An Exploration of Early Childhood Teachers Attitudes and Practices Regarding Outdoor Play

This study aims to describe early childhood teachers' attitudes towards outdoor play, to explore the influential factors on their intention towards outdoor play, and lastly to see the consistency between their attitudes and practices. Teacher attitudes towards outdoor play might influence their interest in play and practices (Sandberg & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2009). Theory of planned behaviour was adopted which clarifies the influential factors on one's intention to act a given behaviour (Ajzen, 2005). Four early childhood teachers in a private preschool participated in this case study by using purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews and naturalistic observations were used. A second observer is included in the observations for inter-rater reliability. Ethical approval has been received. Voluntariness and confidentiality of participants have been considered. The findings highlight that participants have notably positive attitudes towards outdoor play because they advocate its benefits for children. Moreover, they value the expectations of school administration and parents for outdoor play. Furthermore, participants perceive some facilitators like school support and the flexibility of curriculum for their practices. However, all participants claimed that cold weather conditions are challenging for outdoor play. They had an intention to practice outdoor play. Observations substantially supported participants' reports. Yet, there were some apparent inconsistencies like the kind of activity. For example, they mostly conducted teacher initiated play activities. In-service teacher training programs should be organized to improve participants' attitudes and practices. Moreover, it is essential to create collaboration with school and parents which seem to play an influential role on participants' normative beliefs. Keywords: arts activities, attitudes, practices, outdoor play, learnin