Article Sidebar

Submitted
January 8, 2025
Accepted
May 22, 2025
Published
June 30, 2025
Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 0 Download : 0

Main Article Content

Abstract

This study examines gender disparities in beliefs about and the usage of Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) among students in basic public schools in
urban slums in Ghana. A mixed-methods approach with a concurrent research
design was employed, collecting data from 379 junior high school (JHS) students
across 20 schools in 11 urban slums within two cities. Data collection tools included
a self-administered structured questionnaire that utilized a five-point Likert-type
scale and a lesson observation schedule. The data was analyzed using t-tests
of independent samples and Pearson correlation in IBM SPSS version 26. The
findings indicate that students have very high beliefs in ICT, evidenced by a mean
score of 4.41, demonstrating their strong conviction in technology’s potential to
enhance education. However, disparities in ICT usage were apparent, with a mean
score of 3.18 and a standard deviation of 1.33. The Pearson correlation analysis
revealed a very weak but statistically significant positive relationship between
students’ beliefs in ICT and their ICT usage (r = 0.127, p = 0.014), suggesting that
stronger beliefs in the educational value of technology may modestly increase
usage frequency. Gender comparisons showed no significant differences in ICT beliefs between male (M = 30.87, SD = 3.59) and female learners (M = 30.78,
SD = 3.88), t(370) = 0.20, p = 0.84. Similarly, no significant differences were
found in ICT usage between males (M = 26.15, SD = 6.58) and females (M = 24.83,
SD = 6.87), t(368) = 1.88, p = 0.06, although males reported slightly higher usage
levels. This study underscores the potential of ICT to transform education in
resource-constrained environments while highlighting the limited impact of
gender on ICT beliefs and usage. The findings suggest that addressing barriers
to ICT access and usage, rather than focusing solely on gender, may be crucial for achieving equitable technology integration in education.

Keywords

Gender Disparities ICT integration Urban Slum Schools ICT Usage ICT Beliefs

Article Details

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Issah Baako, Eric Opoku Osei, Winston Kwame Abroampa

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

TCE (INSTED) is an open access journal, which means that access to the full texts is free of charge. People using the journal may download publications, copy and print them, as well as post on their websites links to the full texts of the journal's publications. Texts can be used as long as readers do not exceed the licenses. Authors submitting manuscripts for publication obtain copyrights. Unless otherwise specified, published texts are available under the Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 4.0 International license.

How to Cite
Baako, I., Osei, E. O., & Abroampa, W. K. (2025). Gender Disparities in ICT Beliefs and Usage Among Learners in Basic Public Schools in Urban Slums in Ghana. INSTED: Interdisciplinary Studies in Education & Society, 27(1), 63–96. https://doi.org/10.34862/tce.2025.1.7
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

  1. Ajai, J. T., & Imoko, B. I. (2015). Gender Differences in Mathematics Achievement and Retention Scores: A Case of Problem-Based Learning Method. International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES), 1(1), 45–50. www.ijres.net
  2. Alam, A. (2022). Psychological, Sociocultural, and Biological Elucidations for Gender Gap in STEM Education: A Call for Translation of Research into Evidence-Based Interventions.
  3. Asare, S., Emmanuel, M. K., Dankwah, E. A., & Eric, A.-M. (2023). ICT integration in teaching and learning: Perceptions and practices in Ghanaian college of education. International Journal of Educational Technology and Learning, 14(2), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.55217/101.v14i2.668
  4. Asongu, S. A., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2019a). Enhancing ICT for Quality Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. ECONSTOR, 19(007).
  5. Asongu, S. A., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2019b). Inequality and Gender Inclusion: Minimum ICT Policy thresholds for promoting female employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. African Governance and Development Institute, 19(076), 2–32.
  6. Baako, I., & Abroampa, W. K. (2024). Context matters: exploring teacher and learner contexts in ICT integration in slum public basic schools in Ghana. Cogent Education, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2342637
  7. Barrantes, R., Matos, P., & Aguero, A. (2019). Decomposing the ICT use gender Gap for five Latin American countries. 13th CPR LATAM Conference.
  8. Becker, B. (2022). Educational ICT use outside school in the European Union: disparities by social origin, immigrant background, and gender. Journal of Children and Media, 16(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2021.1902359
  9. Bonett, D. G., & Wright, T. A. (2015). Cronbach’s alpha reliability: Interval estimation, hypothesis testing, and sample size planning. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(1), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1960
  10. Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. In D. C. Felts, A. Marks, M. O’Hefferman, C. Neve, & H. Salmon (Eds.), SAGE Publications, Inc. (5th ed., Vol. 2). SAGE Publications Inc.
  11. Donneys, C. O., Arbelaez, E., Londoño Isaza, K., Hernández Zúñiga, I., Alegría, I., Castellanos, A. I., Arevalo, C., Victoria, S., Majin, N. C., España, L., Guevara, N. T., Trujillo, A. I., Murillo, N., & Perea, J. D. (2024). Integrating Colombian Pacific Traditional Knowledge and Gender-Inclusive to Enhance STEM Education: The BECAP Initiative. European Journal of STEM Education, 9(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/15748
  12. Gebhardt, E., Thomson, S., Ainley, J., & Hillman, K. (2019a). Teacher gender and ICT. In Gender Differences in Computer and Information Literacy (Vol. 8, pp. 53–68). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26203-7_5
  13. Gebhardt, E., Thomson, S., Ainley, J., & Hillman, K. (2019b). What Have We Learned About Gender Differences in ICT? In Gender Differences in Computer and Information Literacy (Vol. 8, pp. 69–73). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26203-7_6
  14. Gil-Flores, J., Rodríguez-Santero, J., & Torres-Gordillo, J. J. (2017). Factors that explain the use of ICT in secondary-education classrooms: The role of teacher characteristics and school infrastructure. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 441–449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.057
  15. Goswami, A., & Dutta, S. (2016). Gender Differences in Technology Usage—A Literature Review. Open Journal of Business and Management, 04(01), 51–59. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojbm.2016.41006
  16. Gyamfi, S. A. (2017). Information and communication technology acceptance in education: A study of pre-service teachers in Ghana [University of Lincoln]. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsble&AN=edsble.771082&authtype=sso&custid=s5099118&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s5099118
  17. Huyer, S., & Hafkin, N. J. (2019). Factors Influencing Women’s Ability to Enter the Information Technology Workforce. In Cracking the Digital Ceiling (pp. 104–118). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108609081.007
  18. Kirkup, K. (2018). The origins of gender identity and gender expression in Anglo-American legal discourse. University of Toronto Law Journal, 68(1), 80–117. https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.2017-0080
  19. Mailizar, Almanthari, A., Maulina, S., & Bruce, S. (2020). Secondary school mathematics teachers’ views on e-learning implementation barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Indonesia. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 16(7), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.29333/EJMSTE/8240
  20. Mensah, C., Azila-Gbettor, E. M., Kugbonu, M. A., & Tahiru, F. (2023). Revisiting Gendered ICT Attitude and Self-Efficacy: A Study of Technical University Students in Ghana. Education Research International, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/6555823
  21. Nikolopoulou, K., Gialamas, V., & Lavidas, K. (2021). Habit, hedonic motivation, performance expectancy and technological pedagogical knowledge affect teachers’ intention to use mobile internet. Computers and Education Open, 2, 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100041
  22. Qazi, A., Hasan, N., Abayomi-Alli, O., Hardaker, G., Scherer, R., Sarker, Y., Kumar Paul, S., & Maitama, J. Z. (2022). Gender differences in information and communication technology use & skills: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Education and Information Technologies, 27(3), 4225–4258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10775-x
  23. Rohatgi, A., Bundsgaard, J., & Hatlevik, O. E. (2021). Digital Inclusion in Norwegian and Danish Schools—Analysing Variation in Teachers’ Collaboration, Attitudes, ICT Use and Students’ ICT Literacy. In Equity, Equality and Diversity in the Nordic Model of Education (pp. 139–172). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61648-9
  24. Siddiq, F., & Scherer, R. (2019). Is there a gender gap? A meta-analysis of the gender differences in students’ ICT literacy. Educational Research Review, 27, 205–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EDUREV.2019.03.007
  25. Siddiq, F., Scherer, R., & Tondeur, J. (2016). Teachers’ emphasis on developing students’ digital information and communication skills (TEDDICS): A new construct in 21st century education. Computers and Education, 92–93, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.10.006
  26. Simeon, S., & Waiganjo, Iyaloo. N. (2024). The Development of an Informative Model for Namibian Women in ICT Careers. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, VIII(X), 641–646. https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8100053
  27. Smit, R., Schmid, R., & Robin, N. (2024). Experiencing enjoyment in visual programming tasks promotes self-efficacy and reduces the gender gap. British Journal of Educational Technology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13523
  28. Tellhed, U., Bäckström, M., & Björklund, F. (2017). Will I Fit in and Do Well? The Importance of Social Belongingness and Self-Efficacy for Explaining Gender Differences in Interest in STEM and HEED Majors. Sex Roles, 77(1–2), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0694-y
  29. Throndsen, I., & Hatlevik, O. E. (2016). Examining Gender Differences in ICT Literacy, Interest, and Use. Digital Expectations and Experiences in Education, 221–240. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-648-4_13
  30. Vaske, J. J., Beaman, J., & Sponarski, C. C. (2017). Rethinking Internal Consistency in Cronbach’s Alpha. Leisure Sciences, 39(2), 163–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2015.1127189
  31. Woods, K. D. (2020). Teacher Technology Efficacy: The relationship among generation, gender, and subject area of secondary teachers. Liberty University.