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

ABSTRACT

This study investigates preschool teachers’ perceptions about the pedagogical use of digital play and, by using the Learning in Working Life framework as a theoretical point of departure, it also investigates how these perceptions are connected to the teachers’ professional learning environment. Participants wrote a self-report essay about digital play. Results show that the participants identified opportunities with digital play on a societal, content, workplace practice and social-cultural level of the workplace-learning context. Challenges were identified on a social-cultural, technical-organisational and content level. The conclusion is when introducing digital play into preschools, the challenges include too little time and reluctant parents and colleagues. The opportunities can be summed up as helping to prepare children for the future and enriching their upbringing and learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Digitalisation
• professional learning
• professional development
• preschool
• digital play

Background

Pedagogical use of digital technologies in preschool is becoming common. Plumb and Kautz (2015) note how Sweden is formally recognising the role of IT in preschools, and how the debate concerning IT is less polarised than it previously was. However, Marklund and Dunkels (2016) show how some Swedish preschool teachers, with a dedication towards the pedagogical use of digital play, found that some colleagues do not share the same enthusiasm to engage in professional learning about digital play. Thus, the incentives to learn seem to diverge between these groups of preschool teachers, prompting further investigation of preschool teachers’ perceptions.

Digital play

The use of digital technologies to support children’s learning and development in preschool will henceforth be referred to as digital play, as it is being used in scholarly work to address digitalisation of preschool settings (Stephen and Edwards 2015). This paper will be focused on preschool teachers’ perceived opportunities and challenges in relation to the implementation of digital play. It, therefore, made sense to use a broad definition of digital play, that would allow participants to share open-minded thoughts about this phenomenon.

Formal recognitions of digital play

A formal recognition of digital play is the National Digitalisation Strategy for the Swedish school system (Ministry of Education 2017), which focuses on digital competence development among children, pupils and teachers, and aims towards equal access to, and use of, IT in preschools and schools. The curriculum for the Swedish preschool (Swedish National Agency for Education 2018), to be implemented on 1 July 2019, is another example that will make it mandatory to support children’s digital competence.

Research on the use of digital play

Sandberg and Arlemalm-Hagser (2011) explain that Swedish preschool education is a combination of learning and play, care and fostering of fundamental values, such as democracy, individual freedom, integrity, equal value of all people, gender equity and solidarity. Sheridan et al. (2011) state how preschool teacher competence is continuously being reconstructed along with changes in society and preschool curricula. Marklund and Dunkels (2016) point out the need to recognise digital play in Swedish preschool pedagogy as a means to support children’s literacy development, as literacy in digitised societies no longer can be reduced to the traditional abilities to read and write. The educational interest in digital play in Swedish preschools has grown since tablets were introduced on the market (Marsh et al. 2016; European Commission 2017), which also becomes visible in the number of preschool teachers who participate in online discussions about tablets (Marklund 2015). On the other hand, the statistics reveals that 64% of Swedish preschools do not have a plan for how IT is to be used; 50% of the preschool teachers mention the need for further training; and that 33% of preschool teachers use IT with children less than once a week (the Swedish National Agency for Education 2016). Prior to the introduction of tablets, children were sometimes allowed to play games on computers during free play, often with limited teacher presence and guidance (Ljung-Djärf 2004). Marklund and Dunkels (2016) show that tablets are being used with increased teacher presence and with the aim of teaching towards curriculum goals. This is confirmed in a study by the Swedish National Agency for Education (2016), in which 80% of preschool staff state that IT is used to develop children’s language, to look at pictures and videos and as a way to introduce mathematics. Similarly, Otterborn, Schönborn, and Hultén (2018) found that tablets were used to support subject-related, social and generic skills.

When Swedish preschool teachers discuss the pedagogical use of tablets, apps are one central topic (Marklund 2015). However, apps often lack qualities that would make them useful (Falloon 2013; Merchant 2015). Moreover, Kjällander and Moinian (2014) argue that preschool children creatively manipulate and playfully transform the didactic designs of the apps, which shifts the balance of authority between adults and children. Furthermore, Nilsen et al. (2018) could see how children’s play with digital and analogue memory games turned into different activities from a pedagogical perspective. Hence, they call for a nuanced discussion regarding digital artefacts’ ability to mediate and re-mediate preschool activities. The way digital play is organised also matters for children’s learning. Walldén Hillström (2014) argues that the level of digital competence training depends on the collective work of the participants. This is confirmed by Petersen (2015), who adds that children’s agency can be enhanced if auditive, visual or corporeal modes of communication are being used. One of her examples is when children, via apps, get the opportunity to communicate in their minority language. Based on a study of children’s interactions, Lawrence (2018) argues that play with open-design apps, without the extrinsic rewards of game-like apps, can stimulate play behaviours that are similar to traditional play. She also suggests that preschool teachers monitor peer play to lessen competition, enhance collaboration and thereby nurture a more complex form of digital play.

Teachers’ insecurities about digital play

Some preschool teachers are insecure about how to use digital technologies in preschools (Blackwell, Lauricella, and Wartella 2014; Howard, Miles, and Rees-Davies 2012), some need to overcome barriers when these technologies are introduced (Edwards 2016; Plumb and Kautz 2015) and others question their usefulness (Palaiologou 2016b). Moreover, preschool teachers’ perceptions affect how and how much digital play is being used (Blackwell, Lauricella, and Wartella 2014; Kerckaert, Vanderlinde, and van Braak 2015). Lindahl and Folkesson (2012b) found insecurities among preschool teacher students, where some thought of new technologies as a threat to a tradition. In addition, digital competence was not mentioned when Lillvist et al. (2014) studied how preschool teacher students define preschool teacher competence. Palaiologou (2016b) found that, even though preschool teachers were digitally competent in their personal lives, a dominant ideology regarding play-based pedagogy prevented the integration of digital devices. Sandberg and Pramling (2003) argue that preschool teachers can perceive IT as a threat to an idealised view of childhood, and Hernwall (2016) could see how preschool teachers thought of digital technologies either as a possibility to support specific competencies or a threat to their preschool practice. Lawrence (2018) claims that preschool teachers’ insecurities can partly be explained by the fact that existing literature rarely highlights what children’s digital play looks like, and how it can be situated in preschool. Lafton (2012) brings together many of these different reasons behind preschool teachers’ insecurities in her argument that socially constructed knowledge and individual levels of knowledge, as well as the social discourse about digital technologies in children’s lives, influence how preschool teachers construct their digital practices.

Preschool teachers’ need for learning in relation to digital play

In a study by Otterborn, Schönborn, and Hultén (2018,) preschool teachers expressed that their lack of knowledge was a limitation to the integration of tablet-supported activities, that they needed clearer curriculum guidelines and adequate training. Johansson, Pramling Samuelsson, and Engberg (2003) highlight how the pedagogical situation is being affected by teachers’ thoughts about knowledge and learning, and how these thoughts ultimately will influence children’s opportunities to develop competences. According to Lindahl and Folkesson (2012a), the thoughts of preschool teachers may be difficult to change, as tradition within preschools typically has more power than knowledge claims. They further argue that preschool teachers should distinguish the ‘what’ from ‘the how’ in children’s activities, in order to open up for a re-interpretation of preschool tradition. Similarly, Nuttall et al. (2015) suggest that teachers’ attention to traditional play needs to be directed towards defining and understanding children’s digital play, which could give them motives to participate in professional development and to explore digital play. Palaiologou (2016a) argues that preschool teachers should re-examine how children learn and how preschool learning environments are organised. However, Dezuanni et al. (2015) highlight how preschools involve complex relationships between children and adults, physical and virtual aspects of technology, other materials and indoor as well as outdoor learning environments, and that this ecology needs to be considered when preschool teachers figure out how to use tablets in their practice.

In summary, Swedish preschool teachers currently need to address children’s digital competence development due to curriculum changes. However, their diverse opinions and different degrees of knowledge may be obstacles to the pedagogical implementation of digital play. Therefore, it becomes interesting to investigate preschool teachers’ perceptions of opportunities and challenges associated with digital play.

Purpose and research questions

The purpose of the present study is to increase the understanding of how preschool teachers perceive opportunities and challenges associated with digital play. The research questions are:

• What do the participants regard as opportunities arising from the pedagogical use of digital play in preschool, and why?

• What do the participants regard as challenges from the pedagogical use of digital play in preschool, and why?

Theoretical framework

In the present study, the Learning in Working Life framework (Illeris 2007) was chosen as a theoretical model to investigate preschool teachers’ professional learning about digital play. The framework should be understood as having a surrounding societal level because Illeris (2007) argues that individuals are involved in interactions with material surroundings at all times and that this interaction is always transmitted socially as well as societally. It acknowledges the fact that the primary objective within working life is to produce products or provide services, not to learn. Moreover, it illustrates an individual and a social level of learning in the work context. Illeris (2004) argues that important workplace learning can be found in the overlap between employees’ work identities and the workplace practice. For instance, in Sweden, some preschool teachers have work identities that favour the use of digital play more than others, and on a social level, the pedagogical convention of traditional play is strong, even though the curriculum will soon enforce the use of digital play. At work, the technical-organisational learning environment can set boundaries for learning as, within a profession, it dictates the requirements of knowledge and what opportunities there are for workers to learn. Moreover, the social-cultural learning environment can set boundaries when colleagues identify incentives to resist learning. Illeris (2004) explains how a work identity is a partial identity, concerned with how we experience ourselves as individual workers and as parts of a working fellowship and how individuals with different work identities will have different learning impulses in relation to certain content. Thus, on the individual level, workers who are able to identify incentives to learn and to transmit their knowledge will need to communicate this to the social dimension at work. This process may be more or less challenging depending on how the content is perceived at the social level. In the present study, the model will be used to understand how preschool teachers’ perceptions about digital play are connected to elements of their professional learning environment. Moreover, participants’ perceived opportunities and challenges will be treated as factors that might generate incentives to learn, or to disengage from learning opportunities in relation to the content of digital play.

Materials and method

Procedure

In 2009, a mixed group of teacher students, in which 16 were preschool teacher students, responded to an online questionnaire about the pedagogical use of video games in their future profession. The study aimed to investigate student teachers’ perceived knowledge levels, perceptions, and interest in this topic. The data were collected during a course where all teacher students had been arranged into mixed study groups, with a similar number of preschool teacher students in each group. Having graduated about the time when tablets were introduced in preschools, these students had experiences from an expansive period regarding the use of digital play in preschools. So, in the autumn of 2016, they were invited to participate in the present study. With information from the University’s student catalogue, most participants’ contact information could be found. The remaining two participants were found via an online social network. They received a message with information about the study and, later detailed information was sent to their postal address. Ten informants returned a letter of consent to the study, and the six preschool teachers who declined participation did so because, for different reasons, they had too limited work-life experience to be able to contribute.

Participants

The 10 participants, 9 females and 1 male were about halfway to becoming certified preschool teachers in 2009 and in 2016 they all worked as preschool teachers, under the same curriculum. Their level of professional experience was similar, as all had worked since they graduated.

The self-report essays

The participants were asked to write a self-report essay (Fejes and Thornberg 2009) about digital play in preschools. They were provided with a predefined structure for their writing, as they received a series of open-ended questions. They were asked to write about their current perceptions, why they had these perceptions, how they perceived children’s needs to encounter digital play, what professional knowledge they needed as well as if they had used formal or informal ways to learn about digital play. Finally, they were asked how they currently worked and how they predicted that their pedagogical use of digital play would develop. They wrote the essays online, from their homes or workplace, with no time limit. The self-report study should be considered freestanding from the 2009 questionnaire study. However, to trigger the participants’ writing a stimulated recall methodology (Vesterinen, Toom, and Patrikainen 2010) was used. Each participant was provided with a summary of their responses from 2009 to help them recall what thoughts they used to have in relation to a similar topic and to help them reflect upon why they had reached their current perceptions about digital play. Three reminders were sent out before the data collection ended, in February 2017.

Ethical considerations

The study followed the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Research Council (2017). Before both data collections, in 2009 and in 2016, the participants gave their informed consent that their shared information could be used for research purposes. The identity of the participants and the identity of the preschools where they worked remain confidential.

Analysis

The self-report essays from the 2016 study were analysed using a deductive approach to thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006). The Learning in Working Life framework (Illeris 2007) was initially used to determine how participants’ perceptions could be connected to elements of the professional learning environment. For instance, participants’ observations about limited time to learn about digital play were placed under the category ‘Technical-organisational learning environment’, and when they mentioned reluctant colleagues and parents, this was placed under the category ‘Social-cultural learning environment’. Braun and Clarke (2006) describe how the coding in a deductive thematic analysis can be conducted in relation to a specific research question and that the outcome will be a more detailed analysis of some aspect of the data. Therefore, the data within the framework-related categories were further analysed to identify what opportunities and challenges the participants identified with each category of the Learning in Working Life framework (Illeris 2007).

Results

The results will be presented through the concepts from the Learning in Working Life framework (Figure 1). When such a concept is used, it will be italicized. The participants will be referred to as P1-P10.

Figure 1. Learning in working life (Illeris 2007, 223).

Note. Reproduced by permission of Knud Illeris.

The participants’ work identity in relation to digital play

Regarding the content that these participants need to learn in their work, the data revealed that all participants thought digital play could be used in preschools. As such, they did not have work identities that opposed digital play. However, diversity could be seen in their professional interest. P1 had IT-related pedagogical responsibilities at work, P2 to P6 had an interest in promoting the use of digital play at work, and P7 to P9 were in favour of its use but did not actively promote it. Negative experiences had made P10 doubt if digital play could be used effectively in preschool, and she, therefore, preferred traditional pedagogy. Thus, her work identity questioned the use of digital play the most. Moreover, her narrative made a good example of how perceived challenges might turn into an incentive to disengage from learning opportunities.

Opportunities associated with pedagogical use of digital play

The following will address how aspects of the participants’ professional learning environment were perceived as opportunities in relation to digital play.

Society

On a societal level, the invisible surrounding level of the framework, most participants expressed a will and a need to prepare children for future schooling and adult life in a digitised society. P2 pointed out that IT is here to stay, and P3 stated that preschools can prepare children for future learning about how to use digital tools. Another participant explained how this matter concerns equity.

It becomes increasingly important to encounter the digital. To be able to use digital tools is important in order to become a citizen who is able to access information and is able to create knowledge about our society and in our society. We need to reach out to the children that do not encounter this world in their homes. (P5)

Moreover, P5 argued that digital play is not an add-on to established ways of working in the preschool, and P6 concurred:

The preschool should offer the children many means of expression and digital tools are a part of that. They should get opportunities to learn these forms of expression in the same way they should get the opportunity to become familiar with letters and numbers. It prepares them for the rest of their lives.

Workplace practice

Opportunities were also identified in how digital play had enhanced participants’ workplace practice. Some participants mentioned opportunities to support children’s language and mathematical skills, and a few mentioned how tablets provided opportunities for work with children with multicultural backgrounds.

For these children, the tablets have been really valuable. In a small town, without access to an interpreter, the apps have been very useful. We have supported their native language development, mathematical skills and used them for interpretation purposes (P8).

Content

Technological developments had contributed to most participants’ willingness to approach the content of digital play. Some participants argued that digital play could now be used more easily in their daily practice. One participant wrote.

The tablets changed how the use of digital play was regarded in preschools. This was a new tool that opened up our eyes to the fact that the children can learn through digital play. (P3)

Another participant explained the tablets’ contribution from a child perspective.

They have made a huge difference, by their format and by not needing a mouse or a keyboard to navigate them. (P6)

P1 argued that digital play should always be available to children, as it can be integrated with so much. However, she used to have a narrower view of the pedagogical opportunities, where she primarily identified only the possibility to let children play games. Another participant mentioned a similarly changed perception related to technological development.

In 2009 it was all about games, but things have developed so immensely since then, with tablets, web cameras, projectors, and how it also has become affordable to purchase these things and to experiment with them. My thoughts have broadened in relation to what digital play is, and therefore I am able to see the potential. (P6)

Social-cultural learning environment

P9, with limited knowledge of, and interest in, digital play was the only participant who gave witness to how the social-cultural learning environment can become an opportunity when more knowledgeable colleagues support teachers who are less confident.

I am a person that needs new inspiration and knowledge to be able to continue working on something. However, together with my more knowledgeable colleagues, I have been able to attain knowledge to develop personally, and thereby I have also developed my way of working pedagogically with digital play.

Challenges associated with pedagogical use of digital play

The following will address how aspects of the participants’ professional learning environment were perceived as challenges in relation to digital play.

Social-cultural learning environment

The social-cultural learning environment that a preschool teacher encounters is different from other work contexts in the sense that both colleagues and children’s guardians are a part of it. Preschool teachers’ concerns to inform guardians about digital play activities and guardians’ pedagogical influence were explained as challenging by a few participants.

I believe one challenge lies in showing guardians how we are working with digital play, and that we are able to explain them the purpose and the importance of it. (P1)

P7 mentioned how guardians’ requests regarding children’s involvement with digital play influenced all children. She sometimes avoided digital play because she knew that the children who did not have their guardians’ permission would also want to participate. Most participants also wrote about how colleagues were perceived as challenges. P1 mentioned the challenge to reach a point where all preschool teachers share a basic understanding of digital play. Some participants thought digital play separated the older and the younger generations of preschool teachers.

Another challenge is to get all colleagues to join this development. I find that my older colleagues are more sceptical when it comes to digital play. (P3)

Other participants related this challenge to colleagues’ limited knowledge levels or lack of interest.

I have many colleagues who have limited knowledge or do not want to learn how to use digital tools. My opinion is that they do not keep up with the current development and that they do not consider the future. (P4)

P6, who had incorporated promoting digital play in her work identity, argued that it is a profound challenge to get colleagues to participate in the exploration of the digital world.

Technical-organisational learning environment

Most participants mentioned a challenge in the limited time and opportunities to learn about digital play, which concerns their technical-organisational learning environment. P4 argued that the right kind of training is needed, in good time before changes occur in the profession. P5 looked at the lack of training from an economic perspective:

The largest economic hurdle regards training of the preschool staff. It takes time to learn something new. Unfortunately, we often end up getting a few hours during one evening, and nothing more.

According to P8, limited time also made it challenging to explore digital play together with the children, and P7 agreed:

Unfortunately, there are not many opportunities to sit down together with one or two children to engage in digital play. We are too few staff members and we have too many children to attend to, thus it becomes difficult to frequently make use of it.

Content

On a content level, most participants expressed a challenge in their insecurities about digital play, with regard to the extent it could be used and how it could be used to support children’s learning and development. Some participants were trying to find a balance between digital and traditional play that would be beneficial for the children. P10, who considered children to have extensive exposure to digital technologies in their homes, wrote:

They are used to it, perhaps they need human interaction in preschool instead of interactive apps.

P6 thought about whether or not to limit children’s use of digital play, and P3, as well as P7, wondered if the use could be harmful to children. A few participants mentioned how the increased use of digital play had strengthened the way they valued traditional play.

Simultaneously, my thoughts have been strengthened with regard to children’s need for traditional play. I think children also need to learn how to live completely without technology, and perhaps this is the real challenge. (P6)

Moreover, the rapid technological development challenged some participants’ use. P4 argued that preschoolers already know a lot, that they are fast learners, and that preschool teachers need to keep up with their knowledge development. P3 argued that preschool teachers need to learn how to use the tablets and apps, and to develop a level of knowledge that enables critical reflection. P5 stated that preschool teachers do not have time to get familiar with digital tools before they get outdated, and P6 mentioned how the use of digital technologies demands supplementary knowledge:

I am required to know how to use a camera, computer, tablets, and a projector in a good way.

The market interest in the increased use of tablets and digital play in the early stages of childhood was also perceived as challenging to a few participants.

There are just so many apps that are poorly designed, this takes a lot of time from the children, and from our planning time before we find something that is worth using. (P8)

Some participants touched upon the issue of how to stay professional when digital play is being used. P3 argued for the importance of staying in touch with curriculum goals and staying aware of the purpose of activities that involve digital play. P1 argued that children should be challenged in their digital play differently from what they are used to in their homes. Moreover, participants considered how preschool teachers should consider progression in children’s digital play. P4 wrote:

We need to be able to support children in their technology-related learning, but in a pedagogical way, to provide them with tools that can be beneficial to their learning in multiple ways.

P9 mentioned the level of knowledge that is needed in order for digital play to blend in naturally among other pedagogical alternatives:

My knowledge has increased, and I have increasingly made use of it, but I think I have a lot to learn if I am to use digital play without the feeling that it is difficult. You easily end up using the methods you feel comfortable with.

Discussion

Different aspects of preschool teachers’ professional learning environment were linked to how the participants perceived opportunities and challenges in relation to digital play.

Societal, workplace practice, content and social-cultural-related opportunities

On a societal level, the need to prepare children for schooling and life in a digitised democratic society was identified as an opportunity by most participants. This way of thinking about digital play in preschool is in line with arguments from Marklund and Dunkels (2016), about children needing to develop digital competence to be literate in a digitised society, now and in the future. Some participants expressed this as a matter that concerns equity and democracy, which are values that have been emphasised in preschool pedagogy for a long time (Sandberg and Arlemalm-Hagser 2011). The present study indicates that some preschool teachers have incorporated the use of digital play in their everyday work to address these values, which is in line with the intentions of the National Digitalisation Strategy (Ministry of Education 2017) as well as the upcoming curriculum (Swedish National Agency for Education 2018).

Regarding the content, the participants identified opportunities in the way that technological development, particularly the introduction of tablets instead of computers, had made it easier to use digital play for pedagogical purposes in preschool. The study thereby confirms other studies (Dezuanni et al. 2015; Lafton 2012), which claim that physical and virtual aspects of technology influence how preschool teachers shape their digital practices. For example, some participants explained how the tablets had broadened what they considered as digital play. The tablets affordability, portability, and functionality were mentioned as important for the way that the participants were able to identify the pedagogical potential of digital play. Even though Falloon (2013) agrees on the pedagogical potential of such properties, he argues that applications for tablets are still poor from a learning point of view. He recommends that researchers, teachers and technological developers should collaborate to improve the design for learning.

Opportunities were identified at a workplace practice level, in the way digital play enhanced pedagogy, by supporting language development and mathematical skills, as well as communication in multicultural settings. These results confirm other studies (Otterborn, Schönborn, and Hultén 2018; Swedish National Agency for Education 2018), which have reported on the way that digital play is being used in Swedish preschools. The results also confirm the study of Petersen (2015) in the sense that some participants seemed to utilize digital play to enhance the agency of children with multi-cultural backgrounds.

On a social-cultural learning environment level, one participant mentioned an opportunity to use more knowledgeable colleagues to learn about digital play. As indicated by Marklund (2015), such a collegial support can be obtained through online forums and is not limited to the pre-school teachers’ own workplace.

Social-cultural, technical-organisational and content related challenges

In relation to a social-cultural level, most participants thought that the divergence of opinions about digital play among colleagues was a challenge in the digitalisation process. This confirms reports on how preschool teachers’ attitudes toward technology for children’s learning affect technology use in preschool (Blackwell, Lauricella, and Wartella 2014; Kerckaert, Vanderlinde, and van Braak 2015; Plumb and Kautz 2015, and the claim of; Johansson, Pramling Samuelsson, and Engberg (2003), that preschool teachers’ thoughts about learning and knowledge matter for the pedagogical situation that children encounter in preschool. The divergent opinions, that were mentioned by the participants, also confirm the study of; Hernwall (2016) that reported on how some preschool teachers question the pedagogical value of using digital technologies in preschool pedagogy. Thus, the arguments of Lindahl and Folkesson (2012a), 2012b) seem to be valid to this day that it is important to discuss norms and tradition in relation to pedagogical use of digital technologies in preschool. One way to inspire such discussions could be to follow the advice of Nuttall et al. (2015), to direct teachers’ attention towards defining and understanding children’s digital play. The increased emphasis on developing children’s digital competence in preschool (Swedish National Agency for Education 2018) will probably strengthen preschool teachers’ interest in digital play (Otterborn, Schönborn, and Hultén 2018). However, it remains to be seen whether the curriculum changes will lead to a widespread and collaborative exploration of digital play among preschool teachers. The participants confirmed dichotomies between digital play and traditional play (Palaiologou 2016b; Sandberg and Pramling 2003), which implies the importance of finding ways to direct preschool teachers’ attention to children’s contemporary play (Marsh et al. 2016). A few participants saw a challenge in the constant need to argue for the use of digital play, since some guardians and colleagues doubt its benefits. However, by having more critical voices present in their social-cultural learning environment, it seems that these participants were encouraged to pay attention to how their digital play activities could be linked to curriculum goals.

On a technical-organisational level, most participants thought that limited time for learning about digital play is a challenge in the digitalisation process. This confirms the findings of Plumb and Kautz (2015), who point out that preschool teachers are not only responsible for educational activities, they also need to undertake care duties, making it hard to find time for professional learning. Which in turn correlates with the described conditions of learning in working life (Illeris 2007), that learning sometimes becomes a secondary priority in relation to what workers perceive as more immediate needs.

In relation to the content, most participants identified challenges in their limited knowledge and in the rapidity of technological development, perhaps because these participants had not received further training, even though the task to figure out how digital technologies are to be used in preschool is a complex one (Dezuanni et al. 2015; Lafton 2012). Otterborn, Schönborn, and Hultén (2018) confirm that some preschool teachers need training and, with the National Digitalisation Strategy, further training seems likely to become more accessible to Swedish preschool teachers in the near future (Ministry of Education 2017). The informants claimed to be insecure about how, and how much, digital play could be used in preschool pedagogy, perhaps due to limited examples of what children’s digital play looks like, and how it can be manifested in preschools (Lawrence 2018), but also perhaps because preschool teachers currently need to come to terms with a lot of issues in order to regain and maintain their professional competence in times of digitalisation. For instance; how different digital play activities actually support children’s learning (Nilsen et al. 2018; Palaiologou 2016a), what kind of apps are useful in preschool pedagogy (Merchant 2015; Petersen 2015; Lawrence 2018); how children’s digital play can be understood (Nuttall et al. 2015); how digital play activities can be organised in preschool settings (Walldén Hillström 2014; Petersen 2015); and how to re-interpret the Swedish preschools’ pedagogical tradition (Lindahl and Folkesson 2012a).

The categories of the theoretical Learning in Working Life framework (Illeris 2007), that in the present study were used to distinguish and interpret preschool teachers’ perceptions about digital play, are contextual in nature. For instance, preschool teachers’ education, the formal requirements of using digital play in the profession and the degree of digitalisation in the society might differ in different national contexts. Moreover, there might be social-cultural differences in the preparedness of preschool teachers’ workplace practices to introduce digital play, which ultimately may influence preschool teachers’ perceptions about opportunities and challenges.

Conclusions

The main conclusion from this study is that Swedish preschool teachers’ perceptions about opportunities and challenges associated with the pedagogical use of digital play are linked to several aspects of their professional learning environment. Opportunities were identified on a societal, content, workplace practice and social-cultural level of the workplace-learning context. Challenges were identified on a social-cultural, technical-organisational and content level. The conclusion is that when introducing digital play into preschools, the challenges include too little time and reluctant parents and colleagues. The opportunities can be summed up as helping to prepare children for the future and enriching their upbringing and learning.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.