Digital technologies and early childhood educator ‘control’

Abstract In Australian early childhood education (ECE), recent policy requires children to be provided with opportunities to use digital technologies independently, safely, and in healthy ways. While there has been reluctance to integrate media and digital technologies, educators have taken up the challenge, with some experiencing difficulty in relinquishing control of digital devices. This article addresses the idea of control, using data from a case study involving 10 educators that was framed by a cultural studies of technologies approach. Educators discussed the benefits for children and educators of relinquishing control so children could use technologies independently and safely. Data were first analysed deductively for educator control and then inductively to identify six themes. Nine of the 10 participants were initially hesitant to use media and digital technologies in everyday practice. The data attend to a pedagogical dilemma because of Australian policy requirements, and the United Nations decree, concerning children’s fundamental rights to autonomy and safety when using digital technologies, which is difficult to achieve unless children are taught about safety and provided with opportunities opportunities to learn to use digital technologies independently. Drawing on their informed knowledge about individual children and established classroom practices, educators engaged in pedagogical risk-taking which supported children to develop relational agency and use digital devices independently within ECE settings.