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Background Educational robotics can enrich STEM learning in preschool and primary education. Implementation is often constrained by school infrastructure, limited time, costs, curriculum alignment, and access to support.Objective To identify educators’ perceived challenges to implementing educational robotics in preschool and primary settings and to examine whether these perceptions vary by educator characteristics and training.Sample Greek preschool and primary educators, n = 302, selected through stratified random sampling across diverse school contexts.Design and methods Cross-sectional survey using the validated Attitude, Knowledge, and Application of Educational Robotics instrument (AKAER). Internal consistency was α = .757. Descriptive statistics summarized perceived barriers. Pearson chi square tests with α = .05 examined associations with specialization, gender, relevant coursework, and ER or STEM training.Results Reported barriers included infrastructure gaps, limited instructional time, limited teacher knowledge, curriculum constraints, high cost or limited availability of kits, and frequent need for technical support. Agreement rates were 85.5% for infrastructure, 34.4% for time, 49.3% for knowledge, 52.0% for curriculum, 59.3% for cost or availability, and about 81% for technical support. Pearson chi square tests showed associations of physics coursework with views on laboratory feasibility, robotics coursework or training with time and curriculum constraints, environmental coursework with knowledge and cost concerns, and gender with perceived need for technical support. Some items showed no differences by educator characteristics.Conclusion Barriers to implementation are primarily infrastructural, temporal, financial, and support related rather than rooted in individual educator profiles. Prioritizing dependable infrastructure, affordable kits, protected instructional time, responsive technical support, and targeted professional learning can enable sustainable adoption and richer STEM learning in preschool and primary classrooms.
Gavrilas et al. (Thu,) studied this question.