Exploring Learning through Play in Mexican Preschool Education: Teachers' Perspectives and Practices
type: CreativeWork
description: Play has long been recognised for its importance in children’s wellbeing and cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development (Trawick-Smith, 2016; Whitebread, 2012; Yogman et al., 2018; Zosh, Hassinger-Das, et al., 2022). Over the past decade, policymakers, researchers, and advocates worldwide have increasingly called for the integration of play into preschool education (UNICEF, 2018, 2024). As a result, Learning through Play (LtP) has been incorporated into early years national curricula in several countries, and teachers have been encouraged to adopt and integrate it into their pedagogical practices (Pramling Samuelsson & Fleer, 2009). However, the way teachers implement LtP seems to be shaped by both the educational contexts in which they teach, as well as their own perspectives on play and LtP (Le Courtois et al., 2024; Mardell et al., 2023; Zosh, Gaudreau, et al., 2022). Consequently, there is a need for further exploration of what LtP entails in specific contexts and how teachers understand it, particularly in Global Majority countries, where evidence on LtP remains limited (Bubikova-Moan et al., 2019). This thesis aims to explore teachers’ perspectives on LtP and how they integrate it within the Mexican preschool education context by addressing the research question: How do Mexican teachers understand and incorporate LtP into preschool practice? To respond to this research question, a qualitative case study design was employed consisting of two cases. The cases provided insights into teachers’ perspectives and practices from two types of preschool services in Mexico: the mainstream ‘urban’ preschool service and the community-based ‘rural’ preschool service. Data was gathered from January to July 2022 using multiple methods. Teachers’ perspectives regarding the conceptualisation, the purpose, and their role in LtP were collected through a specialised interview schedule employing elicitation artefacts, such as pictures and lesson plans. Lesson plans were…
abstract: Play has long been recognised for its importance in children’s wellbeing and cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development (Trawick-Smith, 2016; Whitebread, 2012; Yogman et al., 2018; Zosh, Hassinger-Das, et al., 2022). Over the past decade, policymakers, researchers, and advocates worldwide have increasingly called for the integration of play into preschool education (UNICEF, 2018, 2024). As a result, Learning through Play (LtP) has been incorporated into early years national curricula in several countries, and teachers have been encouraged to adopt and integrate it into their pedagogical practices (Pramling Samuelsson & Fleer, 2009). However, the way teachers implement LtP seems to be shaped by both the educational contexts in which they teach, as well as their own perspectives on play and LtP (Le Courtois et al., 2024; Mardell et al., 2023; Zosh, Gaudreau, et al., 2022). Consequently, there is a need for further exploration of what LtP entails in specific contexts and how teachers understand it, particularly in Global Majority countries, where evidence on LtP remains limited (Bubikova-Moan et al., 2019). This thesis aims to explore teachers’ perspectives on LtP and how they integrate it within the Mexican preschool education context by addressing the research question: How do Mexican teachers understand and incorporate LtP into preschool practice? To respond to this research question, a qualitative case study design was employed consisting of two cases. The cases provided insights into teachers’ perspectives and practices from two types of preschool services in Mexico: the mainstream ‘urban’ preschool service and the community-based ‘rural’ preschool service. Data was gathered from January to July 2022 using multiple methods. Teachers’ perspectives regarding the conceptualisation, the purpose, and their role in LtP were collected through a specialised interview schedule employing elicitation artefacts, such as pictures and lesson plans. Lesson plans were…
author: Fajardo Tovar, Dina Daniela
language: eng
keywords: case study, comparative education, context-specific factors, Early childhood education, global majority, Ideal-type analysis, international education, latin america, learning through play, mexico, Pedagogical practices, play, Play-based learning, qualitative, sociocultural differences, teacher perceptions, teacher perspectives, Thematic analysis, urban and rural preschools, Video-stimulated recall interview
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6a043130-e8e7-42cb-9ebc-fa944ff5f014/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2024-09-30
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:31Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.117115