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

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.