A framework to guide the effective use and investment of Information and communication Technology (ICT) in Early Childhood Education (ECE) services was initiated by the Ministry of Education and launched in April 2005. The framework, entitled Foundations for Discovery (Ministry of Education, 2005), was developed against a backdrop of other Government initiatives. These included the ECE Strategic Plan – Pathways to the future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki (Ministry of Education, 2002) – which had three overarching goals for the sector – to increase participation, improve quality, and promote collaborative relationships.
The Foundations for Discovery framework recommended five strategic focus areas for action, one of which was to develop teacher professional learning and capability in ICT. This was in recognition of ECE educators having a critical role in the appropriate and effective use of ICT in ECE services through careful planning, modelling and creation of meaningful learning experiences. As a result the Ministry of Education initiated and funded a three-year programme for teacher professional development. This has been managed and facilitated by CORE Education.
This report provides an overview of the impact of the Early Childhood Education Information and Communication Technologies Professional Learning (ECE ICT PL) programme, 2006–2009.
Purpose
The purposes of the report are twofold:
- To synthesise the main findings that emerged from fifty-six action research projects undertaken by teachers during the programme. In these action research projects, teachers collaboratively investigated a range of ‘puzzles of practice’ with respect to integrating new technologies into their service programmes. The focus of these enquiries and reports was on identifying the learning outcomes involved in a variety of ICT-based learning activities.
- To summarise the results of three surveys of participating services and teachers (baseline, mid-point and end-of-project). The survey results provide a quantitative overview of the main ‘national trends’ in the impact of the ECE ICT PL programme as a whole on participating teachers and services