ICT Skills

We live in a rapidly changing world where technology is extending human capacities. We need, therefore, to help children to build up and develop their ICT skills.

There are many everyday devices that incorporate some, or all, of the technologies we refer to when we talk about ICT. Information and communications technology (ICT) is not just about computers, it is a part of children’s daily lives from the television to pelican crossings, from the cash point to the washing machine. More and more toys also feature ICT such as radio controlled cars and programmable roamers. Most children have little difficulty in accepting ICT, which is evident by their confident approach and levels of interest.

This is why we believe that ICT should be an important feature within Early Years education. The principles that guide our use of ICT within the Centre are not exclusive to the Early Years curriculum, but also extend to administrative and leadership practices.

They can be summarised as follows:

• We believe that ICT should be integrated across the curriculum
• We believe that ICT should be integrated within socio-dramatic play
• We encourage children to work collaboratively to share knowledge, skills and enjoyment
• We want the child to be in control of the equipment, not the other way round
• We seek to develop technological literacy through a range of products which children will be familiar with and can be easily understood by the children
• We use ICT as a tool to access other forms of learning and develop skills needed to do this, e.g. the Internet
• We identify clear learning objectives when using ICT
• We use ICT for communication purposes, with parents, staff, children, visitors, other agencies etc.