School Play and Children's Social-Emotional Development: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Drawing on various theories highlighting the importance of play in children’s social-emotional competence, early childhood curricula in many countries and cultures adopted play as one of the core approaches to promote children’s social and emotional development. Despite the general awareness of its importance, the implementation of play-based curricula or play pedagogy is still facing obstacles including parental endorsement, teachers’ beliefs and competence, and a lack of empirical evidence supporting their effectiveness. Further, the fundamental issue of what is meant by play (e.g., free play, guided play) from children’s, parents’, and practitioners’ perspectives is another matter that may lead to confusion and ambivalence.

This Special Issue will offer an up-to-date account of the impacts of play on children’s social-emotional competence in early-years settings (e.g., nursery, preschools, kindergartens, childcare centers) across different cultural contexts. The articles in this Issue will examine the empirical evidence in relation to the roles of play in children’s early social and emotional development through a cultural lens. We also welcome investigations of how various sociocultural factors (e.g., children’s voice, parental belief and support, school environment, practitioners’ ideologies, social policy) impact the implementation of play-based curricula, using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches. The articles in this Issue will inform the theoretical framework and best practices of play-based curricula in early childhood education.

Suggested themes:

• Play and children’s social-emotional development in early years settings across cultures;
• How children, parents, and practitioners define play and understand its role in social-emotional development in early childhood education;
• The impacts of sociocultural factors on the implementation of play-based curricula/play pedagogy.

Dr. Wing Kai Fung
Guest Editor

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• play
• play-based curricula
• social-emotional competence
• early-years education
• cross-cultural