ABSTRACT

The adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in early childhood education offers promising opportunities to enhance learning. However, various barriers hinder their widespread adoption. This study identifies and prioritizes these barriers using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Based on expert input and literature review, the barriers are grouped into seven categories: Technological; Economic and Financial; Educational and Pedagogical; Social and Cultural; Privacy, Legal and Ethical; Environmental and Sustainability; and Psychological and Health. Technological barriers emerged as the most critical, with limited technological infrastructure ranked as the top obstacle. Content availability and development is another major issue under this category. Economic barriers, especially high initial implementation costs, are the second most pressing concern. Teacher training and readiness ranked high among educational and pedagogical barriers. Privacy and safety concerns also pose significant challenges. Although environmental and psychological factors are relevant, they were found to be less influential in this context. The study offers practical recommendations for stakeholders to improve infrastructure, reduce costs, and train educators effectively. These efforts can accelerate the responsible adoption of AR/VR technologies in early education. Future research should explore long-term impacts and develop strategies to address these barriers for sustainable implementation and equitable access.

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