Itziar Arregi: “Play is essential not only in child development, but also in the development of most animal species”

Back

Itziar Arregi: “Play is essential not only in child development, but also in the development of most animal species”

interview

Itziar Arregi: “Play is essential not only in child development, but also in the development of most animal species”

Itziar Arregi defended her dissertation in July, earning the cum laude designation.

2020·11·11

$titulo.getData()


On July 16, Itziar Arregi (Itziar, Gipuzkoa, 1977) defended her dissertation entitled “2-6 adin tarteko haurren jolas libreari buruzko kasu azterketa bat” (“A case study of free play in children aged 2-6”). The defense was held on the Eskoriatza campus, and the work earned the cum laude designation.

What is “free play”?

By “free” I mean play that is initiated and developed by the child. This is in contrast to “guided play,” which is suggested and directed by an adult. Guided play normally has some didactic purpose, while free play addresses the needs of the child.

Why is free play important in child development?

Play is essential not only in child development, but also in the development of most animal species. Experiments with rats have demonstrated that the brains of rats that were not allowed to play are smaller. Children and young animals need play in order to develop skills that they will need as adults. Some experts are beginning to report that lack of play as a child may lie behind many of the psychopathologies observed in adults.

Is play important in all stages of development, or is it especially important in the age group you studied, from 2 to 6?

It’s generally said that it’s necessary throughout childhood. In humans, childhood is longer than in other species, and the need for play is therefore also longer. It’s clear that play is still necessary after 6 years of age, and you can see that when children get out of school and are free, what they do is play.

Is this area given enough importance in teacher training?

The teachers who participated in this study say that they did not study it in detail in their initial training and later they each got what training they could in the area on their own. However, it’s still a fairly new topic. It’s studied more in other countries, but here it’s still a challenge to include play in teacher training.

Who were the participants for your dissertation?

The dissertation is situated in an interpretive paradigm, within which I carried out a case study. Play is a universal phenomenon, but at the same time, it is very much linked to and conditioned by context. Therefore, in this study, I tried to analyze play in the most natural and real context possible: the participants were all of the teachers and all of the students between the ages of 2 and 6 at a public school, a total of 9 teachers and 159 children.

What are the most notable results of your dissertation?

The purpose of the dissertation was to describe play, and in the course of that description it was found that play becomes more and more complex with age, both cognitively and socially. Additionally, it was found that play is very much linked to context and, according to the context, girls’ play and boys’ play show different forms. Another finding was that in the older children, the 5-year-olds, play decreases, which is not consistent with previous research on play or on the natural development of play. To explain this phenomenon, we have to look at the context. In the final year of Early Childhood Education, we run the risk of replacing play with an attempt to prepare the children for Primary Education, so play is eclipsed by didactic activities.

What future lines of research does your dissertation open?

Play is a very broad topic that opens many doors. This research found that play is closely linked to context, which includes space, time, resources and teacher intervention. So studying how play changes if the context changes would shed light on the topic, both in the academic world and at school.