Learning to become a teacher in the 21st century: ICT integration in Initial Teacher Education in Chile

This paper presents the most relevant results from a national study about the availability and use of ICT in 46 Initial Teacher Education institutions in Chile, implemented during 2009 as part of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) international project “ICT in Initial Teacher Training.” Main findings show an overall favorable context for the pedagogical use of ICT in such institutions, in terms of ICT infrastructure, support, policies and teachers’ self-reported ICT related skills. In addition, teachers report a quite frequent use of some ICT resources, giving a high importance to students’ learning of ICT. However, ICT integration is limited to a few specific resources (mainly computers and projectors), mostly applied to perform “traditional” pedagogical activities. Therefore, the expectations about the improvement of teaching and learning in Teacher Education in Chile through the integration of ICT, are not been fulfilled yet. This paper can constitute a significant contribution for developing more innovative and better quality pedagogical practices in this education level.