Integration of digital technologies into play-based pedagogy in Kuwaiti early childhood education: teachers’ views, attitudes and aptitudes

ABSTRACT

Scholars in the field of early childhood education are still debating the inclusion of digital technologies in play-based pedagogy and our understanding of digital play in early childhood education is still developing. This research paper examines early childhood education teachers’ views, aptitudes and attitudes towards digital technologies in their personal lives and in the classroom practices in Kuwait. This is a quantitative study in which 195 teachers completed a questionnaire designed around the key themes of the investigation in an attempt to understand how teachers are positioning themselves in terms of a play-based pedagogy and digital technologies. The key findings demonstrated that although the Kuwaiti teachers are competent users of digital technologies in their personal lives and the Kuwaiti classrooms have been digitalised to a large extent, the teachers are still hesitant in embedding these in their curriculum practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• digital technologies
• play-based pedagogy
• teachers’ aptitudes and attitudes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank Kuwait University for the sponsorship of this project (Research Project No RT01/13). The financial contribution and support is gratefully acknowledged.