Consensus or dissensus? Stakeholders’ views on the role of play in learning

Abstract

Across cultures and eras, children have engaged in play as part of the process of growing and maturing into adulthood. Play has been recognized as an effective form of pedagogy to promote learning in the early years. However, beliefs about what play is and how it should be practiced vary across Hong Kong and in other countries. Because Chinese culture places a heavy emphasis on academic achievement, a play-based curriculum has not been widely implemented in the region. Through classroom observations and interviews with key stakeholders in early childhood education, namely parents, teachers, and principals, this study reveals the complexity of views on this matter and uncovers the root cause of the difficulties in supporting play in the Hong Kong kindergartens. These findings may help promote the play-based curriculum in Hong Kong and other countries where play is in crisis.

Parental beliefs on children's play: comparison among mainland Chinese, Chinese immigrants in the USA, and European-Americans

“…Fleer (2010) suggested that most activities young children engaged in can be categorised as play. Being abstract, play is often defined by its forms, contexts, times, and philosophical orientation (Fung & Cheng, 2012). For example, Fung and Cheng (2012) described play as having clear goals and loss of self-consciousness with intrinsic motivation.…”

Preschool or Prep School? Rethinking the Role of Early Years Education

“…In Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, academics have voiced apprehensions about the 'tremendous downward pressure' on early years' settings to adopt a target-oriented and formal academic curriculum, driven partly by parental demands to prepare children for admission into selective primary schools in a highly competitive education system (Chan & Chan, 2003, Fung & Cheng, 2012. Research undertaken by Fung and Cheng (2012) for example, reports on emerging tensions in regards to the role of early years education where parental expectations of schooling for their preschool children in Hong Kong are in conflict with government policies for early years education and pedagogy. The study shows that parents in Hong Kong perceive preschools as essentially a head start for the primary school system.…”

International Students Experience in Teacher Education: Creating Context Through Play Workshops

“…Although there has been a shift in policy to more play based pedagogies, many Chinese teachers have difficulties implementing a play-based curriculum and resort to developing teacher-led playoriented pedagogies (Hua cited in Vong, 2012). The teaching style has been to reveal a transmission model of teaching and learning, with play being used as a mechanism for transmitting knowledge (Fung & Chen, 2012). In the traditional pedagogies children are expected to do the same thing at the same time and rarely work independently or in small groups on self-selected tasks (Vaughan, 1993).…”