An Exciting Journey of Teaching and Learning; Professional Development of Early Years Teachers

This paper summarizes findings from a report, written by the authors, titled the Professional Development of Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Balochistan. The data shows a change in knowledge, skills, and attitude of 300 early childhood educators’ on inducting a play-based teaching and learning approach in their classrooms. The sample consisted of urban and rural educators working with children aged 4 to 7 years in public sector schools, in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. A mixed-methods research approach was employed. A quantitative pre-test was conducted to assess the knowledge, skills, and attitude towards a play-based approach in the early years prior to a 40-hour training. The training used a “Theory to Practice Approach†and made the educators play and practice activities that children would do and then reflect on how they felt and what they learned. This method was believed to be effective as the educators were able to experience what they learned theoretically. After the training, a quantitative post-test was conducted to evaluate the impact of the training. Reflective accounts and group interviews were also conducted to get a sense of how the educators would take their knowledge to the classrooms. The post-test results were very encouraging showing a positive change in all areas. The interviews reflected the enthusiasm of educators to take their new learning to the classrooms.