An examination of preschool teachers' opinions on "Play-Friendly Schools"

Abstract

Play, which is the language of learning for children and supports all areas of development, is very valuable in terms of the unique opportunities it offers to children. Therefore, the right of every child to play, no matter where they are in the world, is guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child. In every environment where children are present, especially schools that support all their developmental skills, having the characteristics of a “play-friendly school” with an approach that values play is an important indicator of the value given to children. Based on this, the aim of the current study was to determine the principles of play-friendly schools according to teachers’ opinions. For this purpose, the study group consisted of 60 preschool teachers working in the field. In the selection of the study group, the easily accessible sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used. In the qualitative study, semi-structured interview questions were created by the researchers; the questions prepared based on the literature were rearranged by receiving expert opinions and finalized by testing. The data obtained as a result of the interview were analyzed with content analysis. The research findings were listed under three headings: “whether the school is play-friendly, parents’ opinions on whether the school is play-friendly, and teachers’ opinions on the features that a play-friendly school should have” and as a result of the analyses based on teachers’ opinions, 12 principles that characterize a play-friendly school were determined by the researchers.

Keywords

• Play friendly,
• play- friendly school,
• preschool,
• play- friendly school principle,
• teacher opinions

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