Sunday, 19 April 2015

Legislation and Policy


After extensive research I found no legislation in New Zealand that is aimed directly at technology use in early childhood education services, but the Ministry of Education have developed a document which details the policies around ICT in early childcare settings, as well as acts as a guideline for Centre’s to use when writing their own policies involving ICT. This document is called “ICT Infrastructure. Security and Cybersaftey: Policy and guidelines for Early childhood Education Services” and the full document can be found through the link below.


In the document the Ministry of Education (2008) states that the purpose of this document is to guide early childhood services to put in place policies and practices that ensure “the security of business data by preventing; unauthorized access, corruption, accidental loss, and inappropriate use” and to ensure “the security of children by protecting them from; inappropriate material, inappropriate persons, exploitation, and accidental harm” (p. 4).

The document states that it is the responsibility of the educators and all those involved with early childhood services that have a collective responsibility to adhere to the policies and guideline that the Ministry of Education has written. The document includes details about all aspects of safety and security with ICT discussing Wi-Fi use and internet security as well as answering questions such as:

·         What ICT equipment is acceptable?

·         What activities are acceptable?

·         What material is unacceptable?

·         What is cybersafety?

The document also includes links to websites that may be beneficial for parents and staff who may have concerns or queries about ICT use in early childhood services, the links cover a range of issues including radiation. You can find these links on the full document in the link above and there are two links below.

BECTA: How to plan the safe installation of ICT in schools:


The National Radiation Laboratory of the Ministry of Health:


The document is very thorough and considers every aspect of ICT use in early childhood services and details the safe practices that need to be followed by all within the settings. Reading this document has really put a spin on my opinion of technology use in early childhood services. Before reading this document I was unaware of the policies and guidelines that were put in place and therefore was under the impression that technology use was not as thoroughly regulated. I am now feeling more on the fence regarding the use of technology in early childcare settings as I can see how it can be beneficial if the policies and guidelines in this document are followed appropriately within settings.
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