EFFECTS OF ICTS' TRAINING FOR TEACHERS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL ON STUDENTS' COMPETENCIES, MOTIVATION AND PERCEIVED CLASSROOM CLIMATE

The evaluation of in-service training for teachers is becoming a 'must do' worldwide. This issue is of particular importance in the field of in-service teachers training on ICTs'. Research has shown that one way to introduce ICTs successfully' in schools is through different kind of training programs and professional development for teachers. It is not just a matter of buying technologies, but also letting teachers be ready to master technology use in daily activities with their students. After years of massive ICTs' based training, to date, there is not a clear clue about the effects of this process. Technology has been introduced in schools, teachers have been trained, but there is no evidence about the effects of this training. From the other hand, there are various methods and approaches for the evaluation of training programs for teachers in-service training on ICTs'. In the study presented, it is postulated that teacher education programs on ICTs' could be evaluated using student-related variables such as students' competencies, and students motivation, since teachers play an essential role in student development. A study measuring primary school student motivation, classroom climate in the subcategories of competitive, individualistic, and cooperative learning, and students' competencies in reading and comprehension and mathematics, in control and experimental classes, was conducted in 8 classes in primary schools (students sample N=134; 64 from the experimental group: 4 classes). Teachers in experimental classes received training on topics such as the effective use of information and communications technology (PC, Interactive Whiteboards, Videogames,...) to be applied directly to their students, over a period of three years (from grade 3 to grade 5), while teachers in the control group did not. Logistic regression was performed to investigate which student-related variables significantly predicted affiliation with control or experimental group. Results of the study show proximal training transfer has taken place in the form of increased use of ICTs' in the experimental classes, but no evidence of more distal effects was found, which means that even using more participative training on ICTs' for teachers does not lead to an improvement of students' competencies, motivation and classroom climate. More specifically, the frequency of interactive whiteboard use significantly predicted group affiliation. Even though in this study no conclusive evidence for more indirect effects of teacher training on variables such as student achievement could be found, it is argued how the given approach to teacher training on ICTs' evaluation could be beneficial.