| dc.description.abstract | Today's children are growing up in a rapidly changing digital age that is different from that of their parents and grandparents with variety of technologies all around their homes and schools. One of the Kenyan national goals of education is to promote technological and industrial needs for national development. One guiding principles of Kenyan Basic Education Act 2013 is that education should promote innovativeness, inventiveness creativity, technology transfer and an entrepreneurial culture among learners. However, report from Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) from the ministry of education (Kisumu Central Sub-County) shows a low level of integration of digital technologies in early years of education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teacher preparedness on integration of digital technologies in early years' of education in Kisumu Central Sub- County. The study objectives were; to establish the influence of status of digital literacy on integration of digital technologies, to determine the influence of relevancy and adequacy of teachers training on integration of digital technologies, to examine the influence of teachers' ICT advancement on integration of digital technologies and to establish the influence of teachers perception on integration of digital technologies in early years of education in Kisumu Central Sub-County. The study adopted Concurrent triangulation design within the mixed method approach. The study was anchored on Davis (1986) Technology Acceptance Model and Preparedness Theory by Seligman (1971). The study targeted 345 teachers from public primary schools in Kisumu Central Sub-County. The study adopted saturated sampling and stratified random sampling to sample 272 respondents. The data collection instruments were structured questionnaires, interview schedules and focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and linear regression were used to analyze quantitative data. The Qualitative data was analyzed using Thematic Analysis Approach. The study findings showed a significant (n=202; r =.711; p <0.05) highly positive correlation between status of digital literacy and integration of digital technologies. The teachers’ status of digital literacy was also found to be high. The findings also indicated a low positive correlation (n=202; r =.292; p <.05) between relevancy and adequacy of teachers training and integration of digital technologies. It was also established that teachers training was not relevant and adequate enough to prepare them for integration of digital technologies in their teachings. The study also revealed that there was statistically significant, though weak (n=202; r =.332; p<.05.), positive correlation between teachers' !CT advancement and integration of digital technologies. On the same vein the study discovered that majority of teachers have not advanced on! ICT in preparation for integration. Finally the finding indicated that that there is a statistically significant (n=202; r =.384; p < 0.05) positive correlation between teachers’ perception and integration of digital technologies in early years of education. Teachers were also found to have positive perception towards integration of digital technologies in early years of education. The study recommended that the ministry of education to consider organizing refresher courses for in-service teachers on integration of digital technologies. It was recommended that KICD to re -examine the curriculum content of pre-service teachers training. | en_US |