‘O reason not the need!’: Play for Play’s sake? Examining Implications for the provision of Pretend Play arising

from General Comment 17 on Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Tríona StokesQUB, 22 February, 2014

Presenter Perspective

• Primary teacher in the Irish Republic; Australia• Teacher educator in Froebel Dept., NUI

Maynooth• Drama specialist

Brief Historical Overview of Curriculum Backdrop

• Irish Primary School Curriculum (1999) • Síolta (2006)• Aistear (2009)• Current restructuring of primary curriculum

Snapshot of the Current Early Childhood Education Curricular Context

• Aistear framework (2009)• 0-6 years• An approach rather than a syllabus

Four themes: -Well-being-Identity and Belonging-Communicating and Exploring and Making-Learning and Developing through Play

Pretend Play

Aistear (2009, p54) defines Pretend Play as ‘pretend , make-believe, dramatics, socio-dramatic, role, fantasy and small-world play’.

Why is play at risk?

• The International Play Association summary report as recently as 2010 named play ‘the forgotten article, .....one of the least known, least understood, least recognised rights of children and consequently one of the most consistently ignored, undervalued and violated of children’s rights in the world today’ (Shier, 2010, p5)

Why is play still low status?

• The polarisation of work and play is proposed as a key reason: school= work; home = play?

• constituting a persistent theme in the history of Early Childhood Education, which Froebel (1782-1852) and Isaacs (1929) countered (Rogers, 2010)

‘Play is a child’s work’ (Froebel, in Liebschner, 2002)

Policy and Curriculum

The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People (2011)

Increased focus and ‘time-share’ on English and Maths

Reduction in time spent on Arts ed.and play

Measurement and Assessment

‘But not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted’Einstein

Challenges to Play Identified by General Comment 17 (2013)

Lack of recognition of the importance of playProvision of appropriate opportunitiesProvision of appropriate activitiesPressure for educational achievementOverly structured programmes and schedulesGrowth of electronic mediaMarketing and commercialisation of play

General Comment 17 on Article 31

“ ...Play itself is non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivation and undertaken for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end” (2013, p5-6).

Play’s Key Characteristics According to General Comment 17

FunUncertaintyChallengeFlexibilityNon- productivity

Play’s Purpose?

• Re-engagement with play theory• Broaden views of play • Awareness of an outcomes-based approach• Reconnecting with Aistear’s (2009) principles:‘ Give me time and space to play alone and with

others’‘Sometimes I like you to play with me and other

times I like to play alone’

Re-engage with play theory

• Bruner (2006) encouraged the facilitation of children to learn actively for themselves through primary processes, rather than recounted or secondary processes

• Vygotsky (1978): Children progress from demonstrating a reliance on the presence of other people and external objects to regulate their behaviour, to relying only on internal, symbolic and psychological functioning.

Re-connecting Play and Creativity

• Play and creativity aligned• Csikszentmihalyi’s(1998) small ‘c’ creativity of

everyday• Imaginative/pretend play demands self

expression and imagination• Children as active agents- creators

Play and ‘Possibility Thinking’ by Anna Craft

• ‘ An attitude.....uses imagination with intention to find a way around a problem’ ( 2002, p111)

• Child poses questions• Identifies/ finds possible solutions

Reconnecting with the Right to Play

Principle of Sufficiency• Time• Space• Resources

Resources Provided for Play

• Resource range? Guidelines for Teachers?Aistear list resource recommendations pages

194-5

Posing Questions about Resources for Pretend Play

- What are the resources made from?- Do they reflect the natural as well as man-

made environments in which the child learns?Outdoor play picture

Constraints / Opportunities

• Time for Children to play (Curricular play)

• A range of resources that promote real learning is challenging to think of

• Re-imagining curriculum to place play as a cornerstone for learning across the curriculum

• Re- engage with a philosophy for playMontessori; Pestalozzi; Froebel;

Contraints/ Opportunities ctd.

• Money for a range of quality materials for play

• Providing inclusive materials for play representing a variety of cultures

• Create a rationale for funding for a range of quality materials for play

• Gather no longer functional household items and recyclables

• Invite children and parents to add materials of their choosing to in the Pretend Play centre (with guidance as appropriate)

Outdoor Play Environments

Back to the Future?

- Step back to step forward- Change is slow- Hold firms to ideals- Funding as key to provision- Communication with duty bearers, parents,

teachers, playworkers and all early childhood providers.

A Return to Key Emphasis

“ ...Play itself is non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivation and undertaken for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end” (2013, p5-6).

List of References• Bruner, S.J. (2006) In search of pedagogy Volume 1: The selected works of Jerome Bruner, Oxon, UK,

Routledge.• Craft, A. (2002) Creativity and Early Years Education: A lifewide foundation, London, Continuum Studies in

Lifelong Learning. • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996) Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, New York,

Harper Collins. • Department of Education and Skills (2011) Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life: The National

Strategy to improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020, www.education.ie/en/Publications/Policy-Reports/lit_num_strategy_full.pdf (accessed 12/02/’14).

• Isaacs, S. (1929) The Nursery Years, London, Routledge.• Liebschner, J. (2002) Child’s Work: Freedom and Choice in Froebel’s Educational Theory and Practice,

London, Lutterworth Press. • Rogers, S. (2010) Powerful pedagogies and playful resistance: Role play in the early childhood in Brooker, L.

And Edwards, S. Engaging Play, Berkshire, UK, Open University Press McGraw Hill• Shier, H. (2010) Global Consultations on Children’s Right to Play: Summary Report. International Play

Association Promoting the Child’s Right to Play. • Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological processes, Cambridge, MA,

Harvard University Press.