Professional development program for preschool teachers: Developing understanding of risky play

Awareness of the risky play benefits and providing environments and opportunities that support children's development are among the essential responsibilities of preschool teachers, who regularly spend significant amounts of time with children. Children can take risks in their play, acquire risk management skills and explore their limits freely by developing preschool teachers' understanding of the importance and necessity of risky play. This study aimed to develop preschool teachers' understanding of risky play, who have essential effects on children's play and has a crucial role in supporting children's risky play through their close relationships with parents, with the "Risky Play Professional Development Program (ROMGP)" prepared by the researcher. For this purpose, the effectiveness of the ROMGP implementation was examined, and the development of the participants' understanding of risky play during the program implementations was presented in detail. The research used a mixed design in which qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used together. Within the scope of the study, quantitative data were determined as secondary data sources collected to complement the qualitative data obtained. The ROMGP is a professional development (PD) program consisting of four modules and 12 sessions with an average of 130 minutes. The PD program was prepared according to UbD (Understanding by Design) Backward Design. Accordingly, the module objectives, the evaluation evidence, and the modules' contents were determined, and the sessions were planned. The first module of the PD contained fundamental concepts. In the second module, the factors affecting risky play are covered. In the third module, risk management, and the fourth module, applications for general evaluation were included. The ROMGP practices consisted of conceptual foundations, theoretical perspectives, and practical examples presented for recognizing children's risky play, understanding the developmental benefits of risky play, being aware of the factors affecting risky play, and understanding the importance of teachers' approach in terms of risky play and risk management. Data collection tools consisted of General Information Form, Risk Tolerance Scale-Teacher Version (T-TRiPS [ORTÖ-Ö in Turkish]), Semi-Structured Interview Form, Reflective Diary (Researcher-Participant), documents obtained from the sessions, and General Evaluation Form. The ORTÖ-Ö and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants before and after the ROMGP implementations. The researcher and participants filled out the reflective diary form at the end of each session throughout the ROMGP. In addition, the video recordings of the ROMGP sessions and the documents obtained from the activities during and between the sessions were added to the study's data. Participants completed the General Evaluation Form at the end of the ROMGP sessions. The use of multiple data collection methods within the scope of the study resulted in the use of multiple data analysis methods. While the qualitative data were analyzed with an interpretive perspective, the data obtained from ORTÖ-Ö were analyzed using Rasch analysis and the Mann Whitney-U test. In addition, descriptive statistics consisting of the demographic information of the participants and the frequency values of the data obtained from the general evaluation form were calculated. As a result of the interpretative analysis, five categories emerged: definitions of risky play, benefits of risky play, factors affecting risky play, risk management, and PD program categories. The sub-categories of "play" and "risky play" were reached for the " definitions of risky play" category. In the category of "factors affecting risky play", sub-categories of "family", "school administration and legal regulations", "child", "physical environment," and "teacher" were reached. Two sub-categories of the "PD program" category were determined as "strengths" and "improvement aspects". Considering the results of the quantitative data, it was seen that there was a significant difference between the risk tolerance pretest and posttest scores of the participants (u= 20; p<.05). The average of the posttest scores was 0.831, while the average of the risk tolerance pretest scores of the participants from ORTÖ-Ö was -0.880. This finding showed that the participants had higher risk tolerance after the PD. According to the data from the general evaluation form, the participants' opinions about the practitioner, content, and effectiveness of the PD were positive. In addition, it was determined that the knowledge level of the participants about the content increased after the training. The results were discussed in light of the relevant literature, and recommendations for researchers and practitioners were developed. Keywords: Risky play, preschool teacher, professional development program, understanding development.