Digital Self-Assessment Tool for Promoting ICT Integration in Ghana’s Primary Schools

The introduction of ICT in educational institutions is largely accepted as a decisive stimulus to the achievement of learning performance and better pedagogical efficiency at the global level. National policies in the Ghanaian context promote the use of ICT in all levels of formal education; however, there is limited substantive empirical data that explains its use at primary school level, especially in development of basic digital skills. This gap of evidence hinders policymakers, administrators and practitioners from detecting context-specific obstacles and establishing interventions that are specific. Whilst digital self-assessment tools are empirically tested and proven to be effective in assisting teacher professional development in the context of other settings, their use in Ghanaian primary education receives little academic focus. In line with this, the current paper intends to achieve dual purpose; to investigate the present condition of ICT integration in Ghanaian primary schools, and to design an empirically grounded and theoretically based prototype of Digital Self-Assessment Tool (DSAT). The study combined a survey of 335 primary school teachers with semi-structured interviews of ten teachers and educational authorities using a convergent mixed-method design. Statistical analysis of quantitative data was performed, and qualitative data were analyzed through content and thematic analysis. Triangulation was used to integrate both datasets. The findings outline the disproportionate ICT integration in primary schools which has been constrained by infrastructural factors, varying accessibility to professional growth, and varied teacher confidence levels. Although the frameworks; TAM, the DOI theory, and TPACK, provided useful explanatory tools, they were insufficient when implemented separately. Important mediating variables such as availability of infrastructure, prolonged professional development, institutional support and workload demands were identified as critical factors in translating theory into classroom practice. The research presents teacher-informed prototype of DSAT, which shows possibilities of operationalizing empirical results and theoretical frameworks into a formative design artefact. This prototype is an initial steppingstone towards further validation and scaling which depends on pilot testing and fine-tuning. The study offers evidence-based policy suggestions on observing ICT competencies and presents feasible implications on developing reflective, self-managed professional learning among educators. Further proposed future research to pilot the DSAT in varied situations and test the longitudinal effects of the practice on teaching and learning.