Repertoires of cultural practices for enacting play and learning in a playgroup

Variations in cultural practices between families and schools have emerged as central to many studies (Rogoff, 2003) and these dynamic variations have been named as repertoires of cultural practice (Gutierrez & Rogoff, 2003). Emerging from this literature has been a recognition of the dynamic tension between the cultural practices of Western education and the cultural practices of communities who have a different cultural heritage. This tension and its resolution have been captured through the concept of third space (Gutierrez, Baquedano-Lopez, & Turner, 1997). Going beyond a third space theorization, this paper draws upon the cultural-historical concepts of demands and motives (Hedegaard, 2012) in order to understand the development of new repertoires of practices evident in an Australian playgroup where traditional early childhood practices are used by Indigenous families. Nineteen families were video recorded interacting together at a local playgroup (20h). The findings show how participation structures for learning supported by the families, and the demands they placed upon children's day-to-day interaction, highlight new understandings of playgroup practices which go beyond the dominant Western early childhood education cultural repertoires of practice.