Children come into contact with media at home, with friends, and on the street at a young age. You cannot completely shield them from it, at most learn to deal with it consciously. Parents play a crucial role in this, but childcare can also make a valuable contribution. For relief organizations, this means that they have to take a position and make choices: which media are used or not, why and how? The need for such a vision is growing every day. With the school parent app the options are there.
Tablet on the group
Many daycare centers nowadays have a tablet on the group, often to be able to communicate with parents via a digital parent portal. This has many advantages in contact with parents, but the children can also access digital media via the tablet. Pedagogical staff soon notices that the screen is drawing, and with a song or short film you immediately get the attention. This way the tablet is quickly grabbed. But is this desirable? Is the tablet only for communication with parents or also for use with children? How do you want to deal with this as an organization? The student attendance tracking software options are there
Explore possibilities
Tablets offer many possibilities for using media in childcare. Pedagogical staff can play (educational) games with the children, watch videos, look up pictures and get ideas for fun activities. It is not wrong to explore these possibilities, but then there must first be a vision of media that determines policy.
(Language) development
For example, in childcare, media is often used for the development of children. But the fact that young children respond to children’s programs on TV or the Internet does not mean that they also learn something from it. They need to be able to pay sufficient attention and understand what is happening on the screen. Research shows that children only understand what they see on screen from the age of about two. Before that, looking at a screen does not contribute to their (language) development. That could be a good reason to include in vision and policy that no internet movies or TV is watched in the group with children under the age of two.
Conscious media education
A vision provides direction for (media) policy and that provides concrete handles (and agreements) for employees to properly handle the tablet (and other media). Start a conversation with parents and employees about this important upbringing issue. Four elements contribute to a conscious and thoughtful way of working on media education:
Vision development:
- What is the role of childcare in media education and what are the most important core values for the organization when it comes to children and media?
- What do we find important as an organization?
Awareness: Within the organization, everyone must be able to understand the importance of media education. Awareness is, therefore, an important element in the process and must take place at all levels: from management to management, parents, and employees. Everyone must be aware of their role in media education. Be it the after school pick up programs or any other option, the deals are perfect now.
Training: It is important to get all employees in line concerning the use of media. Make sure that they use the media in such a way that children can develop through play. The emphasis is not on the medium itself, but on supervision by the pedagogical staff member and the activating use of media.
