ABSTRACT
The research reported in this book is based on a small-scale ethnographic study of role-play in reception classes. It set out to explore the relationship between role-play and classroom pedagogy within the context of the early childhood curriculum currently operating in England and Wales and the weighty research literature pointing to the significance of role-play in children’s early learning and development. Its focus was on the children’s perspectives, drawing on data gathered from what they told us and what we observed in their classrooms. Where it was not possible to elicit their views we have tried to see role-play ‘through the eyes’ of the children by tapping into their own unique knowledge to help us as adults more fully understand their experiences (Mayall, 2000) of being four-year-olds in school. Working in this way presented us with some methodological challenges and, as we outlined in Chapter 3, reflection on these, in particular the viability of being the ‘least adult’, might usefully inform future research on children’s perspectives.
