Alignment Between Principal And Teacher Beliefs About Technology Use
Abstract
This paper explores the link between principals' and teachers' pedagogical beliefs regarding the benefits of integrating online learning technologies into language teaching and learning contexts. Principals who have the leadership ability to initiate a clear vision to carry out the pedagogical requirements for technological change in teaching and learning approaches can direct the use of technology to enhance the school learning environment. The paper reports on the initial phase of data collection for a PhD thesis at an Australian University. Two surveys were developed and implemented for this study in order to determine principals' and teachers' existing pedagogical beliefs regarding online learning technologies. Participants included 67 principals and 82 Arabic language teachers across secondary schools in Jeddah city in Saudi Arabia. The results present a strong alignment between principal and teacher beliefs in that both indicate positive constructivist beliefs including improvement of teachers' and students' research skills, the promotion of students learning both inside and outside school, and the belief that online learning technologies convert teacher-centred teaching approaches to student-centred teaching approaches. Additionally, the study shows that principals' beliefs were always stronger than teachers' beliefs.
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