Trainee Teachers Reveal Why Classroom Technology Succeeds in Cities but Fails in Rural Schools

A new study from South Africa has lifted the lid on one of the most stubborn puzzles in modern education: why digital technology transforms some classrooms while leaving others untouched. The research, published in the journal Discover Education, followed student-teachers as they completed their mandatory teaching practice placements in schools across the country, and it reveals a stark divide between well-connected urban schools and under-resourced rural ones. The findings suggest that the future of technology-enhanced learning may be decided not by policy documents or device rollouts, but by the confidence of individual trainee teachers and the infrastructure of the schools where they first stand in front of a class.

The study, conducted by Shirley S. Mukhari of the University of South Africa, examined how student-teachers perceive and implement information and communication technology, or ICT, during their teaching practicals. These trainee teachers occupy a uniquely revealing position in the education system. They are old enough to be fluent in digital tools from their own studies, yet new enough to teaching that their experiences in the classroom will shape habits that persist for entire careers. If they emerge from training with strong digital competence and positive experiences, they are likely to carry technology into their future classrooms. If their placements lack infrastructure or support, their enthusiasm can wither before it takes root.

To make sense of what she observed, Mukhari turned to a classic framework from the study of how innovations spread: Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory, first developed in 1962. The theory proposes that people pass through stages of knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation when confronting a new technology, and that adoption depends on five key principles. A tool must offer a relative advantage over existing methods, be compatible with current values and practices, avoid excessive complexity, be available for low-risk trial, and produce observable benefits that others can see. Rogers also described adopter categories ranging from innovators to laggards, which helped explain why some trainee teachers embraced digital tools eagerly while others avoided them entirely.

The research design was deliberately immersive. Mukhari adopted a qualitative, single-case study approach grounded in the interpretivist paradigm, which seeks to understand reality through participants’ lived experiences. Thirty-two student-teachers took part in four semi-structured focus group interviews, each containing seven to nine participants, while an additional fifty-eight were observed teaching real lessons during their placements. A third strand of evidence came from document analysis: the researchers examined lesson plans, reflective journals and teaching practice portfolios to see how technology featured in planning and how trainees evaluated their own efforts afterwards. Triangulating these three data sources strengthened the credibility of the findings, and member checking allowed participants to verify that their views had been accurately represented.

The first and most encouraging theme was that student-teachers across both urban and rural contexts held overwhelmingly positive views of ICT. They described it as a means of capturing attention, clarifying difficult concepts and shifting lessons away from traditional teacher-centred delivery. One participant reported that when videos and slides were used, learners asked more questions and participated more than in ordinary lessons. Another noted that pictures on a screen drew responses even from quiet learners. Classroom observations backed up these accounts: lessons featuring PowerPoint presentations, short educational videos and digital images consistently produced more attentive and responsive students. In the language of Rogers’ framework, this is relative advantage in action, and it explains why trainees wanted to adopt the technology in the first place.

But positive attitudes proved to be only part of the story. The study found that self-efficacy, the belief in one’s own ability to succeed at a task, was a decisive factor in whether technology actually appeared in lessons. Many trainees were competent in basic digital skills for their own studies yet felt uncertain when asked to weave technology into teaching. One participant captured the gap precisely, explaining that knowing how to use technology for study is different from using it for teaching, and admitting uncertainty about whether it was being done correctly. Trainees who lacked confidence often retreated to traditional methods, even when digital tools were technically available to them.

Mentorship emerged as the second powerful lever. Student-teachers placed with mentor teachers who visibly and skillfully used technology reported feeling far more confident and motivated to try it themselves. One trainee described learning to use a smartboard simply by watching an expert teacher use it daily, which made the tool feel far less intimidating. Others without such role models described avoiding technology altogether for fear of making mistakes in front of a class. This pattern maps directly onto Rogers’ principles of observability and trialability: when adoption is modelled by others and can be practised in a safe environment, diffusion accelerates. Technology integration, the study suggests, is a social process as much as an individual skill.

The most sobering findings concerned the deep divide between urban and rural placements. Student-teachers in urban schools routinely enjoyed working projectors, smartboards, computer laboratories and reliable internet, and their lesson plans showed intentional, curriculum-aligned integration of multimedia and online platforms. Their rural counterparts faced a very different reality: absent or broken equipment, weak networks, unreliable electricity and load shedding that could derail a planned video lesson entirely. Several rural trainees resorted to improvisation, using personal phones and paying for their own data, and even then lessons sometimes collapsed when devices could not be charged. In well-resourced settings, technology became a normal part of everyday pedagogy; in under-resourced ones, it became conditional, optional or simply impossible.

These contextual findings carry a pointed implication for policy. South Africa has developed ambitious frameworks, from the White Paper on e-Education to the more recent Digital Education Strategy, designed to expand connectivity, devices and teacher digital competencies across the basic education system. Yet the study shows that even when national policy is clear, classroom realities can render it moot. Less than half of South African schools provide online learning systems or digital resources consistently, and rural schools frequently lack basic computer laboratories altogether. When infrastructure fails, even the most competent and motivated trainee teacher cannot deliver a technology-enhanced lesson, and the resulting experience teaches them that ICT is unreliable, a lesson that may follow them throughout their careers.

The student-teachers themselves offered clear prescriptions. They called for more hands-on training during initial teacher education, arguing that learning to operate a tool is meaningless without guided practice in integrating it into real lessons. They asked for stronger mentorship structures in placement schools, better infrastructure and connectivity, particularly in rural areas, and more opportunities to practise technology use in authentic classroom situations at university. The study concludes that effective ICT integration demands a combined effort between higher education institutions and schools, aligning training, mentorship and infrastructure. Digital pedagogy, in other words, is context-dependent and collaboratively supported rather than individually driven. As the next generation of teachers enters classrooms shaped by these early experiences, the study suggests that closing the urban-rural infrastructure gap may matter as much as any curriculum reform, because a trainee who watches a carefully planned digital lesson die for lack of electricity learns a lesson no lecturer intended to teach.

Subject of Research: Student-teacher perceptions and practices in ICT integration during teaching practice in South African schools

Article Title: Student-teacher perceptions and practices shaping the transformation of teaching and learning through information and communication technology

Article References: Student-teacher perceptions and practices shaping the transformation of teaching and learning through information and communication technology. (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-026-02071-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44217-026-02071-y

Keywords: ICT integration, student-teachers, teaching practice, Diffusion of Innovation, digital competence, South African education, urban-rural inequality, teacher training, self-efficacy, mentorship, digital divide, Discover Education