stakeholder views of play in queensland’s preparatory year · queensland’s preparatory year...
TRANSCRIPT
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“Well it depends on what you’d call play”
Stakeholder views of play in Queensland’s Preparatory YearExchanging Insights from Education Research, QUT
10th – 11th October 2014
Helen BreathnachPhD Candidate
QUT
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The studies
Masters thesis•Parent views of play in Queensland’s Preparatory Year
PhD thesis•Play in the Preparatory Year: Children’s perspectives
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“Parent views of play in the Preparatory Year in Queensland”
Exploratory case study bound by:Place = PrepTime = 2012Group = parents
Framed by:Vygotsky’s social constructivism
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Recruitment of participants
Recruitment emails through QUT ClassifiedsPurposeful & snowball sampling8 participants interviewed
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Characteristics of participant sample
Cultural identity of child and/or
parent(s)
Country of birth of parent(s)
Mother/Father as interviewee
Parent's first or subsequent experience of
Prep
Child attending Prep in a state or non‐state
school
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Data collection
Individual semi‐structured interviews• March – April 2012• 30 mins to 2 hours in length
How do you define play?Does your child play in Prep?What place do you think play has in Prep?
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Data analysis
Braun & Clarke’s (2006) Phases of Thematic Analysis
1. Parents interpreting play in Prep
2. Play and learning in Prep
3. The Prep teacher’s role in play
4. Parent tensions regarding play and learning in
Prep
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Play is important in Prep• “Play is the way you engage children” (2)• “Prep has to be about play” (4)
Play is not important in Prep• “It doesn’t strike me as really important… I’m not seeing it as necessarily achieving anything more than what they’d get from free play at lunch time and before school” (3)
Play is important for socialisation• “…[the] thing about undirected play is the kids are ultimately learning lots of social skills while they’re doing that” (6)
Key findings
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Play is absent from Prep• “I don’t think it’s part of the classroom day… it’s very structured” (1)
Play can make learning fun• “It might still have a learning objective but [the children] might not know it so they don’t think they’re learning something. They just think they’re having fun” (7)
Play should be adult directed• “I think in a classroom of 25 kids it’s got to be directed and they do their undirected play outside at break… I don’t see any point in undirected play within classroom teaching hours” (6)
Key findings
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Play and learning are separate and distinct• “In terms of the school environment… if it was all free play where does the learning happen? if it’s just play then yeah… well I would be disappointed” (3)
•…painting and stuff like that… I consider that play. Not that it’s educational play but play (8)
Learning = literacy and numeracy• “Not everything can be taught [through play]. Count one to ten… it’s just straight learning, right?” (2)
• “If they’re just playing outside… you can only learn a certain amount… if you really want to learn how to write and read and do maths… it’s only in a structured environment… that you can try to get that teaching across” (6)
Key findings
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“Play in the Preparatory Year: Children’s perspectives”
To understand children’s perspectives of play in Prep in the context of recent significant changes in the provision of early years education in QueenslandTo include children as research participants thereby positioning them at the centre of the research agenda
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Prout & James’ sociology of childhood
* Prout & James, 1997
Children are competent and capable agentsChildren are active members and constructors of their social worldsChildren’s lives and experiences are of interest to them and others
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Classroom Ethnography
Settings are socio‐culturally constructed
Phenomena are considered in reference to their setting
Meaning‐making is
constructed through
interactions
Studying & listening to people in the
field
“Being there”(Trondman2008, p. 117)
Researcher as “research
instrument”(Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007,
p. 17)
Multi‐method approach to
data collection
Making the familiar strange
* Brockman, 2011; Erikson 2010; Hammersley 2010; Walford, 2008
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• Prep classroom in state school on Brisbane’s northside• Prep teacher (“Linda”) at the school since the 1980s• There are 25 children in the class – 13 girls/12 boys• Principal / relief teacher / specialist teachers / support staff• Teacher aides• Parent helpers• August – December 2014 / twice a week / approx 3 hours
per day
Research site & participants
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Data collection
Field notes (classroom layout, artefacts
observations, hunches, conversations)
Video‐recorded participant observation
Children’s drawings
Video‐recorded
conversations & walking
tours
* Clarke & Moss, 2011
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Ethnographic data analysisPrimary
ethnographic data
(fieldnotes, artefacts, data)
Secondary data (pre and post fieldwork research, literature review)
Codes, patterns
and themes
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Play = activities Negotiation
Decision‐making Choices
Early findingsWhat does play look like in Prep?
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Early findingsWhat are the best / worst things about
Prep?
Best things about Prep
Worst things about Prep
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Early findingsWhen does play happen?
Play Work
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Early findingsThe justification for play
Problem solving Citizenship
Interaction Negotiation
Social and personal learning
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The Prep Village
“The Chief” Parents
Children Community
The Village