WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF ICT INTEGRATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN GHANA?

ICT is an inevitable component of our life in today’s world. We mostly communicate, work and initiate leisure activities using ICT. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be defined as “anything which allows us to get information, to communicate with each other, or to have an effect on the environment using electronic or digital equipment” (Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003). 

Today ICT is an element in all stages of education; and early childhood education is no exception. Examples of ICT are desktop, laptop, and handheld computers, digital cameras and digital video cameras; creativity and communication software and tools; the Internet; telephones, fax machines, mobile telephones, tape recorders; interactive stories, simulated environments, and computer games; programmable toys and “control” technologies; videoconferencing technologies and closed-circuit television; data projectors, electronic whiteboards, et cetera.

Electronic media has unsurprisingly become a constant presence in the lives of the children around the world. “Research done on the learning of North American and European children has discovered that as much as 80 per cent of knowledge they gain by the age of 11 is learnt from the non-print media outside the classroom.” Shah and Godiyal 2017, state three implications in this finding. “First, national education systems must reflect what is, without any doubt, an incontrovertible fact, namely, that the interdependence of the media and education is here to stay. Second, its force of unlocking of mankind’s potential, while still imperfectly understood, must be analyzed and managed. Third and last, there exists no more fertile ground, on which the electronic media can become a force for good as much as for ill, than the mind of a child.” 

Damaging effects of ICT tools on young children include anti-social behaviour, laziness towards brain work, among others. There is also the exposure to unsuitable content including violence, inappropriate sexual behaviour and stereotypes. Growing addiction to computers are distractions to learning and other more important activities including play. "An argument opposing early introduction of ICT is that as children learn through their bodies, computers are not developmentally appropriate" (Haugland 2000).

Shah and Godiyal ascertains that the debate regarding ICT use in early years remains unresolved as indicated by a Scottish literature review of ICT in early childhood education. This review suggested that "a scarcity of good quality research findings on using ICT in educational settings for pre-school children” (Stephen & Plowman 2002). Experts have used, the developmental appropriateness, quality of learning environment and other health issues as measures towards determining whether or not it is safe for a child to include ICT in the learning process at an early stage. Many early childhood educationists criticise and reject the “Fool’s Gold” (Shah and Godiyal. 2017) critical approach. Some authors state that similar concerns about harmful cognitive, emotional, physical, and social effects on children have accompanied the emergence of every new technology from the advent of alphabetic print, to the proliferation of film, television, and video games (Linderoth, Lantz-Andersson & Lindstrom 2002; Luke 1999).

Bolstad 2004 states three reasons why ICT is highly essential in early childhood education. These are listed below:

1. ICT already has an effect on the people and environments that surround young children’s learning. 
2. These technologies offer new opportunities to strengthen many aspects of early childhood education practice.
3. There is support and interest across the whole education sector for the development and integration of ICT into education policy, curriculum, and practice.