By Dr. Donald M. McCartney, D.M.
There has been much ado lately about the investment in technology in early childhood education.
While this initiative is to be applauded, it may be useful to (1) examine the views of the relevant stakeholders inclusive of teachers and administrators on the firing line in the delivery of the educational product, parents, and taxpayers in general who must foot the bill for the initiative and (2) review the relevant research that has been conducted in other jurisdictions, particularly those jurisdictions of similar size and population. These two recommendations may and can serve as guides in making the final decision in this most important initiative before the taxpayers' money is wasted. Additionally, the two recommendations may be an eye-opener for the relevant competent authority in the Ministry of Education for future initiatives of the magnitude of this one.
Then, of course, consideration must be given to the proper training and retraining of those who will be teaching the children who are the targets of the technological initiative.
I strongly recommend that the words of advice offered by John Hattie are examined in depth so as to spark interest and debate on the subject at hand.
John Hattie said, “Before pouring in more money, we need a robust discussion about what learning means in the 0–5 age range – and especially at 0–3 when the most critical bases are set for language, communication, listening and thinking. I do not mean discussion about reading and times tables but about the many cognitive skills that develop in these early years: rhyme, language, seriation and so on – that are precursors to later reading and numeracy.”
Of course, I may be speaking out of turn or perhaps too late because the barn door was closed after the farm animals have escaped....
