Measuring the Effect of a Large-Scale Didactic “Playful Learning”-Intervention on Preservice Teachers’ Preferences and Intentions for Future Practice

Playful learning in schools has been linked to greater creativity, curiosity, meaning making, and autonomy in children and is therefore touted as a remedy for declining motivation and engagement among young learners. Against this backdrop, a large intervention was carried out at all teacher colleges in Denmark to bring more play into the teaching and curriculum. The aim was to familiarize preservice teachers and early childhood education and care professionals with playful principles so they might later apply them in practice. The authors follow a cohort of students enrolled at the teacher college (2,300 students) through their first year and their first encounter with playful learning. Following them over time allowed the authors to chart change and to test how day-to-day exposure shapes professional development. Two outcomes were examined: (1) whether students prefer teaching that incorporates playful elements, and (2) whether they envision using such elements in their future classrooms. The authors also analyzed whether any change depended on how frequently students experienced playful activities in campus teaching. Findings show, first, that average preferences and future-practice thoughts remained broadly stable across the year. Second, students who often encountered playful teaching grew to prefer it more. This exposure, however, did not alter their stated intentions to employ playful learning in their own future practice.