Teacher support of student engagement in early childhood: embracing ambivalence through playworlds |
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Authors: | Beth Ferholt Anna Pauliina Rainio |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Early Childhood and Art Education, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY, USA;2. Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki – Teacher Education, Helsinki, Finland |
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Abstract: | Ambivalence is a relatively little advanced concept for studying young people’s engagement in education. We present a case study in which a teacher of a kindergarten-first-grade classroom works within an activity called a playworld to engage a child who had been excluded from certain classroom practices, after having been perceived by his teachers as disengaged and disruptive. Playworlds are defined as adult–child joint play activities inspired by Vygotsky’s theories of play, art, and imagination. We argue that when the teacher embraced this child’s ambivalent participation, ambivalence itself appeared to be an important component of an evolving process of personally meaningful engagement. We showcase those elements of the playworld activity that may support early childhood teachers in embracing ambivalence. |
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Keywords: | Ambivalence engagement inclusion playworld early childhood teaching |
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