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Musical play is an activity in which young children more or less freely explore and create with sound with limited guidance from a teacher. This study explored the occurrence of musical play in Dutch early years education (4–5 year olds). Twenty early years classroom teachers were interviewed about the content of the music education taking place in their classroom, and about a possible facilitation and guidance of musical play. Findings showed that ten teachers were unfamiliar with musical play, whilst nine experienced it as too difficult due to limited experience and knowledge. One teacher successfully included musical play, due to additional pre-service training. We argue that musical play may be a valuable addition to early years music education, one that enables young children to learn about music more consistent with their age and interests. Based on our outcomes, we advocate the provision of additional teacher education around facilitating musical play.

An international comparative research project was carried out in the Netherlands, Wales, Germany and Finland to understand how trainee teachers reflect upon play. Data was collected among 31 Dutch, 37 Welsh, 40 German and 19 Finnish teacher trainees. They watched four videotaped sequences of preschoolers engaged in an activity. Next, they answered four open ended questions to elicit reflections upon the clips. The data were analyzed to answer two questions. The first was to compare reflections on the presence of play characteristics. The second question considered whether responses differed with regard to appreciation of the preschool teacher’s role in the activity. Using Chi-Square analyses significant differences were found between countries with regard to both research questions. The article discusses that the differences between countries might be explained in terms of differences in teacher education. It raises questions about teacher training curriculum with regard to play since it appears to influence viewpoints on play as well as on classroom practice.

(Continued. Start at #3, 2015)

This article discusses the history of the development of educational programs in Germany, provides a look at the construction of educational programs that were developed by federal states of Germany, and which are being introduced as a tool for quality assurance of education and / or as an innovative tool for managing the education system and the educational process. Authors tell about the project “acquisition of knowledge”, which was developed for the purpose of implementation of the strategy for educational programs, and provide a report on its implementation. The purpose of the “acquisition of scientific knowledge” is to support the implementation of educational programs. This paper describes a the elaborated development strategy of partnership in education, as well as competence model of training of teachers.

This article discusses the history of the development of educational programs in Germany, provides a look at the construction of educational programs that were developed by federal states of Germany, and which are being introduced as a tool for quality assurance of education and / or as an innovative tool for managing the education system and the educational process. Authors tell about the project “acquisition of knowledge”, which was developed for the purpose of implementation of the strategy for educational programs, and provide a report on its implementation. The purpose of the “acquisition of scientific knowledge” is to support the implementation of educational programs. This paper describes a the elaborated development strategy of partnership in education, as well as competence model of training of teachers.