Abstract:
This study sought to examine pre-school teachers’ use of play as a teaching strategy in
Sagnerigu Municipality, in the northern part of Ghana. The purpose of the study was
to find out the influence of identified factors on use of play as a teaching strategy. A
case study design was employed with independent variables. The instruments used in
the study included questionnaire and interview. The simple random sampling
technique was used to select schools with all the teachers in the sampled schools
forming the study sample. The data collected was analyzed using the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Both qualitative and quantitative methods were
used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics computed included frequencies and
percentages. The main findings were majority of the teachers used play as a teaching
strategy whereas others did not use play as a teaching strategy indicating that about
half of the respondents did not use play as a teaching strategy. The study found out
that teachers’ level of motivation and availability of play materials emerged as factors
which influenced teachers’ use of play as a teaching strategy. The recommendations
were that when teachers are motivated and provided with a wide range of play
materials, they are more likely to use play as a teaching strategy. To improve the use
of play as a teaching strategy in pre-primary schools, capacity building and
sensitization seminars for school managers, pre-primary school teachers and other
stakeholders should be encouraged
Description:
A dissertation in the Department of Early Childhood Education,
Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Early Childhood Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
