Investigating Early Childhood Education in Saudi Arabia and International Perspectives on Play-based Learning
Manal ObedAullah Alharbi *
Department of Early Childhood Education, College of Education, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The love of teaching and working with children, and the future of teachers’ education in Saudi Arabia in the field of early childhood, is pushing the field to grow faster than ever. Teachers must put more effort and considerable energy into teaching through play. Play-based learning benefits children in all developmental domains and prepares them for the next level of education. This meta-synthesis literature review aimed to investigate international early childhood teachers’ implementation and perceptions of play-based learning, in addition to exploring Saudi Arabia’s early childhood education system. The aim of this paper was to examine how play-based learning is implemented globally and in what ways Saudi early childhood can benefit from international perspectives, taking into consideration Saudi Arabia’s own culture and values. Play-based learning benefits children in all developmental domains and prepares them for the next level of education. The process of this meta-synthesis review was as follows: first, to collect several qualitative studies on play-based learning; second, to read the articles in depth to reflect on their findings in this paper; and third, exclude all articles that were not related to children and play. In this paper, I used 20 articles in English, along with two Arabic books and five Arabic websites. The findings reported that play-based learning is a controversial topic and that teachers and educators have different beliefs and opinions on the level of teachers’ involvement in children’s play. Teachers’ knowledge and professional ability to address play-based curricula are critical for facilitating learning. The positive implications of play-based learning include children’s academic and social growth, the enhancement of teachers’ practices, and children’s fulfillment from learning in a joyful environment. Future Studies are to be conducted to examine teachers’ implementation of and beliefs about play-based learning under the lens of the social culture and how these implementations could positively and negatively affect children’s learning and development.
Keywords: Play-based learning, pedagogy, curriculum, Saudi Arabia, early childhood, teachers, and children