The integration of ICT in Hong Kong preschool settings: case studies of two Hong Kong kindergartens

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) integration into kindergarten teachers' practice has received a mixed reception from practitioners. However, whether and how Hong Kong preschool teachers actually integrate ICT into their teaching practice is influenced by many factors. This study aimed to explore Hong Kong preschool teachers' views and the ways in which ICT are implemented into their teaching practices; it also intended to describe the teachers' level of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). An additional purpose was to reveal the challenges influencing preschool teachers' decision-making in relation to ICT usage. These challenges may possibly include lack of access to ICT resources, technical problems, lack of ICT training for preschool teachers and so forth. To achieve these goals, the study applied two qualitative case study designs by using a focus group, non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The focus group was conducted with 15 preschool teachers. Observations of and semi-structured interviews with four teachers in two schools were utilized. Key themes from the findings were identified through thematic analysis. The study applied the TPACK framework to explore teachers' level of TPACK and their integration of ICT in preschool classrooms. The findings reveal that teachers were able to integrate ICT successfully into specific forms of activity, but to improve the quality of their lessons, it was necessary that they fit three components (curriculum, pedagogy and technology) together. In addition, they were willing to use ICT to facilitate students’ learning and were clear about the role of ICT in the curriculum. However, in the two cases, there were some barriers affecting the fitting level of TPACK between the teachers: fund-raising problems, few resources, teacher training problems, technical support and the teachers' competence in using ICT. Insufficient guidelines for teachers in the integration of ICT in preschool settings also discouraged teachers from using it in their classrooms. The study found that personal skills and institutional factors also affected how preschool teachers used ICT in their teaching practice. Hence, these findings suggest that policy makers, school leaders, teacher educators and educational institutions need to create good conditions and collaborate to assist preschool teachers effectively in exploring how to integrate ICT appropriately into early childhood education. The study also recommends the TPACK models should be introduced to preschool teachers by the educational institution or teacher educators

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