Children's agentive orientations in play-based and academically focused preschools in Hong Kong

Abstract

The article describes a comparative case study on children's agentive orientations in two Hong Kong preschools, one is play-based and the other is academically focused. Agentive orientations were measured using Reunamo's interview tool, which focuses on children's uses of accommodative and agentive orientations in everyday situations. The findings show that children in the academically oriented preschool had more uncertain and less participative orientations than those in the play-based preschool. Boys in the academically oriented setting were found to be more vulnerable than both girls and their counterparts in the play-based preschool when confronted with a conflict setting. The results indicate that the play-based environment stimulated children's capacities for agentive and participative social engagement, suggesting that play provides children with the opportunity to develop more versatile social tools and strategies. These competences are of vital importance for successful engagement in collective settings such as classrooms and schools.

Keywords:

• early childhood curriculum
• play
• children's learning
• agency

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Corrigendum

Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank ‘The Hong Kong Yan Oi Tong Choi Wong Ling Ling Foundation’ for the support on the 3C project which the data of the paper come from.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Doris Cheng is the Centre Director of Childhood Research and Innovation and an Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education in Hong Kong. Her research and publications focuse on early childhood curriculum and pedagogy including teaching and learning through play, the impact of play on children and the role and professional development of early childhood teachers. In 2014, she has been invited to be an overseas consultant in a Play and Learning project at the University of Cambridge, UK. Recently, she becomes one of the core team member in a Global Research & Innovation Network on Learning Through Play funded by LEGO Education Foundation.

Jyrki Reunamo, Ph.D., is a docent and university lecturer at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research interests include early childhood, research methods, IT, sustainable education, physical education and language. He is the director of the Orientation project (http://blogs.helsinki.fi/orientate/), an early childhood research and development project. Reunamo’s list of publication is at http://www.helsinki.fi/∼reunamo/article/lto-art.htm.

Paul Cooper is a Chartered Psychologist and Professor of Social-Emotional Learning and Inclusion at Brunel University London. He has held academic posts at several universities in England and was until recently a Chair Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His research focuses on social-emotional development and education. He has published widely in this for over 20 years.

Karen Liu, Ph.D., is a professor of Early Childhood Education at Indiana State University. Liu’s work is reflected in her published monographs and journal articles. Liu’s research interests are early childhood, teaching pedagogy, home-school partnership, teacher transformation, indigenous children and language, ethnic awareness and global competency. Liu was profiled in the Who’s Who among Asian Americans. She was elected as the President for the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) from 2008 to 2010. Liu was awarded the Petty Smith Hill Professional Achievement Award by the ACEI in April 2012. She also received the President Medal for Excellence in Teaching and Research in 2011, Holmstedt Distinguished Professor title in 2002 and the Distinguished Early Childhood Educator in Higher Education in 2001.

K. I. (Peggy) Vong earned her degrees in the USA and UK. She has an academic background in Child Development and her experiences in Early Childhood Education covers teaching at the university level, research and government project coordination. Her earlier writings focused on concepts of friendship across cultures, Chinese parents’ beliefs and conceptions of children’s creativity, and impact of different pedagogies on promoting children’s creativity in disparate learning contexts. She has also written about policy and practice of kindergarten education in Macao, as well as establishment of kindergarten systems in rural areas of China. Recently, she focuses on the status of play curricula in Chinese kindergartens as well as the roles and effects of preschool teacher education on Early Childhood Education. Her future research will pay special attention to understanding the sociocultural factors of creativity in relation to their development and Early Childhood Education.