A Teacher Proposed Heuristic for ICT Professional Teacher Development and Implementation in the South African Context

This qualitative interpretive exploratory case study investigated a sample of South African teachers' perceptions of the requirements for successful implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional Teacher Development (PTD) within disadvantaged South African township schools in the Port Elizabeth district in South Africa. The participating teachers' (n=30) perceptions and experience of ICT PTD were explored via qualitative semi-structured interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, internet user group responses, reflective journal writing and facilitator reflections. The findings indicate that they value three aspects, namely facilitator related aspects, training context aspects and school related aspects. These findings underpin the C[superscript 2]RHOAR[superscript 3]FS[superscript 2]R[superscript 2] framework offered as a heuristic for ICT related PTD and subsequent school and classroom implementation. The C[superscript 2]RHOAR[superscript 3]FS[superscript 2]R[superscript 2] acronym refers to Care, Competence, Relate, Hands-on, On-going, Assessment, Reflection, Read, Revise-replan, Feedback, Share, Support, Recognition and Resources. The expectations of the teachers resonate with international expectations of Professional Teacher Development and underscore the magnitude of the task for those who aspire to meet the challenge they present. (Contains 1 figure.)