What digital tools teachers are ready to use in kindergarten – international comparative study with early childhood pre-service teachers

Abstract

This paper presents study results regarding digital tools and work methods which early childhood pre-service teachers consider using in their future pedagogical activities with children. These results are part of wider international research regarding the digital competencies of the students-future early childhood teachers. The purpose of the presented results is to compare students' attitudes towards digital tools for working with kids from the perspective of 8 countries (Norway, The UK, Portugal, Slovenia, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, and Jordan). There were 772 respondents – students of the Early childhood pedagogical specialization. The study follows the design of a survey based on the Theory of Action. The results of the study revealed that the pre-service early childhood teachers of all nations participating in the study presented positive approach towards the use of IT tools in kindergarten. The digital tools which were indicated by students as those that will be most often used in future work are the Internet as a source of knowledge, digital programs for communication with parents, video, pedagogical apps, and smart boards. Differences in answers between representatives of different nations can be explained by the specificity of the functioning of educational systems in different countries as well as differences in Early Childhood teachers' curriculums.