A Professional Development Programme to Support Hong Kong Early Childhood Practitioners in Assisting Children to Learn through Play

Abstract

A recent increase in emphasis on the importance of children’s free play in kindergarten is reflected in the latest edition of the kindergarten curriculum guide in Hong Kong. This increased emphasis presents new challenges to early childhood practitioners in terms of their teaching approach and their children’s learning. Teachers frequently find it difficult to put into practice the concepts of play and free play as advocated in the guide. As a result, implementation of 'play' as observed in many early childhood classrooms still turns out to be a disguised form of didactic class activity merely labeled as 'play'.

This presentation describes how the teacher professional development (TPD) program of the Jockey Club 'Play n Gain' Project has addressed this policy-into-practice gap. The speakers will discuss the objectives, content and procedures of the TPD program, and will identify common obstacles that teachers encounter when implementing 'learning through play' in kindergartens. Most importantly, the speaker will present successful cases to illustrate how the TPD team has assisted kindergarten teachers to: 1) make sense of play and free play in the curriculum guide; 2) effectively integrate play in the school-based curriculum, 3) create sustainable play corners in kindergarten, and 4) maintain home-school collaboration during school suspension. Finally, consideration will be given to the impact of the TPD program as reflected in feedback from the participating teachers.