Learning through play in the early childhood classroom: Myth or reality?

Since the Llewellyn Panel Report in 1982, the Hong Kong government’s official guidelines on Early Childhood Education have emphasized the importance of ‘leaning through play”. Yet Quality Assurance Inspection Reports from 2001 to 2007 repeatedly document the prevalence of teacher-centred approaches. This paper reports the findings of a study to ascertain whether learning through play is a myth in Hong Kong, a question which has long puzzled practitioners and academics. It centres on the issue of whether ‘real’ play exists in Hong Kong kindergarten classrooms. A questionnaire was administered to a principal, a teacher, parents and young children to find out why learning through play is a myth in Hong Kong. A case study of a kindergarten with episodes of play and work was used to illustrate the findings. It concludes with a discussion that education is a complex and complicated endeavour involving a plethora of judgements and ideologies affecting diverse people and the “meanings” of their experiences, lives and institutions.
隨着一九八二年由呂偉倫等組成的教育顧問團為香港的教育提出意見以來，香港政府於幼教指引上始重視幼兒從遊戲中學習；惜歷份外評報告卻指出幼教模式仍以老師為中心。本文透過一項個案研究結果分析香港推行從遊戲中學習的迷思。
研究員以半開放式問卷作訪談導引以搜集數據。按數據分析所得，顯示出運作及推行這種新的教育模式是複雜的；影响因素包括不同持份者依據其工作環境需要、其自身的生活經驗、所持守的意識形態/理念等驅使。 Copyright © 2010 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.