Author Identifier (ORCID)
Abstract
Children's ‘funds of knowledge’ (FK) offer a strengths-based approach to recognising how children contribute to the curriculum. Growing up in a postdigital world, young children's lives are enmeshed with digital technologies. Yet the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector remains hesitant to embed digital experiences in play and learning. While the concept of ‘digital fund of knowledge’ (DFK) has been explored in primary and secondary education, it remains underexamined in ECEC. This systematic review of four databases identified seven studies spanning Europe, Australia, the USA, Malta, Sweden and Finland. These highlight challenges including limited educators' understandings of children's DFK, insufficient training to integrate digital technologies into learning experiences, and a lack policy for digital pedagogy. This paper contributes to a novel endeavour to bring children’s DFK into the ECEC sector. It underscores child-centred, contemporary pedagogy and the necessity for both scholarly and policy attention in this area.
Keywords
birth to five years old, digital engagement, digital experiences, digital funds of knowledge, digital technologies, postdigital
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
E-ISSN
17521807
ISSN
1350293X
Publication Title
European Early Childhood Education Research Journal
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child / School of Education
RAS ID
100000
Funding received from the Australian Research Council (ARC)
CE200100022
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hardley, J., Barblett, L., & Watt, M. E. (2026). A systematic review of children’s digital funds of knowledge in early childhood education and care: beginning the conversation. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2026.2705504