Secondary school teachers’ perceptions of BYOD among learners within the classroom

The use of personally owned devices among learners has remained a contentious issue in schools across the globe. While several studies have been devoted to explaining the importance of such initiatives, the debate has continued to rage on, with most school authorities imposing a blanket ban on the use of these devices within their premises. In this study, we seek to contribute by examining in-service teachers’ perceptions of the use of personally owned devices in schools within the global south context. The qualitative study explores teachers’ understanding of the usefulness of technology and associated devices such as smartphones in the classroom. The Unified Theory of Use and Acceptance of Technology (UTUAT) was used to draw up a conceptual framework. Purposive sampling was employed to select in-service secondary school teachers who had at some time previously enrolled in an introduction to information technology course at a tertiary institution. Constant comparison analysis and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data from the focus groups. Thirteen thematic areas were drawn from the study and these were framed to support the conceptual framework.