Nurseries question benefits of ICT for young children

New daynurseries.co.uk research shows over 80 per cent of nurseries have excellent ICT facilities, but some nurseries and childcare experts are starting to question whether this is a good thing.

There has been rapid growth in the use of ICT in early years settings as the early years curriculum has made it a requirement and iPads have become the new buzzword with nurseries rushing out to buy them for their settings.

Parents’ feedback submitted on daynurseries.co.uk reveals 81 per cent of nurseries now have excellent ICT facilities and resources.

Asquith Day Nurseries is one of these and has prioritised ICT and invested £4m in its 79 nurseries. The nurseries have interactive Smart Boards and touch-screen computers, and are currently trialling iPads, interactive drawing tables and tough Pentax cameras.

Its IT director, Jeff Stanford, believes “being exposed to digital technology at an early age is so important. It makes children comfortable and familiar with the technology and that is extremely useful when they start school”.

However other nurseries are not so sure it is beneficial for children to use them in their pre-school years.

Felicity Marrian, directress of Iverna Gardens Montessori nursery in London, says: “If our children are in fact the most sedentary generation ever (according to the medical authorities), and already spend more time watching television than they do in school, do we really need to add computers and other screen-based devices to the nursery environment?”

Tom Shea, director of the Child First nursery chain, agrees. He says: “My own view is that these are not appropriate for the very young child. I am sure that they will have their own place and use for children over six years of age, but the developmental needs of the very youngest would seem to indicate that screens and keyboards – irrespective of their size are detrimental to children reading and writing...

“They also encourage sedentary behaviour – and, combined with the isolation and lack of personal interaction, would further add to my belief that the only people who would suggest that the very young have access to them are those selling them.

“There is now a growing body of impartial evidence that says screens, keyboards and videos (and also TV) are detrimental to children learning. We do however at Child First embrace cameras and video recorders, electrical instruments, sensory and LED lighting and many other widgets and gadgets that support learning.

“So children here do embrace technology very positively – but just not traditional computers and keyboards.”

June O’Sullivan, chief executive of the London Early Years Foundation, says she is not planning to buy iPads for its 24 nurseries.

“I know some nurseries are investing in iPads for the children but we are not doing that here at the LEYF. iPads are the big thing at the moment and yet nobody seems to have done much research into them.

“I would also have to build time for it into the curriculum and I haven’t got enough time for everything as it is. We know art, music and drama works so why bother with something we don’t know enough about yet.”

Dr Richard House, senior lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Winchester calls the “trend towards ICT in nurseries a major public health concern” and says: “Learning to be human is what’s overridingly important in early childhood – and laps matter far more than apps for young children’s learning journeys.”

He claims that “ever-more research is detailing the harm done to young children by such artificially accelerated learning – with some toddlers now surfing the internet, and with psychological, behavioural and speech problems being associated with these technologies.”

The move by nurseries to integrate ICT into children’s learning and development seems to have largely been triggered by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) introduced in 2008. The EYFS states children need to ‘find about and identify the uses of everyday technology and use information and communication technology and programmable toys to support their learning’.

ICT is also mentioned in the Foundation Phase Framework for Children’s Learning for 3-7-year-olds in Wales saying it should be ‘integral to all areas of learning’.

However, Dr House, is keen to emphasize that “ICT isn’t statutorily laid down within the EYFS”.

“These ‘cultures of instantaneity’ are the last thing young children need. Some settings, such as Steiner Kindergartens, have no ICT whatsoever – being a key reason why parents choose the ‘slow’, age-appropriate technologies of Steiner early education.

“There’s also a strong vested business interest driving apps for young children, with companies playing on parents’ understandable anxieties and ambitions. Yet there’s absolutely no reputable evidence that apps give any genuine educational benefit.”

His concerns are echoed by former head teacher and author of the bestseller Toxic Childhood, Sue Palmer, who believes too much early exposure to screen-based technology can be detrimental and makes it more difficult for children to learn to read and write.

She says: “We already have problems with children not being able to hold a pen or pencil. But we are giving our kids instant gratification all the time with ICT and it makes it harder for them to persevere with something that takes a while to learn.

“There is a real fear that too much engagement with this quick fix technology is making it more difficult for some children to learn to read and write. Learning to read and write is not easy. It is a long, slow process.”

Many nurseries are going down the route of using interactive books with the children but Ms Palmer also believes that this is a mistake. She claims “interactive books is forgetting what reading is all about” and adds: “Reading involves learning to process sequential text – narrative – and it gives us the capacity to think sequentially.

“But interactive books are making reading into a visual, non-linear experience. Not only that, but children don’t have to make sense of the narrative and make pictures in their heads like they do with normal books.”

Proponents of ICT in the early years argue we are living in a digital world and children who do not have access to digital technology will be disadvantaged. Ms Palmer disagrees with this as she says: “Any digital skills that pre-school children learn will be out of date by the time they are teenagers.”

However John Siraj-Blatchford, honorary professor at the University of Swansea centre for child research, argues there is substantial research evidence supporting the use of ICT in early childhood.

He is “keen to promote the use of mobile touch screen technologies in early childhood because all the evidence points to it being the most appropriate for young children in terms of accessibility, and even more importantly in terms of play based pedagogy.

“There is a good deal of scope for the integration of ICT in young children’s outdoor play environments. In fact, ICT is as much part of children’s world (indoors and outdoors) as literacy and numeracy, or indeed any other feature of the complex worlds in which we live and struggle to make sense of.”

Sarah Steel, managing director of the Old Station Nursery chain, also believes “ICT in nurseries is really important”, but says we do “need to remember that it covers a whole range of resources and does not just mean computers and tablets.

“At The Old Station Nursery we find that often it is the less ‘technologically advanced’ ICT resources that can be the most open ended, for example a set of torches with different coloured lenses, which can be enjoyed by a group of the youngest children. We also provide ‘sound pegs’ (little tape recorders that play back), be-bots and digital cameras, all of which the children love. So, yes, ICT is really important and offers great learning opportunities, but still needs to be facilitated by good practitioners and not just consist of children sitting at a computer playing games.”

Gosforth Private Day Nursery in Newcastle takes the stance that it is important to give children ‘access to the technologies that will define the way they learn in the future. All our children have access to computers and more recently iPads’.

Sue Meekings, director of childcare at Kiddi Caru, has also taken the decision to introduce touch screens into all of its 19 nurseries.

“Children are now very familiar with touch screen technology – their parents and carers will often use a touch screen phone, tablet and often both.

“Since the introduction of the touch screens, we have found that children who were a little ICT shy now come forward and want to use the touch screens.”

Kiddi Caru has also invested in Penpal. “These pens are brilliant at encouraging our children’s language development – you simply touch the language you want, touch a word such as chair and then the pen speaks the word back in the appropriate language.”

As for parents, they too are divided over the issue, fearful their children will be behind their peers if they deny them ICT and fearful they are damaging them if they don’t.

If you would like to have your say in our debate on this issue please go to www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/4/Is-it-beneficial-for-children-to-use-ict-in-nursery