Enhancing knowledge and attitudes towards play and the play environment among Thai nursery workers

Abstract

With the increased number of childcare centres in Thailand, the role of nursery workers has become pivotal to promoting optimal child development. The importance of learning though play is generally not recognised as an important factor in promoting child growth by nursery workers in Thailand.

This aim of this study was to enhance the knowledge and attitudes of Thai nursery workers towards play and the play environment by using a multimedia teaching package (MMTP). Based on a pragmatic paradigm using mixed methods approach, this study was broken down into two phases: 1) the design of the MMTP based on a content analysis of UK and Thai curricula for training Thai nursery workers, and 2) evaluating the effectiveness of the MMTP by comparing knowledge and attitudes among three sample groups of Thai nursery workers.

Three sample groups consisted of a total of 226 Thai nursery workers: 1) those who received the MMTP training, 2) those who received no training and 3) those who only received official government training.

Data collection was conducted over three periods: before training, immediately after training and four weeks after training. Nursery workers from the first group, who had received the MMTP training, were found to have a significant improvement in knowledge and attitudes towards the importance of play and the play environment immediately after training. The improvements increased even further after four weeks. On the other hand, there were no comparable changes in the other two groups (those who did not have any training or had only official government training).

Five weeks after training, semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight participants from the first sample group. These provided insights into lessons learned from three main areas: 1) participating in the MMTP training, 2) applying the MMTP to work at childcare centres and 3) barriers that occurred as a result of using the MMTP.

The findings indicated that the MMTP had a positive effect on the knowledge and attitudes of Thai nursery workers towards the importance of play and the play environment as a means to promote child development. It was concluded that using the MMTP training package to train all nursery workers in Thailand may improve knowledge and attitudes towards play and the play environment and would have the potential to enhance child development in the future.

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