How Students of Preschool Education Perceive Their Play Competences – An Analysis of Their Involvement in Children’s Play

  • Sanja Tatalović Vorkapić
  • Vesna Katić
Keywords: roles, students of preschool education, play competences

Abstract

Preschool teachers play a very important but highly sensitive role in preschool children’s play. It is therefore very important to build their play competences in a quality way. As this is not easily achieved, the main objective of the present study was to analyse the roles of students of preschool education in children’s play. The study included 36 students enrolled at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka, Croatia. Through a qualitative analysis of the students’ preparations for their practice, it was determined that the majority of students use didactic play and play with rules with children. Although the students demonstrated the expected role in children’s play, which positively influenced the educational work and the overall well-being of the children, some of the students were not decisive. Thus, the question arises as to how to improve the acquisition of play competences in students of preschool education.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bašić, S. (2011). Nova slika djeteta u pedagogiji djetinjstva. In D. Maleš (Ed.), Nove paradigme ranog odgoja. Zagreb: Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zavod za pedagogiju.

Bodrova, E. (2013). Play and Self-Regulation. Lessons from Vygotsky. American Journal of Play, 6(1), 111–123.

Budić, S., Gajić, O., Segedinac, M., Miljanović, T., & Španović, S. (2008). Didaktičko – metodički aspekti studentske prakse u partnerskim relacijama fakultetea i škola. Novi Sad: Filozofski fakultet, Odsjek za pedagogiju.

Duran, M. (2003). Dijete i igra (4. Izdanje). Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap.

Edwards, S., & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2011). Environmentalising early childhood education curriculum through pedagogies of play. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36, 51–59.

Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka. (2010). Early childhood and preschool education – Course program. Retrieved 11 September 2013 from http://www.ufri.uniri.hr/en/study-programmes/early-childhood-and-preschool-education.html

Fiorelli, J. A., & Russ, S. W. (2012). Pretend Play, Coping, and Subjective Well-Being in Children. American Journal of Play, 5(1), 81–103.

Flynn, K. S. (2011). Developing Children’s Oral Language Skills through Dialogic Reading Guidelines for Implementation. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44(2), 8–16.

Gleave, J., & Cole Hamilton, I. (2012). A world without play: A literature review on the effects of a lack of play on children’s lives. London: Play England. Retrieved 1 March 2013 from www.btha.co.uk

Goldstein, J. (2012). Play in children’s development, health and well-being. Brussels: Toy Industries of Europe (TIE).

Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2001). The Scientist in the Crib: What Early learning Tells Us About the Mind. New York, NY: Perennial, An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.

Hodkin, R. A. (1985). Playing and exploring: Educational trough the discovery of order. London, New York: Methuen.

Kamenov, E. (2006). Dečja igra: vaspitanje i obrazovanje kroz igru. Beograd: Zavod za udžbenike.

Katić, V. (2012). Syllabus of Language-Communications Curriculum. Rijeka: Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka.

NCCA. (2009). AISTEAR: The early childhood curriculum framework – Guidelines for good practice. Dublin: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. Retrieved 1 March 2013 from www.ncca.ie

Pavličević-Franić, D. (2005). Komunikacijom do gramatike. Zagreb: Alfa.

Petrović-Sočo, B., Slunjski, E., & Šagud, M. (2005). A new learning paradigm – A new roles of preschool teachers in the educational process. Zbornik Učiteljske akademije u Zagrebu, 7(2), 329–340.

Pramling Samuelsson, I., & Asplund-Carlsson, M. (2003). Detlärandebarnet. Påväg mot en teori [The learning child—Toward a theory]. Stockholm, Sweden: Liber.

Ridgway, A., & Quinones, G. (2012). How do Early Childhood Students Conceptualize Play-Based Curriculum?. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(12), 45–56.

San Chee, J. (2014). Intentional learning with educational games: A Deweyan reconstruction. Australian Journal of Education, 58(1), 59–73.

Sandberg, A., Lillvist, A., Sheridan, S., & Williams, P. (2012). Play competence as a window to preschool teachers’ competence. International Journal of Play, 1(2), 184–196.

Schousboe, I., & Winter Lindqvist, D. (2013). Children’s Play and development, Cultural – Historical Perspectives. New York, London: Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1996). The Optimistic Child: Proven Program to Safeguard Children from Depression & Build Lifelong Resilience. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Sheridan, S., Williams, P., Sandberg, A., & Vuorinen, T. (2011). Preschool teaching in Sweden – A profession in change. Educational Research, 53(4), 415–437.

Stančić, V., & Ljubešić, M. (1994). Jezik, govor, spoznaja. Zagreb: Hrvatska Sveučilišna naklada.

Šagud, M. (2002). Odgajatelj u dječjoj igri. Zagreb: Školske novine.

Tatalović Vorkapić, S. (2012). The significance of preschool teacher’s personality in early childhood education: Analysis of Eysenck’s and Big Five Dimensions of personality. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 28–37.

Tatalović Vorkapić, S., & Vujičić, L. (2013). Do we need Positive Psychology in Croatian kindergartens? The implementation possibilities evaluated by preschool teachers. Early Years: An
International Journal of Research and Development, 33(1), 33–44.

Tatalović Vorkapić, S., Vlah, N., & Vujičić, L. (2012). Osnaživanje uloge budućih odgajatelja u očuvanju mentalnog zdravlja predškolske djece: Promjene studijskog programa. Život i škola, 28(2), 130–144.

Tatalović Vorkapić, S., Vujičić, L., & Čepić, R. (2014). Pre-school Teacher Identity. In P. Breen (Ed.), Cases on Teacher Identity, Diversity, and Cognition in Higher Education (pp. 22–60), A volume in the Advances in Higher Education and professional Development (AHEPD) Book Series, IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5990-2

Trawick-Smith, J. (2008). Teacher-Child Play Interactions in Preschool: An Empirical test of Vygotsky’s Theory. Retrieved 1 March 2014 from http://www.easternct.edu/cece/pdf/Trawick-
Smith%20teacher child%20play%20interactions.pdf

Vasta, R., Haith, M. M., & Miller, S. A. (2004). Child psychology (4th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.

Vizek Vidović, V. (2005). Profesionalni razvoj učitelja tijekom inicijalnog obrazovanja i pripravništva. Zagreb: Institut za društvena istraživanja. Retrieved 1 March 2013 from http://zprojekti.mzos.hr/public/c2prikaz_det.asp?cid=1&psid=29&offset=20&ID=1172

Vizek Vidović, V. (2008). Ishodi učenja u obrazovanju učitelja i nastavnika – konceptualni okvir. Zagreb: Projekt nacionalne zaklade za znanost. Retrieved 1 March 2013 from http://domus.srce.hr/iuoun

Vujičić, L., Tatalović Vorkapić, S., & Boneta, Ž. (2012). Istraživanje odgojno-obrazovne prakse: Dominantna strategija profesionalnog razvoja odgajatelja. In I. Pehlić, E. Vejo, & A. Hasanagić (Eds.), Suvremeni tokovi u ranom odgoju, Znanstvena monografija (pp. 345–363). Zenica: Islamski Pedagoški fakultet Sveučilišta u Zenici.

Wilcox-Herzog, A., & Ward, S. L. (2004). Measuring Teachers’ Perceived Interactions with Children: A Tool for Assessing Beliefs and Intentions. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 6(2). Retrieved 1 March 2013 from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v6n2/herzog.html

Wood, D., McMahon, L., & Craunstoun, Y. (1980). Working with under Fives. Oxford preschool research project. London: Grant McIntyre.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Published
2015-03-31
How to Cite
Tatalović Vorkapić, S., & Katić, V. (2015). How Students of Preschool Education Perceive Their Play Competences – An Analysis of Their Involvement in Children’s Play. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 5(1), 111-130. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.162