Children's interest in media-inspired play and teacher reactions: Resistance in the playground

Abstract

In this article I discuss children's interest in media-inspired play at their early childhood centre and possible reasons for their resistance to centre and/or teacher restrictions to some of these play scenarios. It is based on recent research I undertook for a Master of Arts in Childhood and Youth Studies at the University of Otago. My ethnographic research was conducted in a small childcare centre, focusing on a group of eight children (five boys, three girls) in the three- and four-year age group and their media-inspired play. Children's play interests at this centre could be grouped around Barbie, My Little Pony, pirates, Lightning McQueen (a character from the Disney movie Cars), and superhero play. Subsequent parent interviews established that these interests were based on media their children had access to in the form of television, DVDs or videos, and computer and video games. Before I discuss some of my research findings concerning children's resistance to teachers' restrictions of media-inspired play, I wish to briefly discuss the theoretical framework which guided my project, and some of the relevant literature. Theoretical perspective and literature Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory provided the framework for my study. In this theory Bronfenbrenner proposed that children live in various environments, which he termed microsystems. For the purposes of this discussion, the microsystems of home and early childhood centre are relevant. Children's development is supported if relationships (continuities) exist between children's microsystems (Smith, 1998). Bronfenbrenner used the term mesosystem for this overlap of knowledge from one setting to the other. A child's transition into a new environment, such as from home to the early childhood centre, is more easily achieved if they find familiarity in the new microsystem. This does not mean that an early childhood centre should be a replica of children's homes, but that children's home cultures should be acknowledged, respected, and integrated, where possible. This can be achieved by providing some familiarity for the child based on cultural artefacts, such as centre equipment and resources; or a cultural overlap of customs, routines, and values between the two environments; or preexisting relationships between the microsystems (for example, being familiar with a centre due to picking up an older sibling with a parent, before enrolment starts). Such scenarios support children's daily transitions (continuities) between the microsystems of early childhood centre and home, where, according to Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998), different role expectations may be placed on the child. The more these expectations differ from those at the child's home, the bigger the change in role for the child. For such a child, discontinuities exist, which may complicate the transitioning process and affect the child's sense of wellbeing and belonging. Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996), New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, embraces Bronfenbrenner's theory, particularly in the strands of Well-being and Belonging. Curriculum goals in early childhood centres include the acknowledgement of the child's connecting links with family and the wider world, in order for the child to feel a sense of belonging and subsequent wellbeing. For a variety of reasons this overlap of cultures may be easier to achieve for some children than others. Teachers' narrow interpretations of children's home literacies can create discontinuities for some children, if there is a significant difference between home and centre cultures (Arthur, 2005). Another theoretical perspective that contributed to my research is poststructural theory, which does not regard children as passive recipients of media messages, but as actively involved in creating meaning out of their media experiences. For instance, Buckingham (1994, p. …