Developing an Integrated Play-Based Pedagogy in Preservice Teacher Education: A self-study

Abstract

This paper reports a self-study of developing an integrated play-based pedagogy in a preservice early childhood teacher education subject about play. It is framed by understandings of play in children's lives and adult learning. The self-study was initially driven by a contradiction between teaching preservice teachers about play through didactic means and learning about play through play. Other tensions subsequently arose in this self-study and required me to reframe my thoughts and actions so I could move forward. This paper documents the tensions and reframings as the self-study proceeded over the course of a semester. It reveals that developing an integrated play-based pedagogy not only involves play-based activities per se but also the atmosphere in which experiences and interactions unfold and the play qualities they embody. Ideally, students become major players in the process of the development of pedagogy.