Adult intervention levels in young children’s free play: an observational study on how Pikler educators combine the instrumental and relational dimensions of their educational activity

Studies about child development emphasize the importance of play in children’s early years. However, there is an existing controversy about the role educators should have in young children’s free play. This research work studies the approach to early playful activity from Pikler-Lóczy education. A systematic observation was conducted to deepen in the educational activity of free play accompanying. We studied how an experienced educator combines the instrumental and relational dimensions of her educational activity while children are playing, and the intervention levels they accordingly shape: no intervention, indirect intervention, and direct intervention. Two complementary techniques were used in order to discover the relational behaviors that modulate each instrumental action: lag sequential analysis and polar coordinate analysis. Results show that the educator’s focus of attention is adaptive to the instrumental action she is performing; that the relational dimension of her educational activity modulates the instrumental actions; and that specific kinetic behaviors announce the beginning, mediate the developing and mark the closing of each instrumental action. Therefore, we demonstrated that the educator masterly combines the instrumental and relational dimensions of her educational activity, thus, shaping three different intervention levels towards children’s free play. This positioning is beneficial to children’s development given its active attempt to promote their intrinsic motivation and will to autonomously discover and learn.