced today.
This study is a reminder that there are still teachers who require training in the proper use of technology to become aware of its role in their own as well as their students’ education. For teacher education, it is important to follow specific in-service teacher training courses for digital competences, but the crucial point is to develop the positive attitude of teachers toward using ICT in education. The attitude of the teacher toward using technology in education influences their development of ICT skills and their level of integration of ICT in educational activities. Another issue is that there are still schools that do not possess the appropriate technology to be integrated into teaching practices. The research reveals that, in terms of human factors, technology integration into the instructional process depends mainly on teachers’ skills and positive attitudes, and that it would be possible to increase the quality of educational activities through in-service teacher training courses for developing teachers’ digital competence.
Future research will highlight the correlation between self-efficacy and other important variables that underlie the effective use of technologies by pre-university teachers. Also, new studies will be carried out on students and teachers from higher education in terms of self-efficacy and attitude towards the integration of new technologies in teaching and learning activities.

7. Limitations

This research had some limitations. The first was the modality of the questionnaire (only online). Further, since the data collection techniques exclusively consisted of questionnaires, the data accuracy was limited to the respondents’ subjective perceptions. The respondents’ perceptions may change in the future, which points to the need for conducting a systematic longitudinal study in the future. Second, the study was geographically restricted to three counties: Botoșani, Neamț, and Suceava. Therefore, these results were appropriate to these regions and may be used to prepare specific in-service courses for developing the digital competences of the teachers from this part of the country. For the future, we propose applying the strategies from this paper to other regions and determining the differences or similarities.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, O.C. and C.-S.D.; methodology, L.M. and C.-S.D.; software, O.C.; validation, C.-S.D.; formal analysis, L.M.; investigation, O.C.; resources, O.C.; data curation, C.-S.D.; writing—original draft preparation, O.C. and L.M.; writing—review and editing, L.M. and C.-S.D.; visualization, L.M.; supervision, O.C.; project administration, O.C.; funding acquisition, O.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, grant number 361/GP/2.06.2023.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

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Education 13 01001 g001
Figure 1. The mediating role of teachers’ attitudes between skills in ICT and ICT integration into schools.
Figure 1. The mediating role of teachers’ attitudes between skills in ICT and ICT integration into schools.
Education 13 01001 g001
Table 1. Reliability of the instrument.
Table 1. Reliability of the instrument.
Cronbach’s
Alpha		MeanVarianceStandard DeviationNumber of Items
Attitude scale0.9461.9011510.7015
Self-efficacy scale0.8943.9039.406.2810
Skills scale0.8543.2039.606.2910
ICT integration scale0.9017.709.703.117
Barrier level scale0.8851.9090.909.5314
Table 2. Results of the descriptive analyses.
Table 2. Results of the descriptive analyses.
AttitudeSelf-EfficacySkillsICT IntegrationBarrier Level
N189189189189189
Missing5252525252
Mean61.943.943.217.751.9
Median64.046.045.018.052.0
Standard deviation10.76.286.293.119.53
Variance11539.439.69.7090.9
Minimum24.020.016.08.0017.0
Maximum75.050.050.021.070.0
Skewness−0.954−1.26−1.11−0.490−0.596
Std. error skewness0.1770.1770.1770.1770.177
Kurtosis0.6441.441.31−0.7600.590
Std. error kurtosis0.3520.3520.3520.3520.352
Table 3. Correlation matrix between attitude, self-efficacy, skills, and ICT integration.
Table 3. Correlation matrix between attitude, self-efficacy, skills, and ICT integration.
AttitudeSelf-EfficacySkillsICT Integration
AttitudePearson’s r—
p-value—
Self-efficacyPearson’s r0.266—
p-value<0.001—
SkillsPearson’s r0.2930.745—
p-value<0.001<0.001—
ICT integrationPearson’s r0.4900.3660.499—
p-value<0.001<0.001<0.001—
Table 4. Collinearity statistics; calculation of the coefficient of determination; multiple regression model results—predictors of ICT integration; model coefficients—ICT integration.
Table 4. Collinearity statistics; calculation of the coefficient of determination; multiple regression model results—predictors of ICT integration; model coefficients—ICT integration.
PredictorVIF 1ToleranceModelRR²Regression Coefficient (B)SE 2Standardized Regression
Coefficient (β)		tp 3
10.6160.380
Intercept 2.97011.5080 1.9700.050
Attitude1.100.909 0.10970.01760.37846.230<0.001
Self-
efficacy		2.260.442 −0.02750.0432−0.0554−0.6360.525
Skills2.300.435 0.21270.04350.42984.893<0.001
1 VIF = variance inflation factor; 2 SE = standard error; 3 p = significance threshold.
Table 5. t-test statistics, by gender.
Table 5. t-test statistics, by gender.
t-TestdfpDifference in MeansSE
AttitudeStudent’s t0.74721870.4561.60002.141
Self-efficacyStudent’s t3.7164187<0.0014.49251.209
SkillsStudent’s t2.42241870.0162.99561.237
ICT integrationStudent’s t−0.06781870.946−0.04210.621
Table 6. Independent samples T-test statistics, by school environment.
Table 6. Independent samples T-test statistics, by school environment.
t-testdfpDifference in MeansSE
AttitudeStudent’s t−1.0001870.319−1.7111.712
Self-efficacyStudent’s t−3.598187<0.001−3.4880.969
SkillsStudent’s t−2.5141870.013−2.4850.988
ICT integrationStudent’s t−1.6351870.104−0.8070.494
Table 7. Path analysis.
Table 7. Path analysis.
95% Confidence Interval
LabelEstimateSELowerUpperZp
Skills→Attitudea0.5000.13530.25710.7833.69<0.001
Attitude→ICT integrationb0.1090.01930.06690.1435.65<0.001
Skills→ICT integrationc0.1930.03080.14020.2636.26<0.001
Table 8. Mediation estimates.
Table 8. Mediation estimates.
95% Confidence Interval
EffectLabelEstimateSELowerUpperZp
Indirecta × b0.05440.01510.02680.08603.59<0.001
Directc0.19260.03080.14020.26266.26<0.001
Totalc + a × b0.24700.03260.18920.31897.57<0.001
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Clipa, O.; Delibas, C.-S.; Mâță, L. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes towards the Use of Information Technology in Classrooms. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 1001. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101001

AMA Style

Clipa O, Delibas C-S, Mâță L. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes towards the Use of Information Technology in Classrooms. Education Sciences. 2023; 13(10):1001. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101001

Chicago/Turabian Style

Clipa, Otilia, Clapona-Simona Delibas, and Liliana Mâță. 2023. "Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes towards the Use of Information Technology in Classrooms" Education Sciences 13, no. 10: 1001. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101001

APA Style

Clipa, O., Delibas, C. -S., & Mâță, L. (2023). Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes towards the Use of Information Technology in Classrooms. Education Sciences, 13(10), 1001. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101001

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