Learning and teaching with information-communication technology in the first triad of the primary school

The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in everyday life has been increasing every year, and with it the need to promote digital literacy at an earlier age. The theoretical part of the Master's thesis presented how well are schools equipped with ICT and introduces the SIO – 2020 project. The thesis had addressed the recommendations concerning the level of equipment with ICT infrastructure in schools based on the European Union framework DigCompEdu, which provided guidelines for the inclusion of digital technologies in teaching and described the competences that teachers have to develop in order to implement the use of ICT in teaching. This part addressed also the field of digital competences. It analysed the scientific bases for the didactic use of ICT in the first three years of primary school and summarised the analysis of the expert working group RINOS about the presence of computer science and information science in primary and secondary school programmes, as well as the expert group's study on possible changes. The thesis analysed how ICT was introduced in school systems in a few highly developed countries and in Slovenia. It also provided guidelines for the use of ICT in the first three years of primary school that are found in the latest curricula, and the presentation of a few cases of practical learning and teaching with digital technology.The aim of the quantitative study was to determine how and how much teachers use ICT in the first three years of primary school for learning and teaching purposes and for knowledge examinations. We wanted to found out the teachers' and parents' opinions on the use of ICT in the first three years of primary school. We also wanted to found out what was the current digital competence of teachers who teach in the first three years of primary school in relation to their age, and how familiar were they with the various uses of computer programmes.The research included 243 teachers who taught in the first three years of primary school for at least one year in the last five years, and 111 parents whose child attended one of the first three years of primary school in the last five years. The sample included teachers of different ages, which allowed a comparison of teachers belonging to three different age groups. The first age group included teachers aged 22–36, the second one included teachers aged 37–50, and the third one consisted of teachers aged over 50. The study was based on a questionnaire, whose results were processed with the software IBM SPSS Statistics and Microsoft Excel. The research on the teachers' use of ICT for learning and teaching in the first three years of primary school showed that more than half of the parents don't support its use, whereas the majority of teachers support its use from the first grade on. Almost three quarters of teachers already used ICT, while only a small percentage of teachers were not sure about its use and did't intended to change their teaching methods. Younger teachers used computers more often than older teachers, however, they used other digital devices less frequently compared to older teachers. Almost all teachers used computer software in teaching, whereas almost half of them did't used computer software during knowledge examinations. Almost all teachers were interested in further improving their digital competences. Teachers aged 51 and more felt the least digitally competent. Young teachers made up the largest part of the group of teachers who though they had the highest level of digital competence within the DigCompEdu framework. Older teachers aged 51 and more made up the largest percentage of teachers who believed they will never be digitally competent, whereas younger teachers made up the smallest percentage. The majority of teachers believed they reached the B1 integration level.