Transformative Digital Agency in Chinese Early Childhood Teachers: A CHAT Perspective

Research Findings: This study examines how early childhood teachers enact transformative digital agency (TDA) within technology integration in China. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and semi-structured interviews with thirty teachers, the analysis identifies three key patterns. Teachers’ use of technology was primarily oriented toward fulfilling top-down institutional demands or addressing immediate classroom challenges. Within these contexts, digital agency remained largely instrumental, with transformative use emerging only in limited cases where teachers reconfigured instructional roles, pedagogical practices, or divisions of labor, particularly in advanced digital and AI-related initiatives. Emergent transformative use arose between these poles: teachers recognized AI-induced changes but had not yet leveraged them for pedagogical transformation. Across cases, teachers’ agency was shaped by sociocultural conditions, supported by perceived pedagogical affordances and professional community interactions, yet constrained by systemic tensions related to policy mandates and digital inequities. Practice or Policy: As one of the few empirical studies examining early childhood teachers’ digital agency in a non-Western context, the findings underscore the need for professional learning designs that support teachers in navigating simultaneous pedagogical and technological shifts, including movement toward child-centered and AI-mediated practices, while also addressing structural constraints such as top-down initiatives and uneven access to digital resources.