A study on infants and young children teachers’ play support using IPA analysis

Objectives The purpose of this study is to derive implications for improving play support in future educational settings through an IPA matrix analysis of the importance and implementation level of teachers' play support as perceived by infants and young children teachers. Methods For this purpose, a survey was conducted targeting 254 infants and young children teachers at kindergardens and daycare centers located in cities B and D. The collected data were analyzed using paired-sample t-test and IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis) techniques. Results First, the area with the greatest difference in importance and implementation of play support was the play space. Second, as a result of the IPA analysis, there were 14 items (56%) in the area of continuous maintenance strengths, 1 item (4.0%) in the area of improvement efforts, 7 items (28%) in the area of long-term improvement requirements, and 3 items (12%) in the 4th quadrant was distributed. The item that requires intensive improvement efforts to support desirable play was ‘Ask open-ended questions to help infants and young children expand their thoughts and thinking during the play process’ in the interaction area. And all four items of the play space area were located in the third quadrant, which requires long-term improvement. Conclusions This suggests that future improvements are needed to enable infants and young children teachers in the field to increase their level of implementation when supporting play, and it can be used as basic data to support infants and young children teachers who practice play-centered education in the future.