A Study On Kindergarten Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Risky Plays And Its Causes

Play is a natural part of children’s nature,a fundamental activity for pre-school children and a basic right of children.Several studies have shown that most young children seek out and enjoy challenging play.Previous studies have shown that risky play have a long-term positive impact on children’s physical and mental health,emotional and cognitive development,especially on children’s risk perception and management ability.While risky play is rarely mentioned in our practice and discourse system of the preschool education,there is abundant practice,theory and research related to risky play in the area of early childhood education in Western countries.Early childhood teachers are supporters,collaborators and guiders in children’s routine life,their attitudes towards risky play affects children’s practice.This study focuses on early childhood teachers in Suzhou,China and Melbourne,Australia.Through a cross-cultural and cross-regional comparative study,semi-structured interviews were used to explore teachers’ attitudes towards risky play in both countries,combined with a socio-ecological model(SEM)to explore the underlying causes.There are certain differences in the attitudes of kindergarten teachers to risky play in these two regions.Melbourne kindergarten teachers show more positive emotional attitudes and behavioral intentions,and the cognitive attitudes of kindergarten teachers in the two regions are relatively similar.The causes behind the teachers’ attitudes in the two regions were analysed from Individual,Interpersonal,Physical Environment,Policy and Institutional,and Societal levels.Overall,teachers’ attitudes towards risky play are influenced by their personal learning experiences,growth experiences,and personality traits;differences in young kids,parental status,and the level of kindergarten directors;kindergarten physical environment and facilities;teacher-student ratio,policy regulations,and work pressure;social environment and other aspects.In addition,the attitudes of Melbourne teachers towards are influenced by the Australian early childhood teacher qualification framework,while the attitude of Suzhou teachers is influenced by the kindergartenbased curriculum.Based on the findings of the study,the researchers put forward several suggestions that are helpful to the development of children’s risky play in China,including: improve teachers’ knowledge and practice of risky play,enhance principals’ professional ability and renew the concept of risky play,creating a suitable outdoor risky play environment,strengthening home-school cooperation,improving parents’ understanding of risky play,highlighting the link between risky play and real life in the discourse system at all levels.