This article is part of a research project aimed to broaden the understanding of the established gap between policies regarding the use of digital technology and the actual use of digital technology in Norway. To understand this gap we have conducted a comparative study between teacher education in Norway and teacher education in New Zealand, two countries with quite different approaches to implementing digital technology in education. We found several interesting differences between the countries. The regression analysis and the correlation analysis show that the professional use of digital tools correlates with the teacher educators' level of digital competence in New Zealand. On the other hand, in Norway the professional use of digital tools correlates stronger with teacher educators' attitudes towards digital technology in education. Attitudes has a stronger influence (impact) than digital competence regarding to what extent digital tools are being used in Norway, and digital competence has a stronger influence than attitudes regarding to what extent digital tools are being used in New Zealand.

Over ten years have passed since Norwegian educational reform implemented the use of digital tools as a required basic skill in all subjects and at all levels of Norwegian schools. However, government surveys show that there is still a significant gap between the intention of educational policies and what is actually practiced in Norwegian education. This gap has often been attributed to practitioners' skill deficiency. This paper challenges the notion of practitioners' skill deficiency as being the sole causal explanation for lack of progress, and attempts to explore this through a comparative study between initial teacher education in Norway and New Zealand. Our analysis has shown some significant differences between the countries, and based on our findings, this article discusses how such differences may be connected to policy development and political influence. This analysis contributes to a broader understanding of the complexity behind this gap. Understanding the bigger picture is essential for being able to work constructively towards diminishing the difference between policy intentions and practice in the future. Our findings suggest that top-down governance of the educational use of digital technology could create resistance among teacher educators. It could therefore be understood as counterproductive regarding progress. Prioritising policy goals above pedagogical goals in this field is contrary to teachers' understanding of teacher proficiency.

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing an ever increasing role in the lives of people which include young children; The role of ICT in early childhood educational services in Aotearoa New Zealand is still being argued despite curriculum, assessment and policy expectations that endorse and support its integration into practice. This chapter draws upon a small, qualitative case study involving young children and their uses of ICT in one early childhood education setting in Aotearoa New Zealand. A socio-cultural perspective has been used to recognise and examine the notion of children's understanding and practices of ICT. In this chapter the focus is on Jessica, aged 4 years old, and the ways she uses ICT in her life as tool to document and share her learning and interests. These uses also reflect Jessica as a competent and confident learner using ICT as a cultural tool to mediate her learning in her home and early childhood education setting. The researchers examine the way ICT practices can contribute and fulfil curriculum and policy intentions that can support and endorse the competent, confident learner that reflects the curriculum principle of Empowerment. The chapter supports the view that ICT can be used to enhance the empowerment of the learner. We conclude that the early childhood curriculum and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand justifies the place of ICT in early childhood settings and should guide and inform teachers to use it as a valued learning and teaching tool. The researchers are of the opinion that the teachers have an active and collaborative role in responding to the needs of the 21 st century learner to direct their own learning and that this can be guided by the curriculum aspirations in the principle of Empowerment.