Play History to Play Practice: Teachers' Playful Pasts and Pedagogical Present

• In Event: 73.060 - Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 73.060-8 - The Role of Play in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted to investigate teachers’ facilitative approaches to play but there has been very little work that looks to practitioners’ own personal relationships with play as a way of understanding play pedagogy. The purpose of this case study was to uncover and describe the ways in which teachers’ personal play histories impact their facilitative relationship to, provision for, and perceptions of dramatic play in their classroom. Through interviews, field observations and participant journaling, teachers’ past experiences with play were revealed, and mirrored in the ways they provide for play in their classrooms. Findings reflect the need for acknowledgement of teachers’ past experiences as an influential piece of their play pedagogy.

Author

• Katelyn Clark, Rutgers University