Information and communication technology (ICT) skills and job satisfaction of primary education teachers in the context of Covid-19. Theoretical model

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that educational systems must have an online component or even a substitute. However, the efforts for this necessary transition fall largely on the teaching staff, who have been forced to quickly adapt their activities to a virtual environment. In this study, a theoretical model for analyzing how teachers’ information and communications technology (ICT) skills and the integration of these technologies influence the improvement of teaching and teacher job satisfaction is introduced. The model also pays special attention to the gender gap related to the use of ICT in teaching. At the empirical level, the model is validated on a sample of 257 Spanish primary school teachers, using the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation method. The results of the analysis show that, although the teachers’ ICT skills help them improve their teaching activities, such skills do not have a direct impact on teachers’ job satisfaction. However, teachers who integrate ICTs into their teaching activities not only improve their results and lighten their workload but also enjoy higher job satisfaction, which translates into more motivated and committed teachers. In addition, teachers’ ICT skills influence job satisfaction in different ways depending on gender. Although, for female teachers, the integration of ICT increases their job satisfaction, the results show that, for male teachers, this integration should generate improvements in teaching to yield enhanced job satisfaction. As the main implication, it is recommended to invest in teachers’ ICT skills, as these lead to enhanced efficiency and motivation and enable the change toward an ICT-based teaching model.