Modes of play in early childhood curricular documents in Brazil, New Zealand and Ontario

Hedges, Helen; Peterson, Shelley Stagg; Wajskop, Gisela

doi:10.1080/21594937.2018.1437379

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our findings may be explained by free routines offering choice and independence, elements that contribute to sustained engagement and uninterrupted time that afford quality experiences [33]. Cross-cultural research shows the value of child-initiated play, including the affordance of choice and independence across a range of developmental and curriculum areas [34]. The provision of a free routine replicates child initiated play.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Environmental Influences on Children’s Physical Activity in Early Childhood Education and Care

Tonge¹,

Jones²,

Okely³

2020

Journal of Physical Activity and Health

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Background: To examine the relationship between attributes of early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings and children’s physical activity and sedentary behavior. Methods: Cross-sectional study involving 490 children aged 2–5 years from 11 ECECs. The ECEC routine, size of the outdoor environment, and time spent in the outdoor environment were calculated for each center. Children’s physical activity and sedentary time were measured using accelerometers. Multivariate linear regressions were used to examine associations of the attributes of ECEC centers with the outcome variables, adjusting for the effects of center clustering and gender. Results: Children in ECECs that offered free routines (where children can move freely between indoor and outdoor environments) had lower levels of sedentary time (28.27 min/h vs 33.15 min/h; P = .001) and spent more time in total physical activity (7.99 min/h vs 6.57 min/h; P = .008) and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (9.49 min/h vs 7.31 min/h; P = .008). Children in ECECs with an outdoor environment >400 m2 had less sedentary time (28.94 min/h vs 32.42 min/h; P = .012) than those with areas <400 m2. Conclusion: Modifiable practices such as offering a free routine and increasing time spent in outdoor environments could potentially offer an easy and sustainable way for ECEC centers to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary time among children.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Environmental Influences on Children’s Physical Activity in Early Childhood Education and Care

Tonge¹,

Jones²,

Okely³

2020

Journal of Physical Activity and Health

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“…Analyses of early childhood policy frameworks indicate that play has earned its place within the broad recommendations for play-based learning, play-based curriculum and play-based pedagogy (Hedges, Stagg-Peterson & Wajskop, 2018). The capture of play in policy discourses and curriculum frameworks is a mixed blessing because there are varying interpretations of what counts as play, and what play is expected, or required to produce.…”

Section: Educational Playmentioning

confidence: 99%

Play and learning in early childhood education: tensions and challenges

Wood

2022

childstudies

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International research promotes the value of play for children’s learning and development. However, in early childhood education the development of national policy frameworks highlights a tension, and possible contradiction, between play for its own sake, and educational play. This paper explores these two positions, drawing on contemporary socio-cultural theories. Freely chosen play reflects children’s choices, interests and inquiries, and is understood as complex socio-cultural activity. Educational play focuses on curriculum goals and outcomes, and requires early childhood educators to plan for play in ways that direct children’s learning towards those goals. Recent research on children’s interests and inquiries offers solutions for pedagogical approaches that connect the curriculum as lived experiences, and curriculum as planned experiences, both of which reflect children’s cultural repertoires and peer cultures.

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“…As a result, play is also caught between different discourses such as degrees of freedom and structure, child-initiated and adult-led play, the role of adults and the challenges of play-based pedagogy, and identifying pre-defined learning outcomes. There are also cultural-historical factors in implementing play within different systems, as documented by Cheng Pui-Wah, Reunamo, Cooper, Liu and Vong (2015) in Hong Kong, and Hedges, Peterson and Wajskop (2018) in New Zealand, Ontario and Brazil. International research on play and pedagogy in ECE (Brooker, Blaise and Edwards, 2014;Fleer, 2015) indicates that integrated approaches can sustain freely-chosen and childinitiated play alongside playful approaches to learning and teaching that are adult-led.…”

Section: Play In Ece Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unbalanced and unbalancing acts in the Early Years Foundation Stage: a critical discourse analysis of policy-led evidence on teaching and play from the office for standards in education in England (Ofsted)

Wood

2019

Education 3-13

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This paper presents a critical analysis of a report by the Office for Standards in Education in England (Ofsted, 2015), based on a survey of practitioners' perspectives of play, focusing on children age 2-5 years in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in England. The report, 'Teaching and play in the early years-a balancing act? A good practice survey to explore perceptions of teaching and play in the early years' www.gov.uk/government/organisations/Ofsted, gathered evidence to address the 'recurring myth' that teaching and play are disconnected endeavours in the early years. Critical discourse and critical policy analysis are used to interrogate this report alongside interrelated texts, the socio-political context of production, the methods used to define policy versions of 'good practice' in play, and the resulting power effects within early childhood education (ECE). It is argued that this report exemplifies how the remit of Ofsted has extended to provide policy-led evidence that is based on the construction of 'problems' of practice, and the proposed solutions. The Ofsted version of teaching and play relies on circular discourses that reinforce the government's standards and accountability agendas. This analysis reveals the extension from Ofsted's remit of inspection, to a mandate for defining 'quality' and 'good' practice. These actions, relationships and processes constitute the 'meaning-laden architectures' (Fairclough et al, 2004) that connect discourse and power. Using the metaphor of a kaleidoscope, it is proposed that 'Teaching and Play', and related reports, represent unbalanced and unbalancing acts in which policy-led evidence, based on flawed and biased 'research', exerts power effects for children, families and practitioners.

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Modes of play in early childhood curricular documents in Brazil, New Zealand and Ontario

Cited by 9 publications

References 15 publications

Environmental Influences on Children’s Physical Activity in Early Childhood Education and Care

Environmental Influences on Children’s Physical Activity in Early Childhood Education and Care

Play and learning in early childhood education: tensions and challenges

Unbalanced and unbalancing acts in the Early Years Foundation Stage: a critical discourse analysis of policy-led evidence on teaching and play from the office for standards in education in England (Ofsted)

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