Dramatic reflection: Enhancing play qualities in a design experiment for inclusive play practices in school
Hanne Hede Jørgensen, Helle Marie Skovbjerg, Anne Louise Bang · Proceedings of DRS · 2022
Starting from a codesign project on inclusive, pedagogical play practices in schools, this paper presents a phenomenological design experiment called Dramatic Reflection. The Dramatic Reflection experiment was created in collaboration with pedagogical teams in two Danish schools for the purpose of exploring pedagogical actions regarding different children’s ability to participate in play. Inclusive pedagogical actions are understood in a holistic and child-centered manner, and children’s play participation is understood as an essential part of their ability to ex-perience relational interdependence within the context of a school. This paper shows how a design experiment for play reflections, Dramatic Reflection, might, due to play qualities such as lightness, travesty, and empathy, nourish the emergence of genuine and meaningful changes within the pedagogical profession. In conclusion, we discuss the relationship between understanding pedagogical professionalism in schools through play design and the development of play qualities in a concrete design as Dramatic Reflection