Principals’ Integration of Technology in Education At Sharjah City Government Schools
Abstract
School leadership includes several elements; one of them is technological leadership that is necessary for the success of technology integration in education. The purpose of this study is to describe the state of technology integration in Sharjah City Government Schools based on a juxtaposition and a comparison of principals’ perceived practices of technology integration and teachers’ perceptions. This technique of study would help in reaching a more trusted image of technology integration at Sharjah Schools. The second purpose was to investigate the influence of the principals’ gender on integrating technology in their schools, in addition to identify the main challenges that faced Sharjah government schools’ principals in integrating technology in their schools. The descriptive approach was used to collect the quantitative data through administering the Educational Technology Survey for principals’ and teachers. A sample of 34 government school principals and 344 teachers responded to the survey. The findings indicated that a difference exists between principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of Sharjah City government school principals’ ability to integrate technology in their schools based on National Educational Technology Standards for Administrator (NETS-A). Standard I (Visionary Leadership) was the least level achieved in comparison to the other standards. Moreover, gender has a significant difference just in standard II “Digital Age Learning Culture” in the favor of female. The high cost of integrating technology and lack of funding, continuous production of new technology tools and the inability to cope with them, lack of professional development programs, and lack of skilled and qualified teachers in integrating technology were the most important challenges that faced Sharjah City principals in integrating technology in their schools.