Category: International Research

Creating Classrooms for Change: Developing cognitive flexibility in schools in Rwanda
1 March 2024
This research looked at how schools in Rwanda foster students’ skills for adaptability - their capacity to create, innovate and adjust to shifting circumstances. It uses the psychological lens of cognitive flexibility.

Why and how do healthcare professionals use play in clinical practice?
1 March 2024
We explored what healthcare professionals in different roles and different countries understood to be important and useful about the role of play in paediatric practice.

Prisons, hospitals and schools: challenges and opportunities introducing play in different settings
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 recording, Dr Paulina Pérez-Duarte (PEDAL), Dina Fajardo (PEDAL) & Mercedes Castañeda (Reinserta) explore and advocate for the use of play in challenging settings, as well as those opportunities where play can enable a powerful change in children’s mental health.

A future for the world’s children? Play as the basis of a new paradigm for a world on fire
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 keynote lecture, Professor Mark Tomlinson (Stellenbosch University) discusses the important role of play in building minds and brains in the future that are built for creativity, adaptation, collaboration, connectedness and resilience.

All Work and No Play? Busting the Binary in Majority World Settings
21 June 2023
In this Play Piece, Stephen discusses whether work and play are different, and the value of play as distinct from work.

Play in South African autism schools: why are formalised ethical processes important?
3 May 2023
Why are culturally sensitive approaches to research ethics so important?

Ruptured school trajectories: understanding the impact of COVID-19 on school dropout, socio-emotional and academic learning using a longitudinal design
1 December 2022
Stephen Bayley, Prof Paul Ramchandani, Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, Addis Ababa University, RISE Ethiopia

Exploring the Perceptions of Teachers and Parents on the Use of Play-Based Pedagogy in Kenya
8 September 2022
In this talk, PEDAL PhD student Domnick Okullo presents their doctoral research project – which explores teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of the use of play-based learning in preschools in Kenya. This presentation was recorded on the 8th September 2022 as part of the PEDAL Play Conference, an event which brought together play researchers interested in […]

Pedagogy of Play: What Playful Learning Involves (And Why It Is Important)
8 September 2022
Around the world, research trends are showing that there is more play and playfulness in schools. From age four to fourteen (and beyond), children are leading their own learning, exploring the unknown, and finding joy in facing challenges at school. However, most students beyond early childhood do not currently have the opportunity to learn playfully […]

L: Links with learning? Uncovering parental attitudes towards play in diverse contexts
6 July 2022
What role do parents consider play has in their children's development and learning?