Play-based pedagogies in the African context

Findings

• 64 articles met the eligibility criteria, of which most were cross-sectional qualitative or ethnographic studies.

Several terms were used

• Play-based pedagogy and play-based learning referred to that children learning in a playful manner without realizing that they are actually learning.
• Play was referred to game which has a defined goals to achieve by following certain rules.
• Playful learning refers to planned play activities where teachers try to have both play and learning in the same activity
• Indigenous play-based pedagogy is used to refer play materials and resources that are drawn from the local context.
• Play can be classified in three categories:
  • Free play where children have the choice for which play they will engage in and how.
  • Guided play where children are offered a challenge, and they then structure their own play to solve the problem presented, and the teacher observes, supports and guides the children as needed.
  • Instructional play where play environment is structured with specific activities and instructions, and aimed to help the children gain a predetermined skill or concept.

Models of LtP Used

• Play is a spiral of learning, which if repeated enhances learning and development, and puts play at the center of early childhood curriculum. Spiral play including free play and guided play can be used to facilitate learning and early development.
• For example, the Morabaraba board game used in South Africa to promote teaching and learning of mathematical concepts including geometric shapes, ratio and proportion, symmetry, logical reasoning and counting imbedded in the game, but at the same time help them overcome the fear to the subject. By encouraging learners to use mathematical language during the game, they were able to internalize and interact with the different terminologies and concepts and hence practical learning.
• Music can be used to support learning. music can foster child development, learning and teaching through the variety of skills involved including creativity, listening, body percussion, movement, dramatizing, singing, music, play and notation.
• Bingo games and flashcards can be used to teach sight words.
• The key advantage of LtP is its ability to contextualize learning to a familiar environment/experience and which in itself motivates the child to engage and learn more.
• Riddles are a form of child play in many parts of Africa. These can be riddle-asking (evening story-telling) or game of riddling, usually involving special rules and is often highly competitive.
• Child-centered LtP may be based on three principles: teacher-child interactions, child-centered play and use of culturally relevant materials.

Perceptions and Attitudes towards Play and Learning

• Teachers perceived play as an important pedagogy in all aspects of child development and a less stressful approach to learning.
• However, some teachers were not knowledgeable about the play pedagogy, thus there is a need for reforms in the curriculum and teacher training.
• There is a gap in recognizing the role of informal play in learning where a teacher’s main aim is to observe the learners at play and ensure they are safe.
• ECE teachers indicated that they received limited training on the pedagogy of play during their training.
• Playgrounds and game equipment are important investments in early learning environments.
• The infrastructural requirements are meant to ensure that young learners effectively and optimally benefit from the physical facilities within the learning environment.
• Play-based pedagogy teach students to love learning and to carry that love into the next phase of their education.
• Play stimulates and prolongs learning among children.
• In creative play, children create play objects from locally available materials and transform the mental image into a tangible object which develops their creativity, imagination and ability to make sense of their society.
• In dramatic pretend play, children imitate the social and cultural roles and learn gendered roles and values in their community and relationship among family members.
• Oral play in the form of riddling, storytelling and singing helps children develop their listening, interpretation and critical thinking skills as well as learning how to act out different roles.
• Reading in the home is a form of mediated learning in which the parent acts as a mediator and gives the object (reading material) a meaning by transforming textual signs into meaningful words which give pleasure, provoke interest, and in turn, stimulate meaning-making responses from the children in the form of play.
• While parents demonstrate intentionality by scaffolding the reading process, asking questions and explaining words and pictures, the children themselves initiate their play as a way of interpreting and expressing the story.
• Good play can be perceived as activities that are active in nature and children’s choice (enjoyable), orderly and requiring availability of toys and space and reveal children’s preferences, characters, talents and often their future aspirations.
• Work-themed play that happens in childhood may be seen as a venue to develop knowledge and skills of children to engage in the real work that adults carry out in their day to day activities by imitating them.

Successes reported in LtP

• LtP including a child-centered learning approach can increase learners’ interest and participation during class.
• Through the use of indigenous play to deliver the curriculum, children’s emotional, social and physical skills improved.
• LtP training improves teacher’s behavior as they start asking more open-ended questions, are more calm in how they communicate with the children and are warmer and responsive and; and use less coercive punishments.
• Similarly, LtP program for parents increased their appreciation of attachment, specific areas of development, play and guiding behavior, and through this enhanced children’s sense of self and relationships, independence and communication skills.

Challenges Reported in LtP

• Socio-economic factors and availability of resources in ECE are challenges, as lack of play materials hinders play and learning.
• Indigenous play-based pedagogy was regarded time-consuming to plan and implement, and could not completely replace the traditional learning and teacher-centered approach of delivering the kindergarten curriculum.
• In addition, e.g. poor learner behavior or lack of cooperation, lack of space, or too many children are challenges.

Gaps in LtP

• There are capacity gaps particularly in ECE teachers’ training and curriculum underlying the limited knowledge and skills and implementation of play.
• Policy gaps, e.g. lack of teacher involvement in the formulation of policies to support development of oral skills through play, and the lack of effective supervision on implementation also hampers application of play pedagogy.
• Underutilization of play due to limited play materials.
• Lack of involvement of learners in planning play activities, although effective play requires that the learners are involved in the process and their thoughts considered in creation of play activities.