Factors influencing the attitudes of rural Zimbabwean high school teachers towards remote online teaching and learning in Chivi district, Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Curriculum change is not a haphazard affair and requires systematic planning on the part of the planners and the user system. If the user system is not in-serviced for the envisaged change, the change is most likely to be met with resistance. For instance, teachers form either positive or negative attitudes based on the perceived ease of use and perceived benefits of any planned change. The Technology Acceptance Model was employed in the study to explore teachers’ attitudes towards remote online teaching and learning in three selected rural secondary schools. This research adopted the qualitative approach and online questionnaires were employed to establish the attitudes of 15 Zimbabwean rural high school teachers towards online learning. The teachers were sampled from one rural district in Chivi North of Masvingo Province. The participants were sampled from three rural council schools which are not homogeneous in terms of staffing and material resources. The study found that the majority of the purposively sampled teachers had negative attitudes towards remote online teaching due to lack of internet access. It also established that the negative attitude emanated from lack of institutional support and resources as well as little teacher capability and readiness. The study recommends in-serving and e-resourcing of teachers to foster positive attitude towards remote online teaching and learning.