Iram and John Siraj-Blatchford

Desktop computers have been around for a long time and in the rapidly changing high technology world, that we now find ourselves in, it is mis- leading to present them as ‘new’ technology. The first commercially successful Personal Computer (PC) was introduced a quarter of a century ago by IBM. It was in 1984 that Macintosh released the first mass-market computer to feature the (now ubiquitous) desktop graphic user interface (GUI) which presents files like pieces of paper that can be dragged and dropped into folders. Portable computers are now increasingly replacing the desktop units of the past, and dedicated hardware is increasingly being designed to integrate seamlessly into home and working environments. It is already becoming clear that the current keyboard, mouse and screen configurations will be replaced in the future by digital interfaces that utilise touch, gesture and voice controls.

In early childhood education the traditional distinction that has been made between technology education and educational technology are blurred and the educational implications of these developments are therefore profound. Given the rate of technological change it would be a mis- take if practitioners were encouraged to emphasise PC operating skills as their most ‘desired learning outcomes’. As Mitchell (2005) (among many) has recently argued:

ICT IN THE EARLY YEARS

After almost a quarter of a century as the personal computing device of choice for business, the desktop PC is sliding off its pedestal. It has with- stood assaults by technologies such as the Windows terminal, the Web and the network PC, but the mighty desktop has been humbled by user demand for the one thing it can’t deliver – mobility

(Mitchell 2005)

Creditably, the authors of this text have looked beyond the challenges of today’s technology to consider learning objectives of more significance for the future lives of young children. Personal empowerment is the theme of the early chapters, and the emphasis on environmental citizenship, and ‘teaching for tomorrow’ by Mary Hayes (Chapter 1), Rosemary Feasey and Margaret Still (Chapter 5) are explicit. Similarly, Jackie Marsh (Chapter 8) argues that ‘media literacy’ has become increasingly important and that it has social, economic and political implications for the future.

Other chapters echo the concerns and priorities for developing communication and collaboration, creativity, metacognition and learning to learn that we have identified in our own research (Siraj-Blatchford and Siraj- Blatchford 2006). These are the attitudes, skills and understandings increasingly prioritised by developmental psychologists and early childhood educators, and they are also precisely those identified as being of special importance by politicians and economists in developing our future knowledge society (Siraj-Blatchford and Siraj-Blatchford 2006). This might

be considered a very happy coincidence. In future knowledge societies, citizens will increasingly be required to control their own learning and critically evaluate and manipulate information in the development of new knowledge products. When we consider where it is in early years practice that such an agenda might be realised it is clear that socio-dramatic role- play offers special potential and Carol Fine and Mary Lou Thornbury’s (Chapter 2) emphasis on the importance of play is therefore entirely appropriate. Given the importance of developing communication and collaboration, creativity, metacognition and learning to learn, each will be elaborated further in the following pages.

Iram and John Siraj-Blatchford