Validating Behavioural Change: Teachers' Perception and Use of ICT in England and Korea.

This study focused on the test and cross-cultural validation of an organizational and behavioral model of planned change. The aim of the research was to ascertain the nature and direction of different cultural aspects influencing the change process when Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was being implemented in schools. The theoretical basis was the "A-Victory Model" (Foundation for Young Australians and C. Sharp, 2000), which guided and informed data collection in England and South Korea. The focus of the quantitative measures was to assess the intensity and direction of aspects at the school and classroom level concerning the use of ICT processes framed by a national strategy. Questionnaires were sent to 1,000 teachers in England and 1,000 teachers in Korea. Response rates were 31.7% in England and 39.3% in Korea. Eight elements in the model, including ability, value, information, circumstance, yield (in terms of outcomes), resistance, motivation, and timing were used to measure change. Twelve types of background data were collected to illuminate group differences. Data analyses revealed the different propensities for change in the use of ICT between the two countries for age, career, education, equipment, and performance group comparisons, but there was no evidence of differences in sex, subject, area and school size, skill, and training groups between the two countries. Two elements were identified as barriers to change in both countries: ability and yield in Korea and motivation and yield in England. The most important factor in teachers' behavioral and school organizational change was "information" that is necessary for teachers' likelihood of change in the use of ICT for teachers' professional practice. One appendix contains the survey instrument, and the other is the category variable investigation form. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.