Conference Agenda

In the French-speaking Swiss kindergarten, learning activities are essentially imposed by adults. Teaching implements pedagogical practices derived from elementary school and poorly adapted to children's needs, evacuating play (Clerc-Georgy & Duval, 2020). Learning activities are essentially imposed by adults. However, a number of studies have highlighted the importance of taking account of activities initiated by children (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002). Teachers are trained to anticipate, initiate, and direct activities.

To meet both the demands of the curriculum and the need to offer age-appropriate ways of working, teaching should be based on the emerging curriculum (Clerc-Georgy, 2024; Osberg et al., 2008). Fleer's work (2019, 2021) on Conceptual PlayWorld (CPW) opens up an interesting way, because 1) the support provided by stories helps teachers to develop their play skills, 2) this type of activity allows all children to participate, with their own motives (Hedegaard & Edwards, 2023), 3) the identification of dramatic situations and the knowledge required to resolve them is a lever for building a form of historical and cultural knowledge, linked to the identification of meaning (what the appropriation of its use enables in terms of increasing one's ability to act, communicate, or think; Clerc-Georgy, 2021).

In this contribution, we will present analyses of collective discussions resulting from FCPW training. The results will consist in the identification of how implementing CPW 1) helps teachers to play a role in children's play; 2) promotes an understanding of the meaning of knowledge needed to seize or provoke learning opportunities from child-initiated activities.

Supportive teacher-child interactions (e.g., engaged support for learning) in early childcare and education settings are important for children’s positive development. Studies on the quality of teacher-child interactions have shown that the quality of Engaged Support for Learning (ESL) is lower during free play (child-initiated) than during activities organized and directed by the teacher. This study examined the relationship between the proportion of free play taking place in early childhood education groups and the quality of ESL. We hypothesized that the higher the proportion of free play the lower observed learning support. We also investigated whether teacher beliefs about play (attitudes toward active guidance and support in play) moderate this association. We hypothesized that teachers with high play support beliefs show a higher learning support also in free play settings.

The participants were 138 groups (79 daycare groups and 69 playgroups) in 14 municipalities in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. The quality of ESL was measured using CLASS Toddler (La Paro et al., 2012). The ESL domain showed low to medium quality ratings. Observers also recorded the activity setting (e.g., free play). The educators at both institutions completed the “Play Beliefs Scale” (Wustmann Seiler et al., 2024) to assess their beliefs regarding guidance and support during play. Most educators in the daycare center and in the playgroup strongly agreed with active support during the children’s play. However, they also showed a tendency to agree about remaining passive. The results of this study will be presented, and their practical implications discussed.

Introduction: Children in the autism spectrum (ASD) are increasingly being integrated into primary and secondary mainstream education. Yet, little is known about teachers’ challenges in supporting their peer play in early childhood education. This study explores teachers’ perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to supporting peer play between children in the autism spectrum and their typically developing peers.

Methods: Observations and research circle meetings were conducted with eight teachers from an urban area in Austria. Material from the meetings was analysed using qualitative content analysis and participants’ feedback.

Results: Findings illustrate how teachers perceive and manage multiple factors that influence peer play, including child-level factors (e.g., irritability to noise), peer and family factors (e.g., negative roles attributed to children with ASD), and institutional factors (e.g., large group sizes and lack of rooms without distractions). This study also highlights teachers’ ambivalence about safeguarding children’s participatory rights when encouraging children in the autism spectrum to engage in peer play when they need to disengage. This ambivalence is linked to the need to expand the comfort zone of typically developing children by raising their awareness of diverse ways to interact and participate in play to support all children’s needs in inclusive education.

Conclusion: Teachers perceived barriers and facilitators to peer play between children in the autism spectrum and typically developing peers. They used multiple strategies on levels of the child, peers, family, and institution. Teachers sometimes felt insecure when trying to support all children’s needs in inclusive education.

In digital education, the risk of different interactions between boys and girls is high: The accuracy of teachers' judgments of technical skills is low, with gender bias and underestimation more common than overestimation (Wammes et al., 2022). Differences in interactions based on gender lead to differences in learning opportunities and thus to inequalities in education (Wang et al., 2018). Gender bias and low expectations (based on underestimation) are mediated by teacher behaviour (Rubie-Davies et al., 2015).

The aim of the present paper is to investigate differences in educators' play behaviour towards boys and girls during guided pretend play about digital transformation. The questions are (1) whether this high expectation play behaviour of teachers is also found in the behaviour of early childhood educators during guided pretend play, and (2) whether the play behaviour differs between boys and girls.

The data are based on the exploratory intervention study "we play the future" (Vogt & Hollenstein, 2021). The analyses follow a qualitative approach with content analysis (Mayring, 2021). A χ2-test is used to examine differences in educators' play behaviour between boys and girls.

The results show that high expectation play behaviours are found during guided pretend play sequences. Low expectation play behaviours, such as closed-ended questions or unrequested support, are significantly more common in interactions with girls than with boys.

The findings discuss implications for further research into high expectation play behaviours in guided pretend play so that all children can benefit from equitable digital education.