Rethinking play and pedagogy in early childhood education: concepts, contexts and cultures

Woolf, Alison

doi:10.1080/13632752.2011.595102

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This domain with the detailed dimensions contained more than half of the PsTs' answers. Thus, the results of this study do link to those of earlier studies reporting that teacher's focus on developing children's academic learning in ECE too often overrules play (e.g., Armstrong, 2006;Rogers, 2011;Lynch, 2015; see also Claxton and Carr, 2004;Chudacoff, 2007;Panksepp, 2007). The results also raise the question as to how willingly and agentically these future teachers who highlighted teacher-initiated playfulness are to advocate play and children's right to play, since research has shown that ECE teachers feel pressures from other teachers, principals, and school policies to focus on academic goals and that this forces them to limit play (e.g., Armstrong, 2006;Bodrova, 2008;Hakkarainen and Bredikyte, 2014;Fleer, 2015;Lynch, 2015).…”

Section: Pedagogization Of Playsupporting

confidence: 84%

Agentic playful pre-service teachers: positionings from teacher-initiated playful teacher to community-shared playful teacher

Melasalmi¹,

Siklander²,

Kangas³

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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Play and playfulness are understood as basic and vital elements of early childhood education (ECE), and together with playful pedagogies, they perform a central role in Finnish ECE. In multidisciplinary research, children’s learning is generally understood through the inquiring process of play. However, playfulness, as opposed to play, has received relatively little scholarly attention, and educators’ use of playfulness has received even less. Playfulness is a vital part of life for both adults and children. At the same time, teachers’ behavior can influence the playfulness of a child; moreover, teachers’ own playfulness is critical for establishing warm and secure relationships with children. As such, the aim of this research was to explore pre-service teachers’ (PsTs’) understanding of agentic playfulness, particularly in the ECE context. Study participants included 159 PsTs; study data were gathered from PsTs’ written reflections regarding the use of playfulness in their future work. The results of qualitative analyses showed that the PsTs’ agentic playfulness mirrored a relational and tensious space consisting of three domains: teacher-initiated agentic playfulness, child-centered agentic playfulness, and community-shared agentic playfulness. Each domain revealed dimensions of the nature of PsTs’ orientation of their agentic playfulness. The results are discussed in relation to pedagogization of play, relational pedagogy community of learners, and teacher education supporting and developing future ECE teachers’ agentic playfulness.

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Section: Pedagogization Of Playsupporting

confidence: 84%

Agentic playful pre-service teachers: positionings from teacher-initiated playful teacher to community-shared playful teacher

Melasalmi¹,

Siklander²,

Kangas³

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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“…Further elaborating on this concept, Stewart and Pugh (2007) and Rogers (2011) describe pedagogical play as an environment where educators strategically incorporate learning goals within play activities. This approach respects children's interests and agency, leveraging their natural curiosity and engagement for educational purposes.…”

Section: Types Of Play In Early Childhood Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free play and pedagogical play: a multiple-case study of teachers’ views of play in Chinese early learning centers

Wang,

Ye,

Qiao

2024

Front. Educ.

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ObjectiveGrounded in theories of globalization, this qualitative case study aimed to explore the understanding of play among Chinese teachers in private, for-profit Western style early learning centers.MethodsThe study encompassed 16 Chinese teachers working in four Western-style early learning centers. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Following separate thematic analyses of each case, a cross-case analysis was conducted to compare and contrast the emerging themes, elucidating both commonalities and distinctions across the four cases.ResultsThe findings from all four cases revealed a categorization of play into two main types: “play in class’” and “play out of class.” “Play out of class” was characterized as unstructured, enjoyable, and creative, emphasizing child autonomy and spontaneous learning. In contrast, “play in class” pertained to play-based curricula that were thoughtfully designed to align with specific teaching goals and learning objectives. It was seen as a structured method for fostering learning, highlighting the developmental appropriateness of such approaches.Conclusion:These findings underscore the educators’ recognition of the significance of play; however, it also illustrates that their perceptions have been shaped by the prevailing emphasis on children’s achievements in Chinese society.

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“…In addition to the sustainability of the environment ecology, the sustainability of education ecology is also important. As an important part of ECE, it differs over regions, cultures, and times [23]. Therefore, ecological sustainability in ECE includes a sustainable environmental and educational ecology [24].…”

Section: Sustainability: Towards Quality Early Childhood Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sustainability of Early Childhood Education in Chinese Teachers’ Perspective: Evidence from a National Validation Study

Liu

Yong

2022

Sustainability

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This study aims to evaluate the sustainability of early childhood education (ECE) from Chinese teachers’ perspectives using a newly developed and validated instrument, the Sustainability of Early Childhood Education Rating Scale (SECERS). Altogether, 3636 teachers nationwide were randomly surveyed. First, analysis of the psychometric properties indicated that SECERS was a reliable and valid scale with three constructs: sustainability in ecology, sustainability in management, and sustainability in policy. Second, Chinese teachers positively evaluated sustainability in ecology but negatively evaluated it in policy. Third, latent profile analysis yielded the best-fit model with four profiles: low-, middle-, upper-middle-, and high-level profiles of teacher evaluations. Last, hierarchical regression analysis found that kindergarten quality grades played a key role in predicting the sustainability of ECE evaluation. The findings demonstrate the necessity of providing effective policy and management support to promote the sustainable development of ECE in China.

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Rethinking play and pedagogy in early childhood education: concepts, contexts and cultures

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Agentic playful pre-service teachers: positionings from teacher-initiated playful teacher to community-shared playful teacher

Agentic playful pre-service teachers: positionings from teacher-initiated playful teacher to community-shared playful teacher

Free play and pedagogical play: a multiple-case study of teachers’ views of play in Chinese early learning centers

The Sustainability of Early Childhood Education in Chinese Teachers’ Perspective: Evidence from a National Validation Study

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