’Er det bra eller?’: Pedagogiske spenningsfelt i møte med digitale verktøy i norske barnehager.

The purpose of this study is to present and discuss child carers' processual experiences with digital tools in daycare centre practices. The study's primary intention is to stimulate critical reflection on the use of digital tools at daycare centres. The study asks about the challenges and opportunities child carers encounter when they use digital tools in practice at daycare centres.

The study showed, among other things, that child carers emphasise the curriculum as an important foundation in work with information and communication technology (ICT) at daycare centres. At the same time, they have not acquired enough knowledge about ICT through their education. In addition, the study shows that some child carers express a need to control the time children spend at the computer; not only to ensure that they do not sit there for too long, but also to ensure that all children have the opportunity to play/learn at the computer. Pedagogues state that they can see that the children use the computer to exercise power relations and position themselves in relation to one another. Furthermore, the study shows that child carers have clear ambitions to teach children how to use computers and thus improve their digital skills. At the same time, many expressed a need to gain more knowledge about ICT for themselves. Among other things, this included to learn what the safe and proper use of a computer and the internet entails. Furthermore, the study emphasises that enhanced digital skills increase child carers' interest in working pedagogically with ICT.

The data material consists of semi-structured focus group interviews with 16 child carers from seven daycare centres in three Norwegian municipalities. Focus groups consisted of four to six participants, and four main themes formed the basis of all the interviews. The main themes were: knowledge of, experience with, views on and opportunities in, the use of digital tools. The study is part of a larger ethnographic research project that focuses on multiple dimensions of digital technology at daycare centres. The analytical approach is hermeneutic phenomenology.

Jernes, M., Alvestad, M. og Sinnerud, M. (2010). ”’Er det bra eller?’: Pedagogiske spenningsfelt i møte med digitale verktøy i norske barnehager”. Nordisk Barnehageforskning, 3(3), 115-131.