“BE THE CHANGE THAT YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD” (MAHATMA GANDHI)

Goal 3 ~ Artifact 3C

ECED 585F 61A: Advanced Seminar on Research in Early Childhood Education: Leadership and Policy in Early Childhood Education (Instructor: Dr. Iris Berger)

Assignment 3: Final Paper

While learning about topics related to leadership, practice and policy, I became inspired to problematize pedagogies of play. The overall goal of this paper was explore how play pedagogies can extend, rather than limit, “conditions of possibility” (Foucault, 1978; 2000 as cited in Ailwood, 2011). Engaging in this process, included disrupting dominant discourses of play by challenging Western views, assumptions, and taken-for-granted beliefs. This process also involved resisting my own personal “habits of thoughtlessness” (Hannah Arendt, 1963; 1977 as cited in Berger, 2015) by reflecting on my routine ways of thinking, acting, and responding through play. The guiding question for this paper was: How can play pedagogies be reimagined and reconstructed in my Kindergarten classroom to allow for more open and inclusive; rich and responsive conditions of possibility?

The current conditions of the world have provided us with a unique set of circumstances. However, the state of the world can be seen as a time for resistance and re-imagination, deconstruction and reconstruction, exploration of other and new possibilities, action and transformative change. “We live in a time of chaos, rich in potential for new possibilities. A new world is being born. We need new ideas, new ways of seeing, and new relationships to help us now” (Margaret Wheatley, n.d.). By choosing to be optimists and activists, this time can be seen as an opportunity for innovation, collaboration, and leadership. This paper explains how play can be used to educate, engage, empower children so that they have equal access to opportunities for health, happiness, well-being, and optimal development.

Read Online: Reimagining Conditions of Possibility through Play: Disrupting Play Pedagogies in ECE

Download PDF: Reimagining Conditions of Possibility through Play: Disrupting Play Pedagogies in ECE

References

Ailwood, J. (2011). It’s about power. Researching play, pedagogy and participation in the early

years of school. In Rogers, S. (Ed.). Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood

Education (p.19-31). London: Routledge.

Berger, I (2016;2015;). Pedagogical narrations and leadership in early childhood education as

thinking in moments of not knowing. Journal of Childhood Studies (Prospect Bay), 40(1).

Gandhi, M. (n.d). Retrieved March 1, 2021 from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/24499-be-the-

change-that-you-wish-to-see-in-the

Wheatley, M. (n.d). margaretwhatley.com. Retrieved December 6, 2020, from

Margaretwheatley.com Web site: http://www.margaretwheatley.com/2020-europe-

warriors-for-the-human-spirit-training/