Barriers To Using Technologies When Helping Saudi Primary Students' Difficulties With Mathematics

Abstract

Despite the potential positive effects of using
technology with students who have difficulties in mathematics in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the great efforts made by the
Saudi Government to improve the education system of the
nation, which has included a continuous rise in the educational
budget, there still remain some obstacles for some teachers when
using technology, and while some of these teachers overcome
these barriers, others do not succeed in this the challenge. This
paper will investigate the barriers that teachers face when using
technology in their classroom in primary schools, and why some
overcame obstacles while others did not. Semi-structured
interviews and observations were used for the purpose of this
research, which were undertaken with three mathematics
teachers from school A which used technology, and the other
three from school B, which did not use technology. I found that
the major obstacle teachers face when using technology included
aspects of the teachers’ negative attitudes and beliefs about
teaching mathematics using technology, the lack of training in
using technology, and the lack of technical support. The head
teacher’s attitude was also an important influence on managing
the challenges teachers faced, which affected teachers’ decisions
to use or not use technology in school.