Integrating playful pedagogies with the curriculum: The perspectives and practices of teachers working across infant, first and second classes, in Ireland

While play is a key feature of the early childhood curriculum, its role in primary education can be more peripheral. In Ireland, a new primary curriculum framework aims to strengthen connections between learning in preschool and school through embedding a playful approach, more dynamically, in the primary context. This paper will share findings from an online mixed methods survey of 293 teachers, working in junior and senior infants and in first and second class. Congruent with research in other countries, findings suggest that while play is associated with a broad range of benefits, and is seen as compatible with learning in school, its potential is not optimised due to a myriad of system, school, teacher, and child features. While the prominence of playful pedagogies in the new primary curriculum framework is welcome, the current findings underscore issues which could impact on the fidelity with which it is implemented. The findings from this study affirm the value of surfacing teachers’ perspectives during times of curriculum reform. The perceived enablers and barriers, to adopting playful and innovative pedagogical approaches, can inform the provision of resources and design of supports which will be required to embed play successfully in Irish primary schools. To harness existing best practice and to propel and sustain curriculum innovation, teachers clearly need to be seen as partners rather than mere consumers or receivers of curriculum redevelopment.