Enhancing Ghanaian kindergarten teachers’ implementations of indigenous play-based pedagogy through a professional development program

Although play pedagogy is regarded as important for kindergarten teaching and learning, various studies world-wide have shown that it is difficult for preschool teachers to implement it in the classroom context. One reason for the difficulty is the inadequate training of teachers. In Ghana little is known about teachers’ knowledge, attitude, and belief about the use of play pedagogy in the kindergarten learning environment. The proposed study investigates Ghanaian kindergarten teachers’ understanding and implementation of indigenous play pedagogy. I aim to find out whether a developed indigenous play-based professional development programme will facilitate teachers’ delivery of the kindergarten curriculum. Participants will include 12 kindergarten teachers purposively selected from six kindergarten schools in a municipality of the Eastern region of Ghana. After the initial information meeting, participants will be taking through eight weeks of workshop sessions on relevant topics. Experts will be invited to demonstrate and explain how to use such play forms in kindergarten teaching and learning. The theoretical framework that underlies this study is Fleer’s theory of conceptual play because it sees play as a cultural construct where different forms of play expressions can be profitably used in children’s learning and development. Furthermore, this theory emphasises the important role of adults in children’s learning and development. The study will essentially use a qualitative research approach, employing a participatory action research design. Transcribed interviews together with data from the other sources will be thematically analysed at two levels. Further analysis will be done by the researcher.