Usage of information and communication technology in early childhood education in Ijebu north, Ogun state, Nigeria

Abstract

The educational efforts in the wake of the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in schooling and gaining of knowledge particularly in Early Childhood Education have been a futile effort. Teachers as one of the stakeholders in education have not really shown interest in the application of ICT for instructing – learning process, this have contributed to the decline of government towards equipping the schools with relevant ICT facilities. The study investigated the use of ICT in Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Ijebu North Local Government of Ogun State, Nigeria. Expost-facto research design was employed. The population consisted of all registered private nursery schools in the Local Government Area. Fifty (50) nursery schools were selected in the study area using purposive sampling technique. Five teachers were randomly selected from each school for sampling, making a total of 250 respondents. The instrument employed to gather data was Extent of ICT usage in Early Childhood Questionnaire (EICTECQ) was constructed by the researchers and validated appropriately with the reliability of 0.70. The result indicated that usage of ICT in ECE classroom is low and few ICT tools were available while few were being utilised by the teachers. It is concluded that teachers do not engage in activities that promotes usage of ICT devices in ECE classroom because of non-availability of internet facilities as well technological gadgets in the school. As a result of the findings of this study some recommendations were made such as training and re-training of Early Childhood Education teachers periodically to familiarise them with the usage of recent ICT gadgets and also curriculum planners/policy makers should procure more ICT devices and also integrate these devices into early childhood curriculum among others.