Kindergarten teachers as mediators in sociodramatic play interaction: a study of how kindergarten teachers function as mediators in sociodramatic play interaction with children aged four and five

The purpose of this study is to investigate how kindergarten teachers mediate, i.e. communicate and interact with children when the teachers participate in an attempt to maintain and develop children's sociodramatic play. The study focuses on how kindergarten teachers contribute to and influence this play.

Overall, the author identifies two levels at which the kindergarten teachers mediate, i.e. communicate and interact with children when they participate in the children's sociodramatic play. The author refers to these levels as (1) the kindergarten teacher as master dramatist teacher and (2) the kindergarten teacher as apprentice dramatist teacher. Overall, these two levels characterise the kindergarten teachers' dramaturgic competences and abilities to mediate. The kindergarten teachers can all be considered as "playful". However, according to the author, they participate in the play at different levels.

According to the author, the children are introduced to different play stories by the master dramatist teacher, who invites the children to participate in the play, develops the play together with the children and motivates the play, for example by setting limits for the plot of the play. In order to engage the children, the master dramatist teacher centres the play around a central focus such as a specific character, a story, a place or an object. The master dramatist teacher also manages to add excitement to the play by introducing tasks, dilemmas, surprises and rituals, for example. According to the author, the master dramatist teacher's power of abstraction and ability to create specific links between the various themes are highly developed. The master dramatist teacher also often moves at several levels during the play, depending on the children's play skills, group size, where the play is carried out, interruptions in the play, time and artefacts available, time of day and whether other adults participate in the play. According to the author, the essential aspect is that the master dramatist teacher is able to improvise and adjust the play to the different situations.

In contrast to the master teacher, the apprentice struggles to find balance in who has the power to define what will happen during sociodramatic play: the children or the kindergarten teacher. The author finds that sometimes the apprentice seizes power by bringing out objects that are unfamiliar to the children, by asking many different questions or by suggesting unknown roles, or by suggesting (or imposing) a direction for the play that was not intended by the children. The author points out that the apprentice needs to accept that children have a voice of their own and something to say. The apprentice therefore needs to learn to listen to the children and imagine what they are thinking.

According to the author, within these two levels, the kindergarten teachers use several mediational signs, for example by asking questions and making verbal expressions, using their body language and creating a specific space for the play. The author thus finds four main areas of mediations that categorise the kindergarten teachers' communication and interaction with the children during sociodramatic play: (1) oral mediation, (2) corporeal mediation, (3) spatial mediation and (4) connected mediation that combines the various mediational signs.

The author points out that children learn through play (language, social skills and interaction), and that kindergarten teachers can help strengthen children's learning by practicing improvisation, noticing children's initiatives and by being good co-players in the role play rather than "play masters". Finally, the author concludes that kindergarten teachers who have trained in drama pedagogy – in addition to the mandatory subjects on the bachelor degree programme in social education – mediate better in sociodramatic play.

Data was collected from two kindergartens and one cultural centre, where children and adults from various kindergartens can come and interact in sociodramatic play together with a kindergarten teacher. A total of three kindergarten teachers took part in the study, all of whom had experience in sociodramatic play in a pedagogical context, and around 75 children aged 4-5 years from five different kindergartens. Over ten weeks, the author video-recorded interactions between children and kindergarten teachers during sociodramatic play. Moreover, the data material consists of participant observations, field notes, informal conversations and formal interviews with the participating kindergarten teachers, and focus-group interviews with three kindergarten drama teachers. Inspired by grounded theory and theories of cultural semiotic mediation, the author analysed six selected video observations/cases with sociodramatic play.

Thoresen, E. (2017). Kindergarten teachers as mediators in sociodramatic play interaction: a study of how kindergarten teachers function as mediators in sociodramatic play interaction with children aged four and five. Doctoral theses. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).