Measuring the quality of movement-play in Early Childhood Education settings: Linking movement-play and neuroscience

This article explores the links between neuroscience research, movement, and neurological dysfunction in relation to young children's learning and development. While policymakers have recognised the importance of early development the role of movement has been overlooked. A small scale study was undertaken in four early years settings in a London Borough in order to investigate whether an intervention resulted in improved movement experiences for children. This is the first study to assess the quality of movement-play using a newly developed measuring scale. Results showed that an intervention does result in improved movement experiences for young children. Consistently enhanced results were found in relation to the vital role of the adult at the two intervention settings. For Vygotsky the adult role is critical to the quality of play and learning for the child (Siraj-Blatchford 2009 Siraj-Blatchford, I. 2009. “Conceptualising Progression in the Pedagogy of Play and Sustained Shared Thinking in early Childhood Education: A Vygotskian Perspective.” Educational and Child Psychology 26 (2): 77–89. Google Scholar). There is scope for a larger scale piece of research spread across different sectors in order to further test the validity and reliability of the scale.