A great challenge for teachers is to propose effective activities for the student, for authentic and enjoyable learning. The use of play or playful activities in education has the potential to address this challenge. Playful pedagogy is therefore a growing concern of researchers and practitioners in recent years to propose specific, empirically validated ways of teaching-learning-assessment based on play (Forbes, 2021; James , 2019; Jensen et al., 2022; Jørgensen et al., 2023). Research shows that the use of this approach in the didactic activity also offers benefits in terms of behaviour, attitude and improving the mental health of the student (Khalil et al., 2022; Jørgensen et al., 2023). Playful pedagogy brings together all didactic approaches that facilitate learning that takes place through play, bringing together playful elements (Danniels & Pyle, 2022). According to the authors Pyle & Danniels (2016), playful pedagogy is a play-based, learner-directed and educator-directed approach that has positive influences from the early years in reading and mathematics. 

How are teachers empowered to facilitate play-based learning processes by stimulating the training of the previously mentioned skills? Do I acquire the knowledge, skills and professional expertise to design a curriculum that values playful pedagogy in the preparation for the teaching profession? The inclusion of playful pedagogy approaches in initial teacher training programs is a need argued by specialist studies. Five systematic literature analyzes were identified on the subject of educational programs for initial teacher training in playful pedagogy, an expression of the sustained interest in capitalizing on the data provided by research, in order to propose varied, credible training approaches.

The systematic literature review by Händel et al. (2023) on articles published between 2018-2021, included in 11 databases that highlights that students are motivated to learn through playful approaches, providing meaningful practice for both students and teachers.

Buldu (2023) analyzes teachers' perception towards the use of game-based pedagogy, their challenges and training needs. He finds a positive attitude of teachers towards the use of PBJ, attempts to properly integrate the game into teaching-learning activities are affected by the insufficient knowledge and skills they possess.

Bubikova et al. (2019) and Jørgensen et al. (2023) show barriers in the successful implementation of PBJ, among them their little initial/continuous training, which leads to the purpose of this study, the identification of educational programs and the argumentation of the need for their implementation.

Parker & Thomsen (2019) highlight that it is important for playful pedagogy to be introduced into initial teacher education programs as it creates meaningful, engaging, and interactive learning experiences that educators need to properly integrate into teaching. This aspect is also reiterated by Khalil et al. (2022) who express the idea that improving the quality of the education provided is achieved through a dedicated professional development of teachers.After researching the use of games in education in the Romanian space, they argue that the playful approach, holistic development and the dimension of creativity are key elements of the Romanian curriculum in early education. 

Catalano et al. (2023) reinforce the need for initial teacher training in playful pedagogy in Romania. Also, the ARACIS standards provide for the following courses on "Psycho-pedagogy of play" and "Psycho-pedagogy of creativity" in the initial training of teachers from Primary and Preschool Education Pedagogy (PIPP). As for continuing education, numerous training programs, webinars, or conferences can be accessed by teachers. "Playing CLIL", the Conference "Learning through play" or "Centering didactic play on curricular skills" are some program titles that teachers can access, but which do not ensure the large-scale implementation of this approach in education in Romania.

To answer the research question “What are the characteristics of initial teacher training programs in playful pedagogy?”, the articles contained in the Scopus database were analyzed, as it provides access to a considerable number of journals containing scientifically robust publications. We used the search algorithm: [( play* ) AND ( teacher ) AND ( education )]. The use of the term "play*" was taken from the systematic analysis carried out by Jørgensen (2023), from the need to cover all variants of this term, such as : play-based, playing, playfulness, playful learning. Searching the Scopus database resulted in 529 studies. The study selection process followed the methodological steps used by Jørgensen (2023) and Buldu (2023) in the elaborated systematic reviews, steps proper to any systematic literature review (Gough & Thomas, 2016; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2020). Thus, in the first stage we eliminated publications that were not written in English and French, eliminating 16 articles. In the second step, we eliminated studies that are not articles that have gone through the peer review process, so 125 publications. Also, only the research included in the period 2014-2024 were selected, with another 144 studies being eliminated. According to the last criterion, that of the final stage of publication, a further 28 studies were eliminated. Following the first stage of publication selection, 313 studies were eliminated. In the second stage of selection, the abstracts of 216 articles were read, to select those that contained data of interest. The studies that did not address the subject of the search (characteristics of educational programs, teacher training needs and implementation of these game pedagogy courses) or that did not target the target population (pre-university teachers) were eliminated. After the two stages of selection, 32 articles remained. These were analyzed to see if they met the two inclusion criteria: ● Presents data on the characteristics of playful didactic approaches for inclusion in initial teacher training programs in playful pedagogy. ● Presents data on the need to implement initial teacher training programs in playful pedagogy. Following the application of these inclusion criteria, 10 articles were removed. I did not have access to two articles.

All 20 analyzed articles were published in journals with an impact factor. In the period 2014-2016, 3 articles were published, between the years 2018-2019 the analysis includes 3 articles and 2 in the period 2020-2021. In the last two years, 12 articles have been published, an expression of the growing interest in the problem. Half of the articles mentioned were made in Europe, 2 in North America, one in South America, 3 in Australia and 4 in Asia. Following the analysis of specialized articles, we extracted some educational programs implemented on the researched topic, whose characteristics we will present. Boysen et al. (2023), Moreno-Guerrero et al. (2020), Quintana & Fernández (2015), Shin (2022) and Whitlock et al. (2023) analyzes several teacher training courses on the topic of playful pedagogy. Whether we are talking about bachelor's, master's courses or included in the training of young teachers, all of them include programs focused on the theory of game pedagogy (approaches, types of games used, the role of the teacher) and practice. Teachers are trained how to apply role-playing games, to implement digital games, thus creating a strategy for applying the game to the classroom. Speaking of the characteristics of educational programs, aspects that can be improved so that teacher training is developed on a wider scale should also be mentioned. Whitlock et al., 2023 and Khalil et al. (2022) mentions that the curricular requirements, the material and technical equipment, the organization of the school environment, the lack of knowledge and skills of the teachers represent barriers in the successful implementation of playful pedagogy. The results of the analyzed articles show that teachers need training in this direction, and their participation in playful pedagogy courses contributes significantly to a positive attitude and to a successful integration of this approach in the teaching-learning-evaluation activity.

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