Teachers' experience in implementing play pedagogy in classroom situations for holistic development of children

Abstract

This research has been conducted to present the experience of the teachers of private English-medium schools dealing with learners of 3–5 years of age in a play-based approach to teaching and learning. Play-based teaching and learning is a new phenomenon in Bangladesh, and there is not much research done on the schools where the medium of instruction is English. A play-based approach to teaching and learning is different from the traditional method of teaching, and teachers require training and supervision to successfully implement this approach in classrooms. Based on in-depth interviews and classroom observation notes, the research was conducted among three English-medium schools in Dhaka and 10 teachers of English-medium schools who had experience with both traditional and play-based teaching methods. Qualitative research was set to explore the experience of teachers with two key research questions. Most of the participants were found to exhibit a positive perception of play-based teaching and learning in contrast with the traditional approach to teaching and learning, and at the same time, they shared about the areas that pose challenges to them. The research has provided a set of recommendations to overcome the limitations of implementing a play-based approach in their curriculum.