The influence of culture on play-based pedagogy implementation in Northeast China’s kindergartens

• Cultural factors influence play-based pedagogy implementation in China. • Cultural factors vary in their level of influence, creating a hierarchy. • Child agency differs in China from the West due to culture and teacher proximity. • Localised perspectives must be considered when implementing play. • Teachers’ confidence and knowledge can be supported to meet policy requirements. This qualitative research article explores how play in Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Northeast China’s kindergartens is influenced by specific cultural norms (Confucianism, Communism and Western ideology). It begins by theoretically positioning play-based pedagogy from both Western and Chinese perspectives, considering play types, child agency, and adult proximity and roles. To empirically discover if and how these cultural factors influence play-based pedagogy, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers from two public kindergartens in Northeast China. The findings illustrate that teachers’ understanding of play types and how they plan play activities are impacted by these cultural influences. For instance, teachers tend to adopt an authoritarian role in the classroom, interrupting children’s play to ensure academic results and collective outcomes. Furthermore, likely due to this teacher-centric pedagogy, children’s opportunities to engage in child-led play are limited, impacting their agency in ‘free play’ situations. At the same time, the article acknowledges the positive impact of collectivism on children’s self-regulation, while questioning whether children in collective societies require independent choice to have full agency. Therefore, existing frameworks surrounding cultural impacts and child agency are reconceptualised for this specific context, calling for culturally responsive changes to policy and practice. This could take the form of a holistic, localised play-based pedagogy framework created for the Northeast Chinese context which incorporates the benefits of Western ideas of play in a culturally appropriate manner, as well as Continuing Professional Development to support teachers with practice.