Towards a South African pedagogy of play for autistic learners: exploration, enjoyment, and empowerment

Abstract

Emerging from an oppressive Apartheid regime, the South African education reform underscores the importance of inclusion and play in fostering learners' holistic development. Yet, most autistic children are educated in special schools, where play policies overlook geo-political and neurodivergent dimensions. Moreover, the global disparity in autism research, predominantly conducted in Northern countries, neglects underrepresented communities from the Global South. Building on the experiences of predominantly Black participants, this study illuminates the intersectionality of autism and race, historically overlooked in research. I delve into transgressive spaces of inclusive education by exploring educators’ experiences and practices with a pedagogy of play in South African autism schools. I uncover these transgressive spaces, challenging deficit-based narratives, and amplifying educators' voices amidst marginalization. Through deep immersion in 12 South African pre-school classrooms in three diverse public autism schools, I explore how teachers and teaching assistants experienced playful teaching. Following a case study research design, data was triangulated drawing on semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, post-observation video-elicited interviews, ethnographic fieldnotes, and focus group discussions. Data was analysed rigorously using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings indicate that the purpose of education for autistic children is predominantly linked with independence, employment, and citizenship. A pedagogy of play was considered the most effective teaching strategy to achieve these purposes. It centred around three indicators: exploration (making learning concrete), enjoyment (encouraging happiness), and empowerment (following children’s interests). Trusting relationships and structures underlined all three indicators. Creating safe spaces, developing trusting bonds, and adhering to structured routines made exploration, enjoyment, and empowerment possible in the first place. To explain these propositions, I introduce the contextually grounded and neurodiversity-informed ‘Framework for a Pedagogy of Play in South African Autism Schools’. This framework is my intellectual contribution to the field. I see important implications for theory, practice, and policy from this research. Educators can harness this framework to tailor their pedagogical moves to address the unique needs and aspirations of autistic learners. I explore how a neurodiversity-informed teaching approach can enhance wellbeing of autistic children, by recognizing learning as embodied experience, autistic preference for sameness as an enabler to learning, and parallel play as a form of social play. Finally, I explore how debates around inclusive education can move beyond conversations around the location of educational provisions, by harnessing educational arrangements that are already taking place.