Reflections from the higher education classroom

The role of playful pedagogy in the professional formation of early childhood students

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21685949
AutoresJenny Robson (University of East London, autor de correspondencia), Micky LeVoguer (University of East London)
Año2025
Volumen33
Número2
Páginas275-286
Fecha de publicación2025-03-04
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Early Childhood Education Research Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1350-293X • E-ISSN: 1752-1807
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1350293x.2024.2431538
OpenAlexW4404906447
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas23

This paper reports a small-scale qualitative inquiry in the discipline of Early Childhood Studies in Higher Education that explores how playfulness in pedagogy might create an environment in which people within the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector (including students) engage in dialogue about structural injustice. Participants in this study are 14 people (students, lecturers and people working for professional associations, trade unions or grassroots organisations) who attended a networking event hosted in a university classroom in March 2023. Data was collected through lecturers’ reflections on pedagogy and online semi-structured interviews that explored participants’ experiences. We found that adopting a playful pedagogy both created opportunities for resistance to injustice and disrupted hierarchies in the ECEC sector. Playfulness in the HE classroom supported collective expressions of professionalism in the form of solidarity and voice

Developmental psychology · Early childhood · Early childhood education · Pedagogy · Preschool education · Professional development · Sociology · Teacher education · Child Therapy and Development · Critical and Liberation Pedagogy · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Psychology