Play-based pedagogy under threat? A small-scale study of teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of pedagogical discontinuity in the transition to primary school

Nicholson, Philip

doi:10.1080/03004279.2018.1496124

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Transitions have been described variously as a bridge, a border crossing, a process of continuity and change (Howe, 2016; Nicholson, 2019). There were some areas of continuity across the transition in this study, such as creative activities, and ICT (Q1, Q2, Q4, Q7).…”

Section: Context Of Study and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This understanding of progression reflects persistent tensions between systems and cultures in the pre-school phase, where ECE is positioned as a space of play, and compulsory education, where school is positioned as a space of work (Henderson et al, 2016). Even though play has been identified as a ‘metaphorical bridge’ (Nicholson, 2019), the pedagogic transition from play to work typically begins during the final year or months of pre-school so that children are ‘made ready’ for school by experiencing more formalised adult-led activities (Fisher, 2022; Wood, 2019). Based on a systematic review of teachers’ views of play-based learning, Bubikova-Moan et al (2019) document concerns about achieving a balance between child-led and adult-led activities.…”

Section: Transitions and School Readiness – Policies And Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘If I play I won’t learn’: Children’s perceptions and experiences of transition and school readiness from Maternelle to Year 1

Wilders¹,

Wood

2023

Journal of Early Childhood Research

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How children experience the major transition from pre-school to compulsory schooling influences their immediate and future success and wellbeing. This complex process of change and adaptation is impacted by school readiness policy drivers, which prioritise children’s performance and achievement. Pedagogic and curriculum progression shifts from play to work, with structured and adult-led activities. These factors contribute to the schoolification of early childhood education, and construct school readiness as an attribute of the child. This paper reports findings on how six children experienced transition and school readiness as they move from Maternelle to Year 1 in an International school in Belgium. Multimodal and multivocal methods of data collection were used to provide child participants with accessible ways of expressing their perspectives of the lived experience of transition. The children perceived the major transition being from play to work and understood that they were expected to be ready for this change. From a socio-cultural perspective, this paper argues that school readiness cannot be assessed at a specific point in time, but should instead be viewed as the lived experience of children that begins before, and continues well beyond the transition. Children are expected to adapt to multiple changes in curriculum and pedagogical practices, as well as changes in cultural, temporal and material contexts. It is recommended that critical questions about how school readiness is constructed should take account of children’s perspectives and experiences of transitions.

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Section: Context Of Study and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transitions and School Readiness – Policies And Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘If I play I won’t learn’: Children’s perceptions and experiences of transition and school readiness from Maternelle to Year 1

Wilders¹,

Wood

2023

Journal of Early Childhood Research

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“…The paper is set within the troubled space of the early years of primary schooling, a space in which researchers, educators and practitioners have been struggling for some years, trying to resolve a number of tensions between, for example, formal versus informal approaches to teaching and learning, play versus work, and child-initiation versus teacher-direction (Allee-Herndon et al, 2019, Wood 2014. Research has consistently shown that, while most early years teachers in the primary context are enthusiastic about the value of play for children's learning, they are often confused about how they might continue to captivate the interest and engagement of young children through the medium of play while still ensuring that they meet required academic curriculum goals and targets (Nicholson, 2018, Jay & Knaus, 2018. Indeed, some studies suggest that practitioners appear comfortable when promoting the social and emotional aspects of learning through the medium of play, but when it comes to more academic learning they struggle, finding it a much more complex task.…”

Section: Background Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signalling playfulness: disguising work as play in the early years’ classroom

Sproule

Walsh

McGuinness

2021

International Journal of Play

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Play has been widely investigated from a practice-based perspective; playfulness as an effective pedagogical tool has received less attention. Over an 8-year evaluation of a play-based curriculum, we ascertained that some practitioners found it difficult to captivate and maintain children's interests through the provision of a play-based experience while ensuring that effective learning took place. Drawing on lessons learned, we argue that in order to enhance the quality of the learning experience, playfulness, conceived as a characteristic of the interaction between teacher and child, must be infused across the school day, even within activities focused on traditional curriculum goals. For this paper, we revisit the observational study previously conducted, in particular, an intensive video study of teachers observed to be highly playful, in order to unravel key playful signals useful to frame non-play activities as play, thus disguising the serious pursuit of learning.

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Transition to school: children’s perspectives of the literacy experiences on offer as they move from pre-school to the first year of formal schooling

Cronin

Kervin

Mantei

2022

AJLL

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The importance of children experiencing a successful transition to school is well established in research literature. Central to this is including the children themselves in the conversation about their learning and ensuring they develop a sense of fit and belonging to their new school environment. The findings shared in this paper sit within a larger study of examining children’s perspectives of their literacy experiences at the time of transition to school. This paper reports the perspectives of two children, firstly in their pre-school (prior-to-school) setting and then again in their Kindergarten setting (the first year of formal primary schooling in New South Wales). The study draws on the theories of literacy as a social practice and describes literacy as events and practices. Digital storytelling was used as the main data collection method to capture the children’s voices as they annotate images, describing their chosen literacy events in each educational setting. Findings revealed that whilst some children have a confident and successful initiation into the literacy events and practices of school, others may not. Herein are substantial messages, firstly, that we need to listen to children so we can support their transition to formal school and secondly that teachers need to better understand the literacy practices of children in pre-school to more effectively support them as they transition to Kindergarten.

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Play-based pedagogy under threat? A small-scale study of teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of pedagogical discontinuity in the transition to primary school

Abstract: Nicholson, P.M. (2018). Play-based pedagogy under threat? A small-scale study of teachers' and pupils' perceptions of pedagogical discontinuity in the transition to primary school. Education 3-13.

Cited by 5 publications

References 36 publications

‘If I play I won’t learn’: Children’s perceptions and experiences of transition and school readiness from Maternelle to Year 1

‘If I play I won’t learn’: Children’s perceptions and experiences of transition and school readiness from Maternelle to Year 1

Signalling playfulness: disguising work as play in the early years’ classroom

Transition to school: children’s perspectives of the literacy experiences on offer as they move from pre-school to the first year of formal schooling

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