There are several implications that can be drawn from the experiences of the early childhood teachers who participated in this present study. These have particular significance for those involved in early childhood education, albeit from differing angles depending upon the role undertaken. These include researchers, policy makers, funding providers, management, professional development providers, teacher education sites, teachers, families and, most importantly, the children themselves.
The first implication identified in this study is the role early childhood teachers undertake in relation to ICT. The respondents in this study illustrated how the attitudes and perspectives they held towards ICT explicitly and implicitly shaped and influenced how ICT was subsequently implemented (or not). These same respondents indicated their increasing awareness of how the different theories of teaching and learning more generally impacted on their practice which, in turn, shaped how they utilised ICT. Although, whilst Ward, et al. (2005) assert that “teachers are often unaware of why they practice as they do “(p. 24), it appears that some teachers in the early childhood sector are gradually developing a more acute sense of awareness of what influences and shapes their practice, as illustrated by the participants in this study.
However, continuing to create increasing opportunities for teachers to actively engage in dialogue to explore and articulate their pedagogical approach to ICT in ECE is vital. This engagement may also cause those involved in the resourcing of ICT to more critically consider the impact and influence of these resources on
resources on top of teaching and learning, and expecting things to change (Visser, 2001). Furthermore, these engagements may subsequently increase opportunities for the views and perspectives of teachers to be acknowledged and understood when creating policies and procedures related to ICT in ECE.
Secondly, the way in which teachers interpret their role and the views they hold towards the presence of ICT in ECE influences their subsequent application (or non application) of ICT as described by the teachers in this study. These views invariably impact on what happens for children in the early childhood setting. Children in the current climate are living in dramatically different technological worlds than what teachers themselves experienced as young children. They are participating in an ever increasing visual world, being exposed from all directions with visual texts through a variety of multimodal mediums including television, video, DVD, advertising, computer games, clothing icons and images to name but a few. The escalation of this visual world is particularly targeted towards this young audience, capturing and engaging their attention (Jones Diaz, Beecher, & Arthur, 2007).
As the teachers in this present study imply, the early childhood sector can (and some assert should) play an important role in guiding and supporting young children in their awareness of the implicit and explicit messages these technological mediums relay. It is crucial, therefore, that this audience, are able to make informed and knowledgeable decisions about these images and the underlying messages that they may portray.
This role, however, is two fold. Firstly there is need for teachers themselves to actively increase their own awareness of the overt and covert influence of the visual texts in their own and in children’s lives, and secondly by offering young children in their care meaningful opportunities to deconstruct and decipher the messages conveyed through the multiplicity of visual images, which are part and parcel of their everyday experiences. This could occur by, for example, as
several participants alluded to, children actively participating in creating their own videos/DVDs, movies or slide shows and being involved in the design, production and editing process. These experiences can create essential opportunities for young children to consider and review the content and intent of the visual stories being told through this medium, thereby increasing their ability to navigate their way through the myriad of resources and visual texts targeted towards them, in a more perceptive and astute way. The teachers in this current study described the beginnings of this awareness, and further focus on this could significantly increase the recognition and potential of these experiences.
The final implication for this study, and as the findings of this research suggest, ICT is beginning to establish a secure base, (and some might say has already) within many early childhood settings. Furthermore, the raft of publications (for example Erb, 2008); and ICT strategies (Ministry of Education, 2005) emerging more recently, is presenting a predominantly credit based view of the perceived benefits of ICT in ECE. This present study, however, has suggested the views and perspectives of the teachers involved in implementing these resources are pivotal in ensuring that these are instigated purposefully, and must be taken into account when promoting ICT. Therefore, it is imperative that teachers are provided with opportunities to be actively involved in the decision making surrounding the purchasing and application of ICT, rather than being randomly supplied with resources to use.
More importantly though, as the teachers in my study began to describe, is providing opportunities for teachers to acutely engage with the nature of technology itself. The teachers in the present study demonstrated how, when they questioned and reflected upon the presence of ICT within their own sites and engaged in dialogue with their colleagues to refine their understandings, their awareness of the role ICT currently played, or could play, within these settings increased. Therefore, there is a need for this use to be continually
presence of ICT is well synchronized with the pedagogical approaches of teaching and learning highlighted within Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996)
and not are taken for granted.
Moreover, as Nuttall and Edwards (2004), claim, “early childhood teachers engage in acts of professional discrimination when making decisions about curriculum in relation to particular curriculum approaches” (p.17). Professional discrimination is the process of selection teachers inadvertently go through when interpreting and understanding theories of teaching and learning in relation to their practice (Nuttall & Edwards, 2004). Therefore, encouraging teachers to engage in dialogue to critique their values and beliefs surrounding ICT is deemed of value.
Brown and Murray (2006) sent an even stronger message to teachers in the early childhood sector, along with teachers in the primary and secondary sector urging them to be “’hi-tech’ educators capable of sifting through the garbage” (p.43) in their quest to develop and extend a deeper and more thorough understanding of the role and purpose of ICT within educational contexts.
So rather than teachers being caught up in the surge of blindly implementing ICT, there is a need for teachers to recognise the values and ideology, which can sit behind the introduction of strategies such as Foundation for Discovery (Ministry of Education, 2005). This more rigorous examination could enable teachers to be more conversant and informed with policies such as these, and to be more critically aware of the non neutrality of educational policy more broadly. As Brown and Murray (2006) allege, “teachers have a critical role in mediating the hidden and taken-for-granted messages conveyed and promoted through new digital technology” (p.47).