Outdoor play in preschools in England and South Korea: learning from polyvocal methods

Abstract

This paper discusses a cross-cultural and collaborative project, in preschools in England and South Korea. The aim of the project is to investigate the pedagogy of outdoor play and learning in two different cultural contexts, from the perspectives of the practitioners. Although there has been a growing academic interest in the use of outdoor spaces for play by children, there is limited scientific evidence of how children may benefit from their outdoor experiences. In particular, pedagogy in relation to outdoor play has not been fully articulated or critiqued in research literature. The project reported in this paper represents a systematic and detailed programme designed to begin to address the current gap in research on outdoor pedagogy. The project adapts the polyvocal methods used by Tobin, Wu, and Davidson [(1989). Preschool in three cultures: Japan, China and United States. London: Yale University Press] and Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa [(2009). Preschool in three cultures revisited: China, Japan and the United States. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press] in order to elicit practitioners’ perspectives on pedagogy in outdoor environments by sharing and reflecting on a range of visual data, including video and photographic images recorded by practitioners and researchers. The paper will discuss and critique cross-cultural perceptions of outdoor pedagogy in early childhood in relation to interaction, management and safety.

Keywords:

• outdoor play
• cross-cultural
• pedagogy
• safety
• relationships

Notes on contributors

Kwi-Ok Nah is a Professor of Early Childhood Education at Soonchunhyang University, South Korea. She studied her Ph. D. at Oklahoma State University, USA. She also worked at IOE, University of London for 2008 and at Anglia Ruskin University for 2014 as a visiting academic. Her research interests include international comparative study, outdoor learning, and mathematics education in early childhood.

Tim Waller is Professor of Child and Family Studies at Anglia Ruskin University. Tim is a Convener of the Outdoor Learning SIG in the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). He has worked in higher education for over 20 years. Previously he taught in nursery, infant and primary schools in London and has also worked in the USA. His research interests include well-being, outdoor learning, pedagogy and social justice in early childhood. Tim is currently leading the Young Children, Public Spaces and Democracy Project (BRIC) and the Keep Me Safe in Europe Project, both funded by the EU.

ORCID

Tim Waller http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2938-9374