Nine Years in Life: The Effects of the Play and Learn through the Arts (PLA) Programme on Practitioners’ Professional Development

PLA has been introduced as an innovative pedagogy in literacy since 2015 with the first publication about its effects on children’s involvement. Since then, many more publications have derived from various research studies in the field of early years education. With a few exceptions, PLA has been tested with a specific focus on children’s performance, leaving aside practitioners’ perspectives. This piece of research seeks to address this gap and explore the effects of the Play and Learn through the Arts (PLA) programme on practitioners’ professional development. Early years practitioners who had implemented and participated in the previous research studies with the PLA were contacted to participate in this research project. A total of 17 practitioners from Greece and London agreed to participate. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews over a period of 3 months. Findings showed significant gains in their professional behaviour and teaching skills, more specifically in their confidence and understanding of their role, implementing child-led projects, reflective practice, quality of teaching, and increasing children’s participation and imagination. The sustainability of the PLA was confirmed as practitioners took several initiatives to continue the project on their own.