Practitioners’ perceptions of play-based pedagogy on the holistic development of young children

Abstract

South Africa has made remarkable progress in trying to improve early childhood education by introducing the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in 2015. The NCF encourages practitioners to engage young children in play-based activities to improve their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development, as core developmental skills. This study aimed at investigating the perceptions and experiences of practitioners towards the implementation of play-based pedagogy in early childhood centres. The primary research question was, ‘How do practitioners perceive and utilise play-based pedagogy for child holistic development?’. The study followed the social constructivist theory to focus on the practitioners’ experiences and views of play-based pedagogy and its impact on the development of young children. The qualitative approach was used to collect information through semi-structured interviews and lesson observations from five participants in the Mpumalanga Province. Purposive sampling was used to obtain participants who were experienced, conversant, and enlightened about the play-based pedagogy to gather rich and valuable information. Data was constantly compared step-by-step and source-by-source to interpretatively explore patterns and themes. Themes and sub-themes emerged, and they assisted the researcher to analyse the data and ultimately derived the findings and recommendations. Through this study, the researcher observed that practitioners are partially implementing play-based teaching and learning in their classrooms. They have not yet fully embraced the concept of play-based pedagogy and its significance to teaching and learning in the early grades. Most early childhood classrooms, especially grade Rs, appear to adopt a more formal and academic approach to teaching and learning rather than an informal and exploratory approach. Although practitioners displayed very strong understanding and perceptions on the importance of play-based pedagogy (PBP) on holistic child development, unavailability of resources, especially outdoor equipment, was cited as the major impediment for the implementation of play-based teaching and learning. The lack of support from centre managers and principals was hinted at as another contributing factor that hampered the implementation of play-based pedagogy by practitioners. Therefore, the researcher proposed that for the successful implementation of play-based pedagogy, capacity-building training sessions should be planned for both principals and centre managers. Practitioners should be supported through ongoing professional development programs on play-based pedagogy. All capacity-building programs should be aligned and augmented with the National Curriculum Framework and the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement so that there will be uniformity and coherence in the implementation of play-based teaching and learning. The Department of Basic Education must ensure that all centres are appropriately resourced with the necessary outdoor and indoor play equipment to assist and encourage practitioners to explore a variety of resources in their daily planning for teaching and learning. Finally, the capacity-building programs should encourage and promote transformation in teaching and learning from a traditional teaching approach to a more social-constructivist approach. KEYWORDS: Early Childhood Development Centres; Early Childhood Development; holistic development; Play-based pedagogy; young children