Research undertaken by MIC lecturers has been featured in an award-winning book on children’s learning during the COVID pandemic.
Dr Suzanne Egan of the Department of Psychology was the principal investigator of the COVID-19 study Play and Learning in the Early Years (PLEY), which was featured in the book Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation—recently awarded the prestigious 2024 Iona and Peter Opie Prize by the American Folklore Society.
Alongside Suzanne’s work, the study included the contributory research of Dr Jennifer Pope of the Department of Reflective Pedagogy & Early Childhood Studies and recent PhD graduates from the Department of Psychology, Dr Clara Hoyne and Dr Chloe Beatty.
This prize is awarded every two years to the best recently published scholarly book on children’s folklore. The title of the chapter by MIC researchers is ‘How Young Children Played during COVID-19 Lockdown in 2020 in Ireland: Findings from the Play and Learning in the Early Years (PLEY) Study’.
As part of the study, over 500 parents of children aged from 12 months to 10 years responded to an online survey during May and June 2020, approximately two months into the first lockdown in Ireland, when all schools, preschools, playgrounds and non-essential businesses were closed. The findings of the survey shed light on the types and amounts of play that young Irish children engaged in during the unprecedented time.
The significance of the book has also been noted by international scholars such as Professor Peter Gray, Boston College, who said: “the authors of this book have documented wonderfully some of the ways the world adapted, playfully, to a disruption that, without play, would have been more tragic than it was”.
Emeritus Professor James Greyson, Sheffield University, stated: “There is only one word to describe the book: monumental…It will set the standard for all further discussions on the topic of creative play in times of pandemics, as well as being a rich resource of folkloric material for use by future researchers.” As well as academic acclaim, the research has been published in a number of places since, covered in the media and cited in ESRI and EU policy documents.
Commenting on the award, Suzanne said: ‘My colleagues and I are delighted to be part of this unique collection of research which documents the ways in which children around the world played during the pandemic. Being awarded the Opie Prize by the American Folklore Society is a significant achievement for the book and all involved.”
