Abstract:

Technologies are rapidly changing the ways people communicate and work, opening up new opportunities. Digitization of teaching tools and their accessibility to students change the role of the teacher. By using ICT, teachers engage and motivate students, which helps them learn more effectively, and develops students’ computer literacy. Primary school teachers, in order to educate the generations growing up with technologies and to implement the new general curriculum of primary education that is being prepared, must apply and improve their competence in information and communication technologies. The teacher’s ICT competence includes the ability to use computer hardware and software, the application of basic Internet services, the creation of textual and visual information, communication and cooperation using ICT, solving digital literacy problems, security and the organization of the educational process. In the school, the teacher is the main educator of the child, and taking into account the possibilities of using ICT in the lesson and the benefits they provide, it is necessary to pay attention to the current competences of teachers for the use of ICT and what they should be in order to meet the requirements for teachers and the experience of modern students. Problem research question arises: how do primary school teachers apply and improve their competence in information and communication technologies?

Aim:
To analyse the competence of primary school teachers in the application of information and communication technologies and the prospects for its improvement.

Research methods:
Analysis of documents and scientific and methodical literature; quantitative research (questionnaire survey), qualitative research (formalized interview); analysis of the statistical data of the quantitative research and qualitative content analysis.

Research methodology:
In order to investigate the attitude of Lithuanian primary school teachers and school administration towards the use of ICT in the educational process in a complex and versatile manner, the experiences of using ICT in the educational process and the improvement of competence in the application of ICT, a mixed-methods approach was used. A parallel mixed-methods strategy was used to gather a wider range of empirical material and to base research results on different data sources and forms. Quantitative research – 103 respondents, qualitative research – 10 informants. The research was carried out on 1-30 April, 2022.

Main results of the research:
It has been investigated that Lithuanian primary school teachers rate their competence in applying ICT well. Teachers actively use different ICT hardware and software, however, only few of them use virtual environments or ICT for programming. Teachers are able to communicate in a virtual environment, collect information and apply ICT to increase students’ learning motivation. It has been observed that primary school teachers lack one of the ICT application skills identified in the research, which is ensuring the safety of their own work and that of their students on the Internet and cleaning the equipment they use from viruses. Primary school teachers feel a constant need to improve the knowledge and skills of the ICT application competence due to the changing possibilities of ICT and their use as well as the desire of the teachers themselves to improve. Teachers usually improve their ICT application competence in courses and seminars.

Keywords:

Competence in the application of information and communication technologies, primary school teachers, competence development.