A journey to purposeful play through a lesson study in Scotland

John Paul Mynott; Vicky Simpson; Education in the North

doi:10.26203/kzxj-zm21

A journey to purposeful play through a lesson study in Scotland

John Paul Mynott
, Vicky Simpson
, Education in the North

Research output: Contribution to journal › Feature › peer-review

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In exploring the question: what do practitioners need in order to develop play-based pedagogical approaches in their classroom? This paper shares a professional development lesson study introducing play-based learning. Using a collaborative lesson study approach, the authors worked alongside two primary school teachers and the school’s leadership team to enhance play pedagogy knowledge, understanding and practice in a classroom in North-East Scotland. The development of a play-based education is possible if professional learning is supported. This support takes different forms to develop professional expertise, enabling risk taking, and introducing new ideas.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	68-78
Number of pages	10
Journal	Education in the North
Volume	32
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.26203/kzxj-zm21
Publication status	Published - 15 Sept 2025

Keywords

lesson study
professional learning
play pedagogy
play-based learning
play continuum

Access to Document

10.26203/kzxj-zm21Licence: CC BY-NC

Mynott_Etal_EITN_A_Journey_To_VOR
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Final published version, 375 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{3ec8ea1099d04fe88ee8290620e1e310,

title = "A journey to purposeful play through a lesson study in Scotland",

abstract = "In exploring the question: what do practitioners need in order to develop play-based pedagogical approaches in their classroom? This paper shares a professional development lesson study introducing play-based learning. Using a collaborative lesson study approach, the authors worked alongside two primary school teachers and the school{\textquoteright}s leadership team to enhance play pedagogy knowledge, understanding and practice in a classroom in North-East Scotland. The development of a play-based education is possible if professional learning is supported. This support takes different forms to develop professional expertise, enabling risk taking, and introducing new ideas.",

keywords = "lesson study, professional learning, play pedagogy, play-based learning, play continuum",

author = "Mynott, \{John Paul\} and Vicky Simpson and Helen Martin and \{Education in the North\}",

year = "2025",

month = sep,

day = "15",

doi = "10.26203/kzxj-zm21",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "68--78",

journal = "Education in the North",

issn = "0424-5512",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A journey to purposeful play through a lesson study in Scotland

AU - Mynott, John Paul

AU - Simpson, Vicky

AU - Education in the North

A2 - Martin, Helen

PY - 2025/9/15

Y1 - 2025/9/15

N2 - In exploring the question: what do practitioners need in order to develop play-based pedagogical approaches in their classroom? This paper shares a professional development lesson study introducing play-based learning. Using a collaborative lesson study approach, the authors worked alongside two primary school teachers and the school’s leadership team to enhance play pedagogy knowledge, understanding and practice in a classroom in North-East Scotland. The development of a play-based education is possible if professional learning is supported. This support takes different forms to develop professional expertise, enabling risk taking, and introducing new ideas.

AB - In exploring the question: what do practitioners need in order to develop play-based pedagogical approaches in their classroom? This paper shares a professional development lesson study introducing play-based learning. Using a collaborative lesson study approach, the authors worked alongside two primary school teachers and the school’s leadership team to enhance play pedagogy knowledge, understanding and practice in a classroom in North-East Scotland. The development of a play-based education is possible if professional learning is supported. This support takes different forms to develop professional expertise, enabling risk taking, and introducing new ideas.

KW - lesson study

KW - professional learning

KW - play pedagogy

KW - play-based learning

KW - play continuum

U2 - 10.26203/kzxj-zm21

DO - 10.26203/kzxj-zm21

M3 - Feature

SN - 0424-5512

VL - 32

SP - 68

EP - 78

JO - Education in the North

JF - Education in the North

IS - 2

ER -

A journey to purposeful play through a lesson study in Scotland

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this