Learning through ICT in Swedish Early Childhood Education from a pedagogical perspective of quality

Childhood Education, 2003 by Sheridan, Sonja, Samuelsson, Ingrid Pramling

The most important aspects from a pedagogical perspective of ICT quality are teachers' competence in guiding children's learning through ICT and their attitudes toward it in preschool and school. Learning through ICT requires knowledge of its unique qualities in combination with an ability to direct children's attention towards both content and form. Developmentally Appropriate Technology for Early Childhood (DATEC, 2002), partly funded by the European Union under the DGXXII CONNECT program, can be of assistance in this process for teachers (www.ioe.ac.uk/cdl/DATEC). DATEC is a European network that identifies good practices and gives curriculum guidance as well as guidance for practitioners on appropriate technology education in early childhood.

If early childhood educators can develop an interest in technology, the skills to use it, and an attitude for seeing the possibilities in it (i.e., to use their imagination and creativity), then preschool and school will come a long way towards encouraging technology-literate children-children who can use ICT for making sense of the world around them.

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