Teacher Play Interaction Styles : Effects on Play Behavior and Relationships with Teacher Training and Experience

TLDR: This paper examined how four preschool teachers, who differed greatly in terms of experience and training, interacted with children during play, and found that the stage manager, co-player and play leaders styles appeared to have a positive impact on children's pretend play, whereas the uninvolved, interviewer and play leader styles impeded children`s play efforts.

Abstract: This study examined how four preschool teachers, who differed greatly in terms of experience and training, interacted with children during play. Over the course of three months, each teacher was videotaped interacting with three groups of children. The teachers were taped twice with each group. The videotaped play sessions were then transcripted and analyzed. Six different play interaction styles were identified: uninvolved, interviewer, stage manager, co-player, player leaders and director. The stage-manager, co-player and play leaders styles appeared to have a positive impact on children`s pretend play, whereas the uninvolved, interviewer and director styles impeded children`s play efforts. The teachers` differences in training and experience paralleled their choice of play styles. The two most experienced teachers relied heavily on the three effective styles, while the two inexperienced teachers consistently used less effective styles.