The implementation of play in early childhood education in brazilian, italian, and spanish contexts

Abstract

In Brazil, Italy, and Spain, play is a fundamental element of childhood and a structuring axis of the curriculum. However, daily school life reveals a historical tension: the contradiction between what is instituted and what is materialized. That is, although recognized by normative documents, school play often occupies spaces of lesser value, linked to non-learning time. In this sense, this article aims to analyze how Brazilian, Italian, and Spanish teachers implement play based on their constructed teaching knowledge and the reality of daily practice. A qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory research approach was adopted, employing the (auto)biographical method to mobilize narratives from 30 teachers (10 in each country) and examine their experiences, articulating them with the present professional context. The results reveal that the implementation of play differs between the European aesthetic curation of the environment as a "third educator" and the Brazilian need to transform rigid and bureaucratic spaces into possible playful contexts. While European teachers work "behind the scenes" to ensure the flow of children's creativity, the practice in Brazil is linked to childhood memories and ethical mediation focused on teaching social rules. Finally, it was evident that play has a consolidated place as a subject of investigation in Europe, while in the Brazilian context, the playful experience constitutes a form of teacher resistance against the instructional and productivist logic.