A pedagogical meeting place or a problem space? Extending play-based pedagogy in Year One

Nicholson, Philip; Hendry, Helen

doi:10.1080/03004279.2020.1840608

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Arguably, the two contexts bring with them important differences that must be considered when attempting to implement instructional practices and pedagogical approaches described at the policy level (Allee-Herndon and Roberts, 2020). Such division amongst the different communities of practice around the place for play in learning, and disregard for the different contexts of early childhood education, does not help to move policy initiatives forward (Nicholson and Hendry, 2020).…”

Section: Challenge 1: a Lack Of Continuity Between Preschool And Scho...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While learning through play is associated with high quality early childhood education practice and research (Wall et al, 2015;Nilsson et al, 2018), and international policy standards define early childhood as the years from zero to eight (Irwin et al, 2007), studies of learning through play in school for children beyond age five are limited (Howard, 2010;Jay and Knaus, 2018). Low uptake in school is likely due to differing perceptions of play and learning (Smith, 2015) and the competing demands and constraints of the preschool and school learning environments (Nicholson and Hendry, 2020). Other barriers to implementing learning through play include assessment and accountability.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Learning Through Play at School – A Framework for Policy and Practice

2022

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Learning through play has emerged as an important strategy to promote student engagement, inclusion, and holistic skills development beyond the preschool years. Policy makers, researchers and educators have promoted the notion that learning though play is developmentally appropriate—as it leverages school-age children’s innate curiosity while easing the often difficult transition from preschool to school. However, there is a dearth of evidence and practical guidance on how learning through play can be employed effectively in the formal school context, and the conditions that support success. This paper addresses the disconnect between policy, research and practice by presenting a range of empirical studies across a number of well-known pedagogies. These studies describe how children can foster cognitive, social, emotional, creative and physical skills through active engagement in learning that is experienced as joyful, meaningful, socially interactive, actively engaging and iterative. The authors propose an expanded definition for learning through play at school based on the science of learning, and summarize key findings from international studies on the impact of children’s learning through play. They identify four key challenges that underpin the considerable gap between education policy and practice, and propose a useful framework that addresses these challenges via a common language and structure to implement learning through play.

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Section: Challenge 1: a Lack Of Continuity Between Preschool And Scho...mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%