Teachers' personal attitude and motivation are crucial for innovative teaching with digital media (Helmke, 2015; Koehler & Mishra, 2009; Kunter et al., 2011). Factors influencing this personal attitude include, on the one hand, perceived self-competence in dealing with digital media, media experiences from one's own school days and from the private sphere, but also the availability of digital devices at the school and the influence of the respective school management. While these factors have already been extensively researched among primary and secondary school teachers, there are only a few study results from the field of elementary education in German-speaking countries. This article is dedicated to closing this research gap and examines which factors influence the attitude of preschool teachers in Austria towards the use of digital media in preschool education.

A total of 535 preschool teachers with different levels of professional experience from all Austrian federal states were surveyed using a questionnaire. The results of this survey were then discussed with 11 experts from the fields of preschool education, media education, computer science and the training of preschool teachers.

The results show that the willingness to use digital media in an educational context is significantly determined by one's own school socialisation, while other factors such as personal experiences or media use in one's private environment play a subordinate role. Even if there is a private affinity to digital media, especially among the younger respondents, this does not necessarily lead to a desire to use it in working with children. The heated debate about the risks of digital media for early childhood development also affects younger educators, who may have already developed a more cautious attitude towards digital media in educational work from their own negative experiences with excessive media consumption. This sceptical attitude towards digitisation in elementary education is also perpetuated in vocational training. In addition, the benefits of digital media education and the didactic use of digital media are not recognised by numerous preschool educators.

The experts therefore recommend that media education and media didactics be more firmly anchored in further and continuing education, and that networking be established around best practice examples in order to positively influence attitudes and practices regarding the use of digital media in educational work. The experts also conclude that a revaluation of preschool education at the institutional level and an adaptation of the national education framework are necessary to promote a positive attitude towards digital media in preschool education.

Keywords: Preschool teachers, attitude, digital media.