Playgroups in schools

Overview

This project generates a Best Practice Framework for playgroups-in-schools. It aims to identify the processes, practices and/or policies informing productive relationships between families and school-staff. Playgroups-in- schools are a burgeoning field of integrated early childhood service provision. Research shows that playgroup participation benefits parental capabilities about children’s play. High levels of parental knowledge, skills and confidence in providing children with play-experience are known to have a positive development and learning impact for children. Playgroups-in-schools are ripe for building parental capabilities through strengthened relationships with school-staff, but remain under-researched for this purpose.

Media

Funding

Australian Research Council $156,000
Playgroup Victoria $180,000

Duration

2017-2020

Research Investigators

Associate Professor Maria Evangelou, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Associate Professor Michael Henderson, Monash University
Professor Andrea Nolan, Deakin University
Professor Helen Skouteris, Deakin University

Project detail

Project Aim
Selected Bibliography
Useful Links for Educators and Families
Project Findings

Project Aim

The number of playgroups-in-schools is increasing. Our research shows that playgroups-in-schools are characterised by strong bonding relationships and challenged by weak bridging relationships. This project is funded by Australian Research Council (Linkage) and aims to identify the range of practices, processes and policies in playgroups-in-schools that attend to both strong bonding and bridging relationships for the enhancement of parental capabilities about play. It will generate a Best Practice Framework to inform the provision of playgroups-in-schools as an innovative form of early childhood integrated service delivery.

Selected Bibliography

Anders, Y., Rossbach, H.-G., Weinert, S., Ebert, S., Kuger, S., Lehrl, S., & von Maurice, J. (2012). Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(2), 231-244. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.08.003

Edwards, S., McLean, K., & Lambert, P. (2016). Fostering children’s everyday mathematical knowledge through caregiver participation in supported playgroups in schools. In S. Phillipson, P. Sullivan, & A. Gervasoni (Eds.), Engaging families as the first mathematics educators of children. Springer.

Edwards, S., Henderson, M., Gronn, D., Scott, A. (2016). Digital disconnect or digital difference? A socio-ecological perspective on young children’s technology use in the home and the early childhood centre. Technology, Pedagogy and Education. DOI:10.1080/1475939X.2016.1152291

Hancock, K., Lawrence, D., Mitrou, F., Zarb, D., Berthelsen, D., Nicholson, J. M., & Zubrick, S. R. (2012). The association between playgroup participation, learning competence and social-emotional wellbeing for children aged 4-5 years in Australia. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(2), 72-81.

McLean, K., Edwards, S., Evangelou, M., & Lambert, P. (2017). Supported Playgroups in Schools: bonding and bridging family knowledge about transition to formal schooling. Cambridge Journal of Education, 1-19. Doi:10.1080/0305764X.2016.1268569

McLean, K., Edwards, S., Evangelou, M., Skouteris, H., Harrison, L. J., Hemphill, S. A., Sullivan, P., & Lambert, P. (2015). Playgroups as sites for parental education. Journal of Early Childhood Research, Online, 1-11. doi:10.1177/1476718X15595753

Sen, A. (1985). Well-being, agency and freedom: the Dewey lectures. Journal of Philosophy, 82 (4), 169–221.

Useful Links for Educators and Families

Project Findings

The study commenced in 2017. Publications and reports will be posted in this section as they become available.

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