Interactions in play-based learning between the children and the materials, the children with eac... more Interactions in play-based learning between the children and the materials, the children with each other and the children with the teacher is not something that can be scripted or packaged. However, these complex interactions can be closely examined to ensure the learning is maximized including children's development of self-regulation competencies. The study used action research to examine teachers' beliefs about the connections between play-based learning and children's self-regulation and their thinking about practice. Findings indicated that when teachers moved away from a didactic model they stopped themselves from listening for a predetermined skill. Instead the pariticpants used strategies such as putting a critical lens on the amount of teacher talk, waiting more for children to respond or even speak first, observing how children co-construct their learning and thinking more deeply about the children who are communicating non-verbally. As a result, the teachers o...
In this paper we conduct a deductive analysis, using Sutton-Smith's “rhetorics of play,” of t... more In this paper we conduct a deductive analysis, using Sutton-Smith's “rhetorics of play,” of the published kindergarten programs that have guided Ontario kindergarten teaching since 1944. Our analysis is used to gain an understanding of how we in Ontario have arrived at a point where play-based learning has been taken up by developers of the provincial kindergarten program and approved as a pedagogical focus by politicians. The predominant discourses appear to have changed from a romantic view of play as a natural, child-centered activity, to a discourse of play as progress, with an emphasis on the developmental benefits of play and learning outcomes of play. We believe that the use of the rhetoric of play as progress has been key to the continued prominence of play in Ontario kindergarten programs. It represents ideologies of schooling to which policy-makers seem to be attuned in this era of accountability.
In this article, school division and Ministry of Education–based early childhood consultants and ... more In this article, school division and Ministry of Education–based early childhood consultants and university researchers respond to the question of whether play is at risk in kindergartens in five Canadian provinces by analyzing current and previous kindergarten curricula using Sutton-Smith’s framework of rhetorics of play. We find that play is integral to kindergarten curricula in Saskatchewan and Ontario, but only implicitly mentioned in the Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba curricula where support documents provide more support for play. The rhetoric of play as progress is the dominant discourse of current kindergarten curricula.
Interactions in play-based learning between the children and the materials, the children with eac... more Interactions in play-based learning between the children and the materials, the children with each other and the children with the teacher is not something that can be scripted or packaged. However, these complex interactions can be closely examined to ensure the learning is maximized including children's development of self-regulation competencies. The study used action research to examine teachers' beliefs about the connections between play-based learning and children's self-regulation and their thinking about practice. Findings indicated that when teachers moved away from a didactic model they stopped themselves from listening for a predetermined skill. Instead the pariticpants used strategies such as putting a critical lens on the amount of teacher talk, waiting more for children to respond or even speak first, observing how children co-construct their learning and thinking more deeply about the children who are communicating non-verbally. As a result, the teachers o...
In this paper we conduct a deductive analysis, using Sutton-Smith's “rhetorics of play,” of t... more In this paper we conduct a deductive analysis, using Sutton-Smith's “rhetorics of play,” of the published kindergarten programs that have guided Ontario kindergarten teaching since 1944. Our analysis is used to gain an understanding of how we in Ontario have arrived at a point where play-based learning has been taken up by developers of the provincial kindergarten program and approved as a pedagogical focus by politicians. The predominant discourses appear to have changed from a romantic view of play as a natural, child-centered activity, to a discourse of play as progress, with an emphasis on the developmental benefits of play and learning outcomes of play. We believe that the use of the rhetoric of play as progress has been key to the continued prominence of play in Ontario kindergarten programs. It represents ideologies of schooling to which policy-makers seem to be attuned in this era of accountability.
In this article, school division and Ministry of Education–based early childhood consultants and ... more In this article, school division and Ministry of Education–based early childhood consultants and university researchers respond to the question of whether play is at risk in kindergartens in five Canadian provinces by analyzing current and previous kindergarten curricula using Sutton-Smith’s framework of rhetorics of play. We find that play is integral to kindergarten curricula in Saskatchewan and Ontario, but only implicitly mentioned in the Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba curricula where support documents provide more support for play. The rhetoric of play as progress is the dominant discourse of current kindergarten curricula.
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