Playful structure: a novel image of early years pedagogy for primary school classrooms

Walsh, Glenda; Sproule, Liz; McGuinness, Carol; Trew, Karen

doi:10.1080/09575146.2011.579070

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Vygotsky, for example, limited his definition to pretend play only, excluding movement and manipulation of objects and explorations (Bodrova, 2008). We define "play-based learning" more broadly and in accord with Walsh, Sproule, McGuinness, and Trew (2011): playfulness as a characteristic of adult-child interactions, compatible with adult and child initiation of a given activity and with activities that have a specific learning goal.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschool Curricula and Professional Development Features for Getting to High-Quality Implementation at Scale: A Comparative Review Across Five Trials

Weiland

McCormick²,

Mattera³

et al. 2018

AERA Open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experts have heralded domain-specific play-based curricula coupled with regular coaching and training as our "strongest hope" for improving instructional quality in large-scale public preschool programs. Yet, details from different evaluations of the strongest hope model are not systematically compiled, making it difficult to identify specific features across studies that distinguish the most successful implementation efforts. We performed a cross-study review across five diverse large-scale evaluations (n = 6,500 children and n = 750 teachers across 19 localities and multiple auspice types) to identify common features that have characterized successful implementations of this model to date. We identified six features in our exploratory review that may help to flesh out the strongest hope model for localities considering it-a significant focus on specific instructional content, inclusion of highly detailed scripts, incorporation of teacher voice, time for planning, use of real-time data, and early childhood training for administrators. These six features provide more specific guidance for practitioners and help meet calls in preschool and K-12 for more synthesis of implementation lessons from large-scale research trials.

show abstract

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschool Curricula and Professional Development Features for Getting to High-Quality Implementation at Scale: A Comparative Review Across Five Trials

Weiland

McCormick²,

Mattera³

et al. 2018

AERA Open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Teachers’ engagement in playful learning environment was also found to be related to student satisfaction from learning ( Kangas et al, 2017 ). Finally, a longitudinal evaluation of playful curricula found that absence of teacher’s playfulness was often associated with lower levels of child engagement in play and activities in general ( Walsh et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relation between Teachers’ and Children’s Playfulness: A Pilot Study

Pinchover

2017

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Young children spend considerable time in educational settings, in which traditionally, their primary occupation is play. A playful preschool environment has been related to better cognitive, social and emotional development. Although it is assumed that teachers’ playful behaviors are important in creating a playful school environment, empirical knowledge on this subject is lacking. The current study pilot examines the relation between teachers’ and children’s playfulness. Thirty-one teacher–child dyads participated. The teachers were asked to complete the Adult Playfulness Scale (APS). Thirty-minute videotapes of teacher–child play interactions were used to evaluate the child’s playfulness using the Test of Playfulness. A positive relation was found between two of the APS subscales (spontaneity and silliness) and child playfulness. Teacher silliness mediated the relation between children’s age and playfulness. This study is the first to show that teachers’ playfulness aspects are related to higher playfulness in children. Promoting teachers’ playful behaviors can be related to better teacher–child playful interactions, thereby enhancing children’s playfulness.

show abstract

“…This is increasingly evident as many countries move towards centrally defined curricula for early childhood (ranging from birth to 7/8 years) (Brooker and Edwards 2010;Stephen 2010;Wood 2010aWood , 2010b. Although child-centred discourses maintain significant power, evidence across international contexts documents the challenges that practitioners encounter in implementing curricula that combine freedom and structure (Bodrova 2008;Broadhead, Howard, and Wood 2010;File, Mueller, and Wisneski 2012;Hedges and Cullen 2011;Walsh et al 2011). Much research problematises free choice and free play from a structural perspective, and identifies constraints such as policy frameworks, space, time, adults' roles, rules, parents' expectations and the pushdown effects from the primary curriculum (Markström and Halldén 2009;Wisneski and Reifel 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Free choice and free play in early childhood education: troubling the discourse

Wood

2013

International Journal of Early Years Education

150

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article troubles the established discourse of free choice and free play in early childhood education, and develops post-structural approaches to theorising children's agency in the context of institutional and relational power structures. It is widely accepted that planning a curriculum based on children's needs, interests and patterns of learning promotes agency, self-regulation and control. However, contemporary research extends this discourse through critical examination of child-centred and developmental perspectives, and by theorising children's agency as a means of enacting power relationships in play. Using naturalistic, interpretive methods for documenting children's choices of play activities, this small-scale study focuses on 10 children in an Early Years Foundation Stage setting in England. Combining contemporary sociocultural and post-structural theories, the findings indicate that children's choices are situated within shifting power structures and relationships, involving conflict, negotiation, resistance and subversion. These activities create opportunities for exercising and affirming group and individual agency. The study raises critical questions about how children make and manage their choices, and examines the implications for policy and practice in light of restrictive curriculum frameworks.

show abstract

Playful structure: a novel image of early years pedagogy for primary school classrooms

Cited by 20 publications

References 12 publications

Preschool Curricula and Professional Development Features for Getting to High-Quality Implementation at Scale: A Comparative Review Across Five Trials

Preschool Curricula and Professional Development Features for Getting to High-Quality Implementation at Scale: A Comparative Review Across Five Trials

The Relation between Teachers’ and Children’s Playfulness: A Pilot Study

Free choice and free play in early childhood education: troubling the discourse

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About