THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) AND LEARNING COMPETENCES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

The development of learning competences in pupils is very important to all primary school teachers. The production and use of teaching and learning resources depends to a large extent on the competences and skills to be developed. The inability of primary school children to resolve basic life problems upon graduation motivated the researcher to carry out this study on the basis that the use of ICT can have a relationship with the development of learning competences in primary schools. The correlational research design was used. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The theory of Social Constructivism by Lev Vygotsky (1978) and Theory of Operant Conditioning by B.F Skinner (1904 -1990) were used to explain the problem of the study. The sample was made up of 150 teachers who are teaching using ICT in Yaounde V Sub-Division. The simple random sampling technique was used to select these teachers. Findings showed that there is a positive correlation between instructional planning using ICT, r (148) = 0.441, (p < .001), lesson delivery with ICT, r (148) = 0.417, (p < .001), assessment using ICT r (148) = 0.370, (p < .001) and learning competence respectively. The study strongly recommends that ICT should be integrated in all learning areas to enhance learning competences in pupils. This will arouse learners’ interest in learning and thus help them to developed competence.