Preschool teachers as cultural translators: Strategic mediation of traditional culture through dramatic play

Against the backdrop of ongoing policies promoting the inheritance of traditional culture, preschool teachers face dual challenges in their teaching practices: balancing the authenticity of cultural content with child appropriateness. This study employs Sociocultural Theory as its analytical framework to explore how preschool teachers function as cultural translators within dramatic play, facilitating the educational transformation of traditional culture. Employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study conducted two rounds of in-depth interviews with 23 preschool teachers from three regions in China, supplemented by systematic analysis of 97 teaching plan texts. Results revealed three propositions in the first round of cultural translation: deconstructive filtering, reconstructive grafting, and generative interaction. The second round yielded three propositions: cultural authenticity, child-centered orientation, and cultural mediation coordination. The discussion constructs a framework encompassing playability, accessibility, extendability, and local cultural identity. The conclusion emphasizes that preschool teachers’ cultural translation and reconstruction capabilities in cultural education serve as crucial mechanisms for driving innovation and sustaining cultural transmission, offering practical insights for preschool teachers’ professional development and for reforms in early childhood education.