IDI&CA/PlayTrain | [PlayTrain] O brincar e o jogo na formação e prática dos educadores de infância

The main aim of this project was to understand the places/spaces of play and games in the education of children aged 0 to 6, promoting the training of professionals capable of developing practices that favour the child's agency, experimentation in the physical and social world and the development of imagination and creativity. The participants were students on the Master's programme in Pre-school Education (MEPE) at the Lisbon Polytechnic School of Education (ESELx) enrolled on the course in the 2018/2019 academic year. The project followed a predominantly qualitative methodology and integrated research and intervention. By applying a questionnaire, analysing intervention proposals/projects and observing practices, the aim was to identify students' representations of the role of play and games in early childhood education and understand how they integrate them into practice. Workshops and focus groups promoted reflection and the development of skills among future educators to build developmentally appropriate practices. The project involved several teachers from the Lisbon Polytechnic's School of Education (ESE), and partners from the Faculty of Human Motricity, the Coimbra ESE, the University of São Paulo, the Play Museum and the Child Support Institute. The project contributed to the development of a body of knowledge on the role of play and games in early childhood education. It has made it possible to identify the needs of initial training for early childhood educators and fostered discussion in the scientific community about the importance of deepening the role of play and games in the syllabuses of master's programmes in pre-school education in Portugal.