Lek och läroplan: Möten mellan barn och lärare i förskola och skola.

The objective of this study is to contribute knowledge on the relationship between play and learning, and to examine the significance of these for children, child carers and teachers at daycare centres and schools.   The study is divided into two parts; a development part and a survey part. Specific questions are: 1) How do child carers and teachers experience the relationship between goal-oriented play and learning?  What dilemmas do child carers and teachers experience when they integrate play and learning?  2) How do children perceive play and learning, and how do children create meaning in the various combinations of play and learning organised by the child carer and the teacher?  How do children’s worlds, experience and intentions manifest themselves? What do children want when they involve their carers and teachers in play and learning?  3) What is the relationship between play and learning in the activities initiated by child carers and teachers?  What conditions either enable or limit integration of play and learning and can this integration be established on the terms of the children?

The results of the study indicate that there are different types of interaction containing play and learning, but keeping to the specific subject and at the same time including the children’s imagination, creativity and desire to play can be a great challenge for the carer or the teacher. The pedagogical and school objectives within a given subject can overshadow children’s spontaneity. The study points out that children regard playing and learning as a dynamic continuum rather than as two separate entities. When children are asked to describe the difference between playing and learning, they associate learning “at the moment” with something that they want to learn, whereas what they are to learn at school in the future is perceived as something that is necessary and difficult to learn. The analysis identifies five common characteristics of playing and learning: imagination, creativity, influence, power and positions. Although children do not necessarily distinguish between playing and learning, the children emphasise the possibilities embedded in playing with regard to gaining influence as well as to selecting and taking on active positions. The feeling of engaging in something that you want to do is also associated with something that is "fun” to do. The study shows that different types of interaction between child carers and children provide different options for integrating playing and learning. The most difficult type of interaction is the ‘form-bound interaction’ in which the child carer primarily tries to teach the child something. In this case, the child’s influence and creativity is subordinated to the adult’s intentions, and focus is on the task the child is expected to solve. In "exploratory interaction”, the child carer organises situations that open up for different solutions and contributions from the child. In "narrative interaction”, the adult and the child create meaningful universes together and the child drives both the playing and learning processes forward. This form of interaction provides a better basis for integrating playing and learning. Furthermore, it should also be noted that "exploratory" and "narrative" interaction usually take place with smaller groups of children or with individual children, since it is difficult to accommodate and follow up on the children's input in larger groups, just as it may be difficult to make space for jocularity in larger groups. The study concludes that, if play and learning are to work together fruitfully, it is important to have a goal-oriented pedagogical approach, which:  1) challenges the teacher to embrace the world of the child and at the same time is oriented towards the specific learning goal; 2) challenges the teacher to reflect on how to establish explorative and narrative interaction with respect for children’s spontaneous play; and 3) challenges the concept of how imagination, creativity and the establishment of meaning for children can be manifested in all contexts of the pedagogical practice.

The study sample was composed of personnel and children from daycare centres, schools and after-school centres. A total of 19 child carers and teachers as well as 114 children (63 children between 1 and 5 years old and 51 children between 6 and 9 years old) were included in the study sample.  Data were gathered through video observations, interviews with child carers, teachers and children between 5 and 9 years old, as well as spontaneous conversations about the video observations with carers and teachers.  

Johansson, E.; Samuelsson, I. P. (2006). Lek och läroplan: Möten mellan barn och lärare i förskola och skola. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.