School Play and Children's Social-Emotional Development: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Early Childhood Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 2112

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Early Childhood, School of Education, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK
Interests: parenting; early childhood play-based curriculum; child play behaviors/characteristics; social-emotional development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Drawing on various theories highlighting the importance of play in children’s social-emotional competence, early childhood curricula in many countries and cultures adopted play as one of the core approaches to promote children’s social and emotional development. Despite the general awareness of its importance, the implementation of play-based curricula or play pedagogy is still facing obstacles including parental endorsement, teachers’ beliefs and competence, and a lack of empirical evidence supporting their effectiveness. Further, the fundamental issue of what is meant by play (e.g., free play, guided play) from children’s, parents’, and practitioners’ perspectives is another matter that may lead to confusion and ambivalence.

This Special Issue will offer an up-to-date account of the impacts of play on children’s social-emotional competence in early-years settings (e.g., nursery, preschools, kindergartens, childcare centers) across different cultural contexts. The articles in this Issue will examine the empirical evidence in relation to the roles of play in children’s early social and emotional development through a cultural lens. We also welcome investigations of how various sociocultural factors (e.g., children’s voice, parental belief and support, school environment, practitioners’ ideologies, social policy) impact the implementation of play-based curricula, using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches. The articles in this Issue will inform the theoretical framework and best practices of play-based curricula in early childhood education.

Suggested themes:

  • Play and children’s social-emotional development in early years settings across cultures;
  • How children, parents, and practitioners define play and understand its role in social-emotional development in early childhood education;
  • The impacts of sociocultural factors on the implementation of play-based curricula/play pedagogy.

Dr. Wing Kai Fung
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • play
  • play-based curricula
  • social-emotional competence
  • early-years education
  • cross-cultural

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 384 KiB  
Article
Play-Based Assessment: Psychometric Properties of an Early Childhood Learning and Development Assessment Battery
by Carlos Montoya-Fernández, Pedro Gil-Madrona, Luisa Losada-Puente and Isabel María Gómez-Barreto
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(11), 1240; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111240 - 12 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1510
Abstract
This study aims to explore the reliability, construct validity, and content validity of the Child Learning and Developmental Playful Assessment Battery (Batería de Evaluación Lúdica del Aprendizaje y Desarrollo Infantil; BELADI), a quantitative instrument based on the authentic assessment and playful learning [...] Read more.
This study aims to explore the reliability, construct validity, and content validity of the Child Learning and Developmental Playful Assessment Battery (Batería de Evaluación Lúdica del Aprendizaje y Desarrollo Infantil; BELADI), a quantitative instrument based on the authentic assessment and playful learning principles, the purpose of which is to assess infant learning and development through motor and competitive games as well as storytelling. The sample was composed of 113 children from Albacete (Spain) between 58 and 72 months of chronological age (M = 64.72; SD = 3.671). To explore the content validity, an expert judgement was carried out and the Content Validity Coefficient (CVC) was calculated. The reliability was analysed using the Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Ω, and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted. The results revealed high reliability indexes in each of the developmental domains, and the EFA included 11 items distributed in two factors for the psychomotor domain, 27 items grouped in three factors for the cognitive domain, and 20 items divided into four factors for the socioemotional domain. In conclusion, the study verifies the validity and reliability of the BELADI for the assessment of the infant learning and development through play, which may be used in research, education, and psychopedagogy. Full article
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