184 pages
247mm x 168mm
ISBN-10: 1 85856 300 3
ISBN-13: 978 1 85856 300 8
January 2006

…an internationally relevant resource to all seeking new ideas and practical guidance in integrating ICT into early childhood and primary school settings - Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

...this book is an accessible, practical, evidence-based resource for practitioners, policy makers and researchers interested in an effective development of the early childhood ICT curriculum - British Educational Research Journal

This book deals with an important topic and the studies are illuminating. - British Journal of Educational Technology

This book shows how Information and Communications technology (ICT) can contribute to children's learning, how it can be integrated into a play based curriculum and how it relates to key areas of learning such as collaboration, communication, exploration and socio-dramatic play. It outlines the ICT requirements in the UK early years curriculum frameworks, and examines the international relevance of ICT for young children.

Two major European research projects that generated rich examples of good practice inspire this book: the European Union funded Developmentally Appropriate Technology in Early Childhood (DATEC) project and the authors' evaluation of the IBM KidSmart initiative. The book advises on developmentally appropriate educational software as identified in the research. It offers practical guidance on developing centre based policy and practice to integrate ICT in the curriculum and explores issues of ergonomics and of social justice.

With its wealth of information resources, the book will be essential to all those working in Early Years education and to teacher educators and policy and curriculum developers in primary schools.

Iram Siraj-Blatchford is Professor of Early Child Education at the Institute of Education University of London. She is co-director of EPPE 3-11, the DfES study of Effective Pre-school and Primary Education and is leading an Evaluation of the Effective Implementation of the Foundation Phase in Wales.

John Siraj-Blatchford is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and an Associate Director of the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP).

Published in collaboration with Early Education (The British Association for Early Childhood Education).