Special needs, special play? Examining the agency of children with impairments in play-based learning in a special school
- Authors: Claughton, Amy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Play is an inherent part of childhood, often cast as an innate behaviour of children. Over the years, play has been scrutinised by theorists, researchers and educators alike in their attempts to understand how children engage in play, the role of play in development and how to identify, define and measure play. For children with impairments, play is frequently subjected to surveillance and compared to that of children whose development is considered typical. This thesis interrogates the play-based learning experiences of five children who attended a special educational school in rural Victoria, Australia. It examines the experiences that these children had in play and how teacher actions and responses enabled and supported their engagement in play-based learning. The theoretical framework for this study draws on critical ethnography underpinned by disability studies. Disability studies recognises the social model of disability, in which disability is a social construction. Using this model, impairment is distinct and separate from disability. In this study, socially constructed barriers that confront children in their play are identified as being created by attitudes, structures and environments (Bishop et al., 1999). These barriers are overlaid by the psycho-emotional dimensions of disability (C. Thomas, 1999) in an effort to represent the experiences of children as shaped by the actions and responses of others. This thesis introduces a new analytic tool in the learning portal framework. The learning portal framework aims to provide a platform through which teacher actions and responses can be analysed to understand how children are enabled to access play-based learning. The findings of this study indicate that children with impairments play in complex and nuanced ways. They show purpose in their play, are able to self-initiate, and independently investigate play-based learning experiences. Adult actions and responses often enable children with impairments to engage in play by offering opportunities and pathways for exploration. Indirect adult facilitation in play supports children’s ability to act in play with individuality and determination.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Claughton, Amy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Play is an inherent part of childhood, often cast as an innate behaviour of children. Over the years, play has been scrutinised by theorists, researchers and educators alike in their attempts to understand how children engage in play, the role of play in development and how to identify, define and measure play. For children with impairments, play is frequently subjected to surveillance and compared to that of children whose development is considered typical. This thesis interrogates the play-based learning experiences of five children who attended a special educational school in rural Victoria, Australia. It examines the experiences that these children had in play and how teacher actions and responses enabled and supported their engagement in play-based learning. The theoretical framework for this study draws on critical ethnography underpinned by disability studies. Disability studies recognises the social model of disability, in which disability is a social construction. Using this model, impairment is distinct and separate from disability. In this study, socially constructed barriers that confront children in their play are identified as being created by attitudes, structures and environments (Bishop et al., 1999). These barriers are overlaid by the psycho-emotional dimensions of disability (C. Thomas, 1999) in an effort to represent the experiences of children as shaped by the actions and responses of others. This thesis introduces a new analytic tool in the learning portal framework. The learning portal framework aims to provide a platform through which teacher actions and responses can be analysed to understand how children are enabled to access play-based learning. The findings of this study indicate that children with impairments play in complex and nuanced ways. They show purpose in their play, are able to self-initiate, and independently investigate play-based learning experiences. Adult actions and responses often enable children with impairments to engage in play by offering opportunities and pathways for exploration. Indirect adult facilitation in play supports children’s ability to act in play with individuality and determination.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Playing with or next to? The nuanced and complex play of children with impairments
- Burke, Jenene, Claughton, Amy
- Authors: Burke, Jenene , Claughton, Amy
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Inclusive Education Vol. 23, no. 10 (2019), p. 1065-1080
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper examines play as a fundamental children’s activity, giving particular attention to the inclusion of children with impairments at play and children’s shared constructions of their playworlds. Children with impairments are customarily portrayed as incompetent, unskilled or deficient in their play, thus being positioned on the margins (or, as ‘who’s out’?) of mainstream discourses. On the other hand, non-impaired children are usually regarded as competent players, who play in ‘normal’ ways (as ‘who’s in’?). Little attention is afforded to noticing skilful or proficient play by children with impairments and including their perspectives in play research. The Social Model of Childhood Disability offers a perspective for considering ‘disabled childhoods’ and framing enquiry into the culturally-constructed playworlds of children with impairments. Evidence from two ethnographic studies that examine children with impairments at play is discussed, employing vignettes that utilise data from researcher and teacher observation notes. The authors document specific play interactions related to individual experiences and interests and explore how children work together and alone to create meaningful play interactions. The notion that play for children is a mutual, shared and inclusive cultural experience is supported in this paper.
- Authors: Burke, Jenene , Claughton, Amy
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Inclusive Education Vol. 23, no. 10 (2019), p. 1065-1080
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper examines play as a fundamental children’s activity, giving particular attention to the inclusion of children with impairments at play and children’s shared constructions of their playworlds. Children with impairments are customarily portrayed as incompetent, unskilled or deficient in their play, thus being positioned on the margins (or, as ‘who’s out’?) of mainstream discourses. On the other hand, non-impaired children are usually regarded as competent players, who play in ‘normal’ ways (as ‘who’s in’?). Little attention is afforded to noticing skilful or proficient play by children with impairments and including their perspectives in play research. The Social Model of Childhood Disability offers a perspective for considering ‘disabled childhoods’ and framing enquiry into the culturally-constructed playworlds of children with impairments. Evidence from two ethnographic studies that examine children with impairments at play is discussed, employing vignettes that utilise data from researcher and teacher observation notes. The authors document specific play interactions related to individual experiences and interests and explore how children work together and alone to create meaningful play interactions. The notion that play for children is a mutual, shared and inclusive cultural experience is supported in this paper.
Parent-educators’ explorations of learning and role tensions during and ‘after’ Covid-19
- Goriss-Hunter, Anitra, Sellings, Peter, Walker, Amy, Claughton, Amy, Oxworth, Catherine, Robertson, Deborah, Griffiths, Katrina
- Authors: Goriss-Hunter, Anitra , Sellings, Peter , Walker, Amy , Claughton, Amy , Oxworth, Catherine , Robertson, Deborah , Griffiths, Katrina
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Issues in Educational Research Vol. 33, no. 3 (2023), p. 974-991
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper investigates the insights that we, as parent-educators gained from our children’s learning experiences throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and how this impacted our approaches to learning and teaching. All authors are teacher education academics working at a regional Australian university. The rapid and extensive changes in our personal and professional circumstances provided an opportunity for us to critically examine the ways in which we promoted learning for our children and our students. Our reflections on these investigations form the basis of this article. To explore these issues we drew on a method involving narrative inquiry and the Indigenous concept of yarning that we call collaborative narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Antonovsky’s salutogenic approach. Key findings of the research demonstrated tensions between the roles of parent and educator with a growing focus on the former and an increasing emphasis on health and well-being. These issues impacted the ways in which parent-educators facilitated learning for all students. © 2023, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc.. All rights reserved.
- Authors: Goriss-Hunter, Anitra , Sellings, Peter , Walker, Amy , Claughton, Amy , Oxworth, Catherine , Robertson, Deborah , Griffiths, Katrina
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Issues in Educational Research Vol. 33, no. 3 (2023), p. 974-991
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper investigates the insights that we, as parent-educators gained from our children’s learning experiences throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and how this impacted our approaches to learning and teaching. All authors are teacher education academics working at a regional Australian university. The rapid and extensive changes in our personal and professional circumstances provided an opportunity for us to critically examine the ways in which we promoted learning for our children and our students. Our reflections on these investigations form the basis of this article. To explore these issues we drew on a method involving narrative inquiry and the Indigenous concept of yarning that we call collaborative narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Antonovsky’s salutogenic approach. Key findings of the research demonstrated tensions between the roles of parent and educator with a growing focus on the former and an increasing emphasis on health and well-being. These issues impacted the ways in which parent-educators facilitated learning for all students. © 2023, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc.. All rights reserved.
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