The role of play in children’s learning: the perspective of Ghanaian early years stakeholders

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine Ghanaian stakeholders' beliefs about the role and importance of play in early years (3 to 5 years) children's learning, referred to as playlearning beliefs. A survey design was adopted in order to gather data necessary to examine the differences among stakeholders' play-learning beliefs. A total of 292 participants completed the survey. Data was collected using a self-developed scale. A preliminary comparison of the mean differences among the stakeholders using ANOVA indicated that the head teachers and teachers perceived play as a form of learning more favourably than the parents. This difference was further explored using cluster analysis to test the hypothesis that stakeholders' education status is a factor in explaining the group mean differences. Using a two-step cluster analysis in SPSS 24.0, participants were grouped into five distinct clusters, which were most distinguishable by participant status (parent, teacher or head teacher) and their education status -high-educated head teachers, teachers and parents, moderate-educated teachers and low-educated parents. Consistent differences emerged between cluster groups when compared on the scale score. Consistent with the hypothesis, the results suggest education status is associated with stakeholders' beliefs about the role of play in children's learning.

Parents’ Beliefs About Play and the Purpose of Preschool Education, Preschoolers’ Home Activity and Executive Functions

“…As discussed, parental play beliefs are important in that they may impact the extent to which parents facilitate and support their children's play at home (Farver and Wimbarti, 1995;Haight et al, 1997;Avornyo and Baker, 2018;Ihmeideh, 2019). Even with increasing interest in parental play beliefs within different socio-cultural contexts (Avornyo and Baker, 2018), only a few investigations have examined the link between parents' play beliefs and their children's developmental outcomes. Lin and Yawkey (2014) found that parental play beliefs demonstrated a significant, positive relationship with their children's social competence, even after controlling for parental background variables typically associated with children's social competence.…”

Participant engagement with play research – examples and lessons learned from the Centre for Play in Education, Development and Learning

“…The work led by Dr Sara Baker has resulted in a number of publications focusing on the place of executive functions and self-regulation in children's play and learning (e.g. Baker, in press;Baker & Perry, in press;Marulis, Baker, & Whitebread, 2020) as well as perspectives on play from non-Western cultures (Avornyo & Baker, 2018).…”

What counts as learning in play? Uncovering patterns in perceptions of South African early educators

“…Across diverse cultural settings, early educator differ in whether and how they perceive children's play as valuable for learning (Walsh and Fallon 2019;Rentzou et al 2019;Avornyo and Baker 2018), and in turn, their different perceptions seem to influence the approach they adopt to play as pedagogical practice Aronstam and Braund 2015). For instance, in a Canadian study , one group of early educators saw play as naturally promoting children's social development and 'foundational' skills while academic learning required direct instruction; hence, children in their classrooms spent most of their play time without adult participation; a second group ' … embraced play both as its own developmentally appropriate activity and as a pedagogical tool that had the potential to support children's learning of academic skills'.…”