Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of ICT and Their Interest in ICT Learning: Evidence from a College of Education in Ghana

Implementation of ICT in teacher education is not just dependent on the availability of infrastructural resources but also predicated on pre-service teachers’ perceptions and enthusiasm to learn. While prior studies that assessed these constructs separately exist, there is a limited empirical investigation on how the two constructs are related in Colleges of Education in Ghana. The study determined the relationship between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of ICT and pre-service teachers’ interest in learning some aspects of ICT among Level 400 Bachelor of Education Students’ at E. P. College of Education, Bimbilla. The research is based on a rationalist paradigm and a quantitative correlational research design, as evidenced by the fact of the Independence Theory. A census design was employed to include all 31 Level 400 pre-service teachers registered in the B.Ed. Mathematics/ICT and B.Ed. Science/ICT programs. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data, and then the collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation in SPSS version 25. The study found that the respondents had a positive perception of ICT and demonstrated a high level of interest in learning it. In addition, there was a statistically significant moderate positive correlation between perceptions of ICT and interests interest in ICT (r = .549, p = .001), suggesting that respondents with a more positive view of ICT had greater interest in learning ICT. The findings indicate that promoting positive perceptions of ICT may improve pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward ICT and consequently, stimulate greater interest in learning ICT and acquiring ICT-related knowledge and skills. A two-faceted recommendation is proposed for teacher education institutions: strengthen practical experiences, improve access to digital resources, and implement learner-centred instructional strategies that capitalize on positive perceptions and maintain students’ interest in ICT.