This qualitative study aims to explore how ‘play’ and ‘not play’ are conceptualized amongst young children in the Hong Kong context.

Play is the characteristic behaviour of children aged between two to six. It is one useful way in which children can acquire developmental skills. According to theorists such as Sylva, Bruner and Genova (1976) and Gravey (1977), play had intellectual benefits. They believed that play experience was the optimal way of enhancing children's creativity and imagination. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 1988) states that a high quality early childhood programme provides a safe and nurturing environment that promotes the physical, social, emotional and cognitive development of young children and 'play' is no doubt an essential component of the developmentally appropriate practice. Following the world's trend, 'Learning through play' was first introduced to the pri-primary education of Hong Kong through the Visiting panel of Llewellyn in 1982. Then the Government endorsed their view by adopting the suggested pedagogy as the recommended method of teaching and learning in the local kindergarten in ECR2 (1986). The Government believed that by including the theory of 'learning through play' in the teaching education programme, the curriculum as well as the undesirable pedagogical strategies which had been identified (ECR2 1986) would then change amongst local kindergarten teachers. Has the problem released in ECR2(1986) been diminished after a decade? Is there any instructional paradigm shift witnessed in the early childhood education? A multi-case study was designed to collect qualitative data on the lived experience of the practices of the practitioners in 1996. A group of six in-service kindergarten teachers who were having their one- year Teacher Education Course (95-96) for kindergarten teachers of the Hong Kong Institute of Education were involved in the study. The three levels of reflection proposed by Schon (1987); namely, reflection-for-action, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action were used as means to collect holistic data of

The article describes a comparative case study on children's agentive orientations in two Hong Kong preschools, one is play-based and the other is academically focused. Agentive orientations were measured using Reunamo's interview tool, which focuses on children's uses of accommodative and agentive orientations in everyday situations. The findings show that children in the academically oriented preschool had more uncertain and less participative orientations than those in the play-based preschool. Boys in the academically oriented setting were found to be more vulnerable than both girls and their counterparts in the play-based preschool when confronted with a conflict setting. The results indicate that the play-based environment stimulated children's capacities for agentive and participative social engagement, suggesting that play provides children with the opportunity to develop more versatile social tools and strategies. These competences are of vital importance for successful engagement in collective settings such as classrooms and schools.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis.]

There is a general belief that ‘play’ serves a very useful function in the learning and development of young children. It is a vital way through which children reconcile their inner lives with the outside world. It is a central activity in kindergartens and nurseries. ‘Learning through play’ is recommended as the mode of learning and teaching of young children in many countries. In Hong Kong, it was documented in an official education report in 1986 and is the key guideline for the implementation of the aims of early childhood education for the next millennium. However, due to the messy nature and ambiguity in definition, ‘play’ is difficult to realize in the classroom context. A case study of six kindergarten teachers in training was conducted to investigate the issues of the links between the theories and practice of ‘play’. The findings showed immense difficulties in capitalizing the benefits of ‘play’ in practice and a huge gap between the practitioners’ espoused intentions and their actions in classroom. The study highlighted the complex nature of learning and teaching and reflected the need for a holistic reform in education.
[Copyright © 2004 Nova Science Publishers.]

This paper describes a study investigating the professional development of Hong Kong kindergarten teachers. Tracking the teaching and learning of 'play' of six front-line kindergarten teachers by means of the three levels of reflection put forward by Schon (1983, 1987), the study reveals the challenges in the professional lives of these teachers who are working under the conflicting demands and expectations of the society. The result shows that five out of the six informants are entrapped in a 'technicality' of teaching by developing an obsessive hunt for authentic teaching aids. Unfortunately, this behaviour perpetuates under the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy working within these teachers. Mismatches between the teaching reform and a number of vital core factors for the reform to be succeeded are identified. This paper calls for a due attention to understand the complexities impeding the teaching reform. It echoes the concern of Bascia and Hargreaves (2000) and appeals to policy makers and the public for a fair demand on the role of teachers, who must not be hold accountable for all that is wrong with education, for the scale of the problems that teachers are expected to address just cannot be solved easily by the teachers themselves.