Educators’ Beliefs and Motivational Orientations as Predictors of ICT Use in Early Childhood Education

Digital technologies are an integral part of young children’s everyday lives, yet their pedagogical integration in early childhood education and care (ECEC) remains limited and highly variable across ECEC centers. Drawing on the extended Structure–Process (SP-E) framework, this study examines how structural characteristics of ECEC centers, particularly the range of available ICT equipment, and educators’ ICT-related professional competencies, especially beliefs and motivational orientations, predict ICT implementation in pedagogical practice. Data from the DIGIPaed project comprised 266 educators across 97 German ECEC centers. Hierarchical regression models with cluster-adjusted standard errors were estimated for two outcomes: ICT use with children and pedagogical ICT activities. Results revealed distinct predictor patterns for the two outcomes. The range of available ICT equipment was positively associated with pedagogical ICT activities but not with ICT use with children. ICT-related self-efficacy was the only professional competence variable to predict both outcomes, explaining additional variance beyond structural conditions and beliefs. Centers with higher proportions of children with a migration background showed lower levels of ICT use with children. These findings suggest that ICT implementation in ECEC is not a unitary construct and that different dimensions of implementation may depend on different conditions. Self-efficacy emerged as a particularly promising target for professional development aimed at supporting meaningful ICT integration in ECEC centers.