ICT Knowledge and Competence of Social Studies Educators in Public Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This paper examined ICT knowledge and competence of Social Studies educators in Ekiti state, Nigeria. The study becomes imperative due to the significance of ICT in national development since no nation can develop beyond its educational standard. The objective of this study was to determine the level of ICT literacy of the educators that are supposed to impart ICT knowledge into the students and to find out what constitute barriers to adoption of the technology. The study employed descriptive design of the survey type. A sample of 150 Social Studies educators was selected through simple random sampling technique from public secondary schools in Ekiti State. A self designed and validated instrument titled ICT Knowledge and Competence of Social Studies Educators (ICTKCSSE) was used for data collection. The instrument which consisted of structured questionnaire items was validated, tested for reliability and found usable for the study. Data generated were analysed using frequency count, simple percentage, means and standard deviation. The study found that social studies educators have basic knowledge of ICT but lacked necessary skills for its usage. Barriers to adoption of the technology were found to include erratic power supply and incompetence. The result of the hypothesis showed no significant gender difference in the educators’ level of ICT competence. Based on these findings, it was recommended that government should make computer literacy compulsory for all educators in secondary schools and ensure adequate and regular power supply.