Attitudes of Secondary School Teachers towards Gamification

Abstract

The concept of gamification is increasingly being used in the classroom because of its impact on student motivation and engagement. The purpose of gamification is not to exclusively incorporate digital games, but to gamify activities through some game-based elements such as avatars, badges, virtual points, levels, stories, leaderboards, awards, etc. Although it is an approach with great potential, a review of the literature on the use of gamification in education has shown that it is more common in higher education and less common in schools. Since teachers play a key role in introducing innovations in the classroom, their attitude towards gamification is very important. For this reason, a survey was conducted among a sample of secondary school teachers to investigate their attitudes toward gamification. The paper describes a study conducted among teachers at a vocational secondary school where a previous study of gamification among students had been conducted, which showed that students were very satisfied with the use of various game-based elements such as points, badges, leaderboards, and stories. Teachers were asked about the use of gamification in their teaching practice as well as their attitudes towards gamification. The paper analyses the extent to which they are familiar with the possibility of gamification, whether they use game-based elements and/or digital tools for gamification in the classroom, and their reasons for using gamification. The reasons for not using gamification are specifically examined to determine what actions could be taken in the future to increase teachers' adoption of gamification and encourage its use in the classroom.