Teachers’ dispositions towards the role of digital devices in play-based pedagogy in early childhood education

Abstract A body of research is emerging on early childhood education teachers’ views on the integration of digital technologies in their practice. Despite evidence of the digitalisation of homes in affluent societies and children’s interactions in highly mediated digital environments, few teachers so far have integrated digital devices into a play-based pedagogy. Thus, this project aimed to examine the attitudes and aptitudes towards digital devices of teachers in their personal lives and professional practice in five countries (England, Luxemburg, Malta, Greece and Kuwait). An online survey designed to collect broad-scale data was followed by focus group interviews. The findings demonstrated that although teachers are digitally competent in their personal lives, there is a dominant ideology regarding the nature of play-based pedagogy that hinders the integration of digital devices into their practice.

[1]  Sonia Livingstone,et al.  Zero to eight: young children and their internet use , 2013 .

[2]  A. Morgan.  Interactive whiteboards, interactivity and play in the classroom with children aged three to seven years , 2010 .

[3]  Nicola Yelland.  Knowledge Building with ICT in the Early Years of Schooling , 2011 .

[4]  Becky Smerdon,et al.  Teachers' Tools for the 21st Century: A Report on Teachers' Use of Technology. Statistical Analysis Report. , 2000 .

[5]  Sonia Livingstone,et al.  How parents of young children manage digital devices at home: the role of income, education and parental style , 2015 .

[6]  B. Weiner.  An attributional theory of motivation and emotion , 1986 .

[7]  Lisa K Kervin,et al.  iPads, digital play and pre-schoolers , 2011 .

[8]  Eileen Wood,et al.  Integrating Computer Technology in Early Childhood Education Environments: Issues Raised by Early Childhood Educators , 2008 .

[9]  Gunilla Dahlberg,et al.  Is the power to see and visualize always the power to control , 2006 .

[10]  J. Marsh,et al.  Changing Play: Play, Media And Commercial Culture From The 1950S To The Present Day , 2013 .

[11]  Jackie Marsh,et al.  Digital beginnings: Young children's use of popular culture, media and new technologies , 2005 .

[12]  S. Schachter.  The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State , 1964 .

[13]  Vasilis Gialamas,et al.  ICT and play in preschool: early childhood teachers’ beliefs and confidence , 2015 .

[14]  Carol Aubrey,et al.  The confidence and competence in information and communication technologies of practitioners, parents and young children in the Early Years Foundation Stage , 2014 .

[15]  Sue Palmer.  Toxic Childhood: How The Modern World Is Damaging Our Children And What We Can Do About It , 2006 .

[16]  Garry Falloon,et al.  Looking to the future: M-learning with the iPad , 2010 .

[17]  Leslie Haddon,et al.  Children’s use of online technologies in Europe: a review of the European evidence base , 2013 .

[18]  M. Irigoyen,et al.  Exposure and Use of Mobile Media Devices by Young Children , 2015, Pediatrics.

[19]  L. Plowman,et al.  Just picking it up? Young children learning with technology at home , 2008 .

[20]  D. Bem.  Self-Perception Theory , 1972 .

[21]  L. Kocher.  Going Beyond the Theory/Practice Divide in Early Childhood Education: Introducing an Intra-active Pedagogy by Hillevi Lenz-Taguchi , 2010 .

[22]  Marilyn Fleer,et al.  Digital positioning for inclusive practice in early childhood: The cultural practices surrounding digital tablets in family homes , 2013 .

[23]  Lauren A Murphy,et al.  The impact of background television on parent-child interaction. , 2009, Child development.

[24]  Ioanna Palaiologou,et al.  Children under five and digital technologies: implications for early years pedagogy† , 2016 .

[25]  Christine Stephen,et al.  Pedagogy: the silent partner in early years learning , 2010 .

[26]  J. Marsh.  Purposes for literacy in children's use of the online virtual world Club Penguin , 2014 .

[27]  Jenny S. Radesky,et al.  Patterns of Mobile Device Use by Caregivers and Children During Meals in Fast Food Restaurants , 2014, Pediatrics.

[28]  D. Katz.  THE FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF ATTITUDES , 1960 .

[29]  Fethi A. Inan,et al.  Factors affecting technology integration in K-12 classrooms: a path model , 2010 .

[30]  M. Bittman,et al.  Digital natives?: New and old media and children's language acquisition , 2012 .

[31]  Lydia Plowman,et al.  Seven Myths About Young Children and Technology , 2013 .

[32]  C. Cordes,et al.  Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood. , 2000 .

[33]  Ruben Vanderlinde,et al.  The role of ICT in early childhood education: Scale development and research on ICT use and influencing factors , 2015 .

[34]  M. Hatzigianni,et al.  ‘I am very good at computers’: young children's computer use and their computer self-esteem , 2012 .

[35]  K. Colmer,et al.  Attachment Theory and Primary Caregiving , 2011 .

[36]  Mark Simon,et al.  Education and Skills , 2007 .

[37]  Ioanna Palaiologou,et al.  Integration of digital technologies into play-based pedagogy in Kuwaiti early childhood education: teachers’ views, attitudes and aptitudes , 2016 .

[38]  Gareth E. Miles,et al.  Computer use within a play-based early years curriculum , 2012 .

[39]  Christine Stephen,et al.  Children, play, and computers in pre-school education , 2005, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[40]  Garry Falloon,et al.  Young students using iPads: App design and content influences on their learning pathways , 2013, Comput. Educ..

[41]  R. Cattell.  Personality and mood by questionnaire. , 1973 .

[42]  T. Levin,et al.  Teachers’ Views on Factors Affecting Effective Integration of Information Technology in the Classroom: Developmental Scenery , 2008 .

[43]  M. Fleer.  Technologically Constructed Childhoods: Moving beyond a Reproductive to a Productive and Critical View of Curriculum Development , 2011 .

[44]  Johan van Braak,et al.  Student teachers' thinking processes and ICT integration: Predictors of prospective teaching behaviors with educational technology , 2010, Comput. Educ..

[45]  Jackie Marsh,et al.  young children’s play in online virtual worlds , 2010 .

[46]  GialamasVasilis,et al.  Barriers to the integration of computers in early childhood settings , 2015 .

[47]  Malin Rolhlin.  "The Furure Is Not What It Appears To Be" : Pedagogy, Genealogy and Political Epistemology , 2006 .

[48]  V. Rideout,et al.  Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds , 2010 .

[49]  I Kalas,et al.  Recognizing the potential of ICT in early childhood education , 2010 .

[50]  Lydia Plowman,et al.  Researching Young Children's Everyday Uses of Technology in the Family Home , 2015, Interact. Comput..

[51]  Leonie Rutherford,et al.  Digital Natives? New and Old Media and Children's Outcomes , 2011 .

[52]  Susan Edwards,et al.  Digital play in the early years: a contextual response to the problem of integrating technologies and play-based pedagogies in the early childhood curriculum , 2013 .

[53]  Johan van Braak,et al.  The impact of primary school teachers' educational beliefs on the classroom use of computers , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[54]  J. Cullen,et al.  Participatory learning theories: a framework for early childhood pedagogy , 2012 .

[55]  Anne-Mari Folkesson,et al.  Can we let computers change practice? Educators' interpretations of preschool tradition , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[56]  Mats Lindahl,et al.  ICT in preschool: friend or foe? The significance of norms in a changing practice , 2012 .

[57]  E. L. Jowett,et al.  Using an iPad-based video modelling package to teach numeracy skills to a child with an autism spectrum disorder , 2012, Developmental neurorehabilitation.

[58]  Interactive whiteboards, art and young children , 2011 .

[59]  M. Fleer.  Theorising Play in the Early Years , 2013 .

[60]  Kathy Hirsh-Pasek,et al.  Skype me! Socially contingent interactions help toddlers learn language. , 2014, Child development.

[61]  Gwenda Beed Davey,et al.  Changing play: play, media and commercial culture from the 1950s to the present day , 2015 .

[62]  T. David.  What do we know about teaching young children? A professional user review of UK research based on the BERA academic review 'Early Years Research: Pedagogy, Curriculum and Adult Roles, Training and Professionalism' , 2003 .

[63]  Vasilis Gialamas,et al.  Barriers to the integration of computers in early childhood settings: Teachers’ perceptions , 2013, Education and Information Technologies.

[64]  Rhona Sharpe,et al.  An introduction to rethinking pedagogy for a digital age , 2007 .