Swedish preschool teachers’ perceptions about digital play in a workplace-learning context

The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding of how kindergarten teachers experience opportunities and challenges related to the use of digital learning and development activities in kindergartens.

The research questions are:

1. What do the informants in the study see as new opportunities related to the pedagogical use of digital activities in kindergartens, and why?
2. What do the informants see as challenges related to the pedagogical use of digital activities in kindergartens, and why?

The kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of opportunities and challenges related to digital activities in kindergartens are linked to several different aspects of their professional learning environment. The challenges mentioned are being pressed for time and reluctance among parents and colleagues. Opportunities are linked to being able to help children prepare for a digital future, as well as enriching their upbringing and learning.

A sample of ten Swedish kindergarten teachers, nine women and one man, were tasked with writing self-reports on digital activities in the kindergartens they worked in. The informants had previously, while they were student teachers seven years earlier, participated in a study in which they had answered questions about the pedagogical use of video games in kindergarten. In this study, they were asked to write reports in which they described their own attitudes towards digital activities, why they had these, how they assessed the children’s need for such activities, what knowledge they needed to initiate the activities, how they worked with digital activities in kindergarten and how they envisaged that they would work with them in the future. 

Marklund, L. (2019). “Swedish preschool teachers’ perceptions about digital play in a workplace-learning context”. Early Years, An International Research Journal.