This project will investigate and develop innovative pedagogical methods in which digital media is used to generate thinking, knowledge and learning in very young children. Initial research revealed a dominant discourse where digital media was conceived as a set of tools to acquire and represent information; or as a place to use games to practice skills. We challenge this view and will develop teaching methods and learning strategies that use digital media as part of a multi-disciplinary approach involving communication, mathematics and science, humanities, social and civic competence, cultural awareness and creative expression supported, enriched and made visible to others using digital media. It will become part of the everyday life of Pre-School. This project is part of a professional development alliance that started in 2011. The alliance is a network of 5 schools in the UK and 5 in Sweden who are developing curriculum using interdisciplinary projects with young children from 1 to 6 years old. Our core objectives are to develop new teaching methods: • developing environments in which digital media can be used alongside other materials and resources within flexible and inter-disciplinary approaches • that show how teachers can offer digital media to young children that promotes independence and creative outcomes • that can be readily shared across national contexts and used by educators in ECE and beyond into primary phases of school • that will be relevant when used with future digital There are 10 school leaders of pedagogy, school administration and systems management, 20 teachers working in classrooms with children aged 1-6 yrs and 150 children and their families working directly in project. Our method is to agree a meta-project that has relevance for all children and exchange our observations of the children’s learning and our reflections on the adults teaching, done though digital exchanges online (through the use of secure shared folders, blogs and social messaging). These will be enhanced through face to face meetings and through transnational exchange and evaluated against DIGCOMP: A Framework for Developing and Understanding Digital Competence in Europe. Our outputs include a range of inspiring and informative on-line and hard copy resources in 2 written and spoken languages. The project will challenge traditional ideals and ways of seeing learning referencing Delueze and Guttarri’s Rhizome Theory, Bateson’s The Pattern that Connects and Reggio Emilia’s concept of 100 Languages. These conceptual frameworks have influenced the development of pedagogy in each of the partner schools in both countries. The project is conceived as a series of case studies which will draw upon semi-structured focus groups (identified shared network days and leadership meetings), personal reflective journals of each teacher, the documentation of process and shared analysis of pedagogical documentation produced within and as an outcome of the project. The structure of the project invites international confrontation of multiple perspectives upon episodes of children’s meaning-making in group contexts using digital media as a tool of creative expression and enquiry. This shared analysis will identify the patterns of development in children and pedagogical practice that can be articulated and shared through the website, publishing, video and training materials and replicated in other ECE contexts and beyond into Primary phase. During the project we will be developing new pedagogies that exploit the potential of ICT which is a key issue addressed in the Communication on Rethinking Education (in particular, chapter 2.2), and the enhancement of digital competence which is one of the main pillars of the Digital Agenda for Europe [71], and also one of the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives. Within the participating schools digital resources of all types will be used during lessons by children to support learning as digital media to be a part of the everyday life of preschool as an expressive language to facilitate and support enquiry. Teachers will have increased complexity of understanding and increased confidence in using digital technologies in meaningful, necessary ways that support children’s learning and communication and be able to train and mentor others within and beyond the participating school at a local, regional, national and international level. The new methods will be transferrable for use with different digital platforms and digital hardware. It will have relevance to a wide audience that can be readily shared across national contexts and used by educators in ECE and beyond into primary phases of school. It will contribute towards the goal of the EU in increasing a knowledge society with more flexibility in the labour force that can adapt more quickly to constant changes in an increasingly interconnected world. A legacy will be left behind in terms of a website, training materials and publications.