‘There hasn’t been a lot of play this year’: Teacher perspectives on play at school and young children’s socio-emotional development during COVID-19 restrictions

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic many restrictions were placed on primary schools. The aim of the current study was to explore the impact of the restrictions on young children’s play, an important pedagogical strategy for supporting young children’s socio-emotional development and learning. Teachers of young children aged approximately 4–8 years completed semi-structured interviews in February 2022. At this time in Ireland, COVID-19 restrictions were still in place in schools, and had been in place since September 2020 when schools reopened after closures in March 2020. The teachers ( N = 5) responded to a number of questions about how they use play in school, children’s socio-emotional development, and how COVID-19 restrictions affected both play and children’s socio-emotional development. Thematic analysis indicated the importance teachers place on play within the classroom and at break times (recess), how restrictions affected the way in which they used play, and the impact restrictions had on children’s socio-emotional development, particularly the impact of mandatory small groups or ‘pods’. These findings suggest that young children’s play at school and socio-emotional development was disrupted as a result of restrictions, and findings are discussed from an ecological systems perspective. Further research is needed to determine whether nearly 2 years of school closures and hygiene restrictions during this formative period in young children’s lives has had a lasting influence on development.