Let's play and talk! Early years teachers' professional learning to support children's language development

Let's Play and Talk aims to support early years teachers' (EYT) Professional Learning and Development (PLD) on the topic of children's language development through narrative and pretend play. The current PLD programme was delivered in five two-hour face-to-face sessions. During these sessions, the research team utilised PowerPoint presentations, video observations and role play between teachers to provide training on various applicable topics. The design of the study is a randomised wait-list controlled trial with 10 EYT. A focus group discussion was conducted with teachers, to determine teachers' understanding of dialogic reading, vocabulary, and narrative development, pretend play, and the role of the adult in children's play. Teachers' demographic characteristics were also collected prior to the first focus group discussion. Results indicated that by the end of the training, EYT had an enhanced knowledge of the components of the intervention, learned from the focused training and used evidence-based material to support children's language development. The model of PLD used, being explicit and hands-on, exceeded teachers' expectations.