Mothers, Fathers and Educators' Beliefs about Play in Chilean Preschools

• In Event: Family Context and Child Development in the Global South

Abstract

Despite the overall consensus that playtime has decreased in the last decade a closer look at this literature reveals several limitations when examining the reasons underlying this phenomenon. Some studies suggest that adults do not value play as a key aspects of child development and thus don´t promote it in children. However, most of them include only mothers without considering fathers, even though fathers are becoming increasingly active in their children's lives and contribute to development in ways that are differential and additive to mothers (St. George et al., 2016). In addition, when exploring beliefs about play, researchers often focus on either the home or the school environments and rarely consider both. Finally, studies in Latin American contexts are scarce, the available data come mainly from China or the USA. This is of great relevance when studying beliefs, as context and culture play a central role in shaping people's practices, beliefs and values (Ogbu, 1988, Weisner, 2002). This implies that parents and educators from different countries, cultures or SES may develop different beliefs and practices about play and child development (Tudge et al., 2006).
This study seeks to examine the beliefs of parents and early childhood educators in Chile about the playfulness and contribution to academic development of a list of common activities in which children are often engaged. It also aims to evaluate the association between the assessment of the academic contribution and playful character of the activities and the frequency with which children perform them. Possible differences between mothers, fathers and early childhood educators and by parental income level are explored.
Specifically, this study aims to evaluate:
(1) the frequency of preschool children performance of a list of activities as reported by mothers and fathers and whether these vary by parental income level
(2) whether there is a difference in the play and academic value reported by mothers, fathers and early childhood educators
(3) if the assessment of the playful and academic character of the activities by mothers and fathers varies by family income level
(4) the relationship between playful and academic value of the activities and the frequency with which children practice them, as reported by parents.
This research used a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design with a sample of 380 mothers, 89 fathers and 82 early childhood educators of children between 2 and 5 years of age.
Results showed similarities and differences in the value given to free and structured play and electronic activities by the three groups of participants. Data indicated that mothers assigned greater play value to Free Play and Structured Play activities than the educators did. In the Electronic Play subscale, fathers assigned greater playful value to these activities than did mothers and educators. Participants differed in the academic value of play by socioeconomic status, but agreed on the value of play in children´s academic skills (Table 2). Data from this study may inform interventions and curriculum to foster play as an essential tool for child development in Chile.

Authors

• Daniela Aldoney, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Soledad Coo Calcagni, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)
  Presenting Author

• andrea mira, Universidad del Desarrollo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Josefina Valdivia, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)
  Non-Presenting Author