Early Childhood Education teachers’ attitudes towards risky play as developed through teacher education and impeded by safety procedures. A report from Croatia

ABSTRACT

Existing research indicates that risky play plays a significant role in children’s learning and development. Children’s access to risky play is, however, culturally and institutionally mediated. The cultural values associated with a good childhood and the values and attitudes of people who are ‘in charge’ of children’s activities have a significant role in the creation of institutional conditions for the activities. In this paper, we report on the attitudes of Croatian Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers towards various examples of risky play and their declared frequency of allowing it in their own work settings. A statistically significant difference is revealed between the ECE teachers’ educational degree and their attitudes towards risky play. The discussion section indicates that teacher education shapes attitudes, but it does not shape the ability to take action in respect of institutional limitations, particularly where these are reinforced by an array of safety procedures.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• early childhood
• kindergarten
• play
• risk
• teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adrijana Višnjić Jevtić

Adrijana Višnjić Jevtić, PhD is assistant professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education (Zagreb, Croatia). Her research interests are early childhood education, cooperation between families and educational institutions and early childhood teachers’ competences and professionalism.  She authored and co-authored over 20 research papers published in journals such as International Journal of Early Childhood, and International Journal of Early Years Education, among other. She is also one of the editors of “Young children in the world and their rights, 30 years with the UNCRC” (Springer 2021). She is a member of OMEP, EECERA and TACTYC.

Alicja R. Sadownik

Alicja Renata Sadownik, PhD, is associated professor at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Bergen, Norway). She received her PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Gdansk (Poland). Her research focuses on childhood(s), early childhood education settings and parental cooperation in the context of migration and socio-cultural diversity. Her works has been published in journals such as European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, and Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood SAGE Journal, among others. She is also one of the editors of “Young children in the world and their rights, 30 years with the UNCRC” (Springer 2021). 

Antonija Halavuk

Antonija Halavuk, M.A. is kindergarten teacher at kindergarten “Ivana Brlić Mažuranić” (Zagreb, Croatia). Her research interests are early childhood education  and early childhood teachers’ profession. She co-authored paper publish in the Early Years – An International Research Journal.