Information literacy training for teachers in rural South Africa

Abstract

Purpose

Information literacy (IL) training for teachers in developing communities, e.g. rural areas or townships in developing countries, is expected to pose special challenges in terms of sustainability, contextualisation, life‐long learning and empowerment. Little has been reported on such training in developing countries. Based on the authors' involvement in a UNESCO‐funded IL training project for teachers in a developing community in South Africa, the purpose of this paper is to review literature and to suggest a model that can further research and training in IL that meets actual requirements and needs of developing communities.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature reviews on four issues are reported on: ICT skills, teachers and developing/rural contexts; IL skills, teachers and developing communities; internet usage, search skills, teachers and developing communities; and lessons from ICT for development (ICT4D).

Findings

ICT4D literature and critical social theory seem useful to further research on IL training in developing communities as it empowers researchers to take up a position of enquiry that questions the value of ICT and the underlying assumptions embedded in the ways ICT is introduced in developing contexts. It is assumed that this would also apply to IL.

Originality/value

The contribution is original in its attempt to combine IL and ICT training for teachers in a developing community against an ICT4D background.

Citation

Fourie, I. and Krauss, K. (2011), "Information literacy training for teachers in rural South Africa", Journal of Systems and Information Technology, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 303-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/13287261111164871