Digital Inevitability
Families and the Transformation of Early Childhood Education
Bibliographic Data
This study investigates family attitudes toward the use of Digital Educational Resources (DER) in Early Childhood Education (ECE), examining how cognitive (knowledge), evaluative (value beliefs) and dispositional (expectations) factors shape both perceived usefulness and acceptance. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and critical digital literacy frameworks, a structural equation model (CB‐SEM) was applied to responses from 2029 Spanish families with children aged 3–6. The model included three exogenous constructs—knowledge, evaluation and expectations—and two endogenous variables: perceived utility and agreement with DER use. Findings reveal that while knowledge positively influences perceived usefulness, it does not predict actual agreement. Moreover, perceived usefulness—central in traditional technology acceptance models—neither predicts nor mediates acceptance in this context. Expectations, in contrast, emerged as the strongest predictor of agreement, suggesting that socially driven, future‐oriented attitudes prevail over critical pedagogical reasoning. Evaluative beliefs, which included both perceived benefits and concerns, showed modest effects and reflected attitudinal ambivalence, particularly among highly educated families. Educational attainment moderated these relationships: families with higher education displayed greater internal consistency, stronger links between expectations and utility, and a more reflective stance; those with lower education levels relied more on practical evaluations and exhibited higher attitudinal variability. These findings highlight the need to move beyond access‐based understandings of the digital divide and to address inequalities in critical engagement with educational technologies. The results also call for more cautious, context‐sensitive approaches to DER integration in ECE, resisting deterministic assumptions about their pedagogical legitimacy or inevitable acceptance
Cognition · Digital Literacy · Early childhood · Early childhood education · Educational attainment · Inequality · Legitimacy · Structural equation modeling · Child Development and Digital Technology · Digital literacy in education · Literacy, Media, and Education
Young children's screen time
Factor Retention Decisions in Exploratory Factor Analysis
User Acceptance of Information Technology
Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology
An Initial Investigation into Parental Perceptions Surrounding the Impact of Mobile Media Use on Child Behavior and Executive Functioning
A Systematic Review of the Role of Multimodal Resources for Inclusive STEM Engagement in Early-Childhood Education
The experience of imposed digitalization of education provision across sectors
Early literacy going digital
Young children’s digital literacy practices in the sociocultural contexts of their homes
Roles and research trends of touchscreen mobile devices in early childhood education
Do background characteristics matter in Children's mastery of digital literacy? A cognitive diagnosis model analysis
The influence of digital educational games on preschool Children's creative thinking
The digital divide
Socioeconomic disparities in Swiss children’s use of digital technology
Digital Expectations and Experiences in Education
Parental perceptions of the role of media and technology in their young children’s lives
Socioeconomic status, parental beliefs, and parenting practices as predictors of preschoolers’ school readiness and executive functions in chile
Young children’s online learning during Covid-19 pandemic
Scale Development Research
Practical Issues in Structural Modeling
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |