Contestations of play and learning in children’s development : parents’ and teachers’ voices

Abstract

Parents and teachers of young children do not always understand the impact of play and learning on young children. Parents of young children often consider play and learning separate entities and ignore the natural benefits of play. While teachers often understand play’s benefits, they create a very inflexible, structured environment. Free play is reduced due to a lack of equipment, the COVID-19 pandemic, the push for schoolification, restricting young children’s freedom of choice when choosing toys and insufficient programmes for parents and teachers regarding play and learning. The study examined parents’ and teachers’ contestations between play and learning by drawing on Vygotsky’s theory of Proximal Development. My main focus was to comprehend parents’ and teachers’ understanding and practices of play and learning for young children using a qualitative case study research design. I used convenient purposive sampling, selecting six parents and four teachers from middle-income areas within Centurion/Laudium in Pretoria as participants. Data was collected from participants using an open-ended qualitative questionnaire. The data analysis used thematic analysis by highlighting emerging themes and subthemes, allowing the researcher to formulate findings. Thus, parents recognise play’s “academic value” but overlook its developmental advantages. At the same time, most teachers in this research feel play is more important than studying since it leads to growth. However, they provide an over-regulated atmosphere restricting children’s play choices and toys. Parents and teachers must learn the importance of play by participating in programmes and communicating with each other, as this will benefit young children.