PlayTrain - O brincar e o jogo na formação e prática dos educadores de infância

This project has as main objective to understand the places / spaces of play and games in the education of children from 0 to 6 years, promoting the formation of professionals able to develop practices that favor child’s agency, experimentation in the physical and social world and the development of imagination and creativity. The participants are students of the Masters in Pre-school Education of the Higher Education School of Lisbon in the year 2018/2019. The methodology is predominantly qualitative and integrates research and intervention. Through the application of a questionnaire, analysis of intervention proposals and observation of practices, the aim is to identify the representations of students about the role of play and play in childhood education and to understand how they integrate them in practice. The realization of workshops and focus groups promotes the reflection and development of the skills of the future educators to construct developmentally appropriate practices. The data analysis, still in progress, shows that the students value the structured activities over the play and game moments.