by Nahed F. Abdel-Maksoud and Mohamed S. Shaltout
ABSTRACT
Gamification has emerged as a promising approach for enhancing student engagement, motivation, and learning; however, teacher adoption remains inconsistent across educational settings. This systematic literature review synthesizes empirical studies published between 2018 and 2023 to identify barriers to teacher adoption of gamification and examine professional development strategies proposed to address these
challenges. Searches of Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC yielded 1,247 records, of which 36 studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings revealed that barriers to adoption can be broadly categorized as personal, technical, pedagogical, and institutional factors. The most frequently reported barriers included lack of time, insufficient training, limited resources, technical difficulties, attitudinal resistance, low perceived usefulness, and
administrative constraints. Professional development emerged as a promising mechanism for supporting adoption, although evidence regarding long-term effectiveness remains limited. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model, the review proposes an integrated framework for understanding teacher adoption of gamification and highlights the need for sustained, context-sensitive, and barrier-matched professional
development models.
