The role of digital technologies in supporting quality improvement in Australian early childhood education and care settings

Abstract

This national study explored the role of digital technologies in early childhood education and care settings and whether they could contribute to quality improvement as reported by educators and assessors of quality in Australia. In this paper, data from Stage 2 of the Quality Improvement Research Project were used, which comprised 60 Quality Improvement Plans from educators linked with 60 Assessment and Rating reports from the assessors who visited early childhood centres as part of the administration of the National Quality Standards by each of Australia’s State and Territory jurisdictions. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory ( Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In P. Moen, G. H. Elder, Jr., & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 619–647). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10176-018; Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, Psychological Review 101:568–586, 1994) was adopted to facilitate a systemic and dynamic view on the use of digital technologies in these 60 ECEC settings. References (e.g. comments/ suggestions/ examples) made by the educators about the implementation of digital technologies were counted and thematically analysed. Results revealed the strong role new technologies (e.g. documentation and management platforms, tablets, apps, etc.) play in the majority of ECEC settings and especially in relation to three of the seven Quality Areas: Educational programme and practice (Quality Area 1); Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (Quality Area 6) and Governance and leadership (Quality Area 7). Future directions for research are suggested and implications for embracing a more holistic, integrated and broad view on the use of digital technologies are discussed.

The quest for continuous quality improvement in Australian long day care services: getting the most out of the Assessment and Rating process

“…Briefly, the three phases comprised: (i) Statistical analysis of the characteristics of 1,936 long day care services that had achieved improvement from Working towards NQS to Meeting or Exceeding NQS, drawn from the National Quality IT system dataset ; (ii) qualitative analysis of deidentified QIPs and Assessment and Rating Reports from 60 long day care services from the Phase 1 pool, representative of the diversity of the sector (Davis et al, 2023;Hatzigianni et al, 2023); and (iii) multiple case studies (Stake, 2006) focusing on quality improvement in 15 long day care services (see for a detailed description of the study design). In this paper, we report on findings emerging from Phase 3 of the study which investigated the following two research questions: (i) What are the challenges and barriers associated with quality improvement?…”

Digital Bonds: Exploring the Impact of Computer-Mediated Communication on Parent–Educator Relationships in Early Childhood Education and Care

“…In addition, it is important to acknowledge that certain modes of communication will continue to serve specific purposes, even after CMC technology is introduced (e.g., phone calls for emergencies, monthly newsletters, personal emails to support administrative correspondence related to finances or annual reporting). CMC can serve multiple purposes within family-educator relationships, including sharing children's learning moments, health information and developmental information, distributing curricular or policy information to families, seeking feedback from families, and reducing paper use, but is not all-encompassing of the communication needs of both parties [56]. Other communication modes will likely still be required within ECEC settings to facilitate strong relationships, convey nuanced information, and ensure the adequate transfer of care between families and educators [11,14,56].…”

“…CMC can serve multiple purposes within family-educator relationships, including sharing children's learning moments, health information and developmental information, distributing curricular or policy information to families, seeking feedback from families, and reducing paper use, but is not all-encompassing of the communication needs of both parties [56]. Other communication modes will likely still be required within ECEC settings to facilitate strong relationships, convey nuanced information, and ensure the adequate transfer of care between families and educators [11,14,56]. Further, given the extent to which face-to-face communication was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required most ECEC settings to reimagine communication and connection with families [57] and rely more heavily on CMC [14], this research is particularly relevant in offering insight into the consideration of pairing multiple methods of communication, such as those that may replicate face-to-face communication alongside applications like HiMama.…”

Increasing Literacy Through Interactive Media In Early Childhood

“…Digital technology is used for pedagogic purposes, as a support for the process and quality of learning in various fields including literacy. Pedagogical enhancement introduces digital technologies in early childhood to integrate digital technologies in encouraging problem-solving (Han et al, 2023;Hatzigianni et al, 2023); (Kirya et al, 2022).…”

“…Early childhood can understand basic concepts such as color, shape, size, and relationships between objects. Thus, early childhood educators need to look for practical information, including ideas for children's learning activities (Hatzigianni et al, 2023). An understanding of the differences between oneself and how to interact with others, the dynamic offers society perceptions of environmental discomfort and its relation to behavior (Kamai et al, 2023); (Karihtala et al, 2023); (Labotka & Gelman, 2023).…”