‘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 Stokes
QUB, 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
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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, sociodramatic, 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 play
Provision of appropriate opportunities
Provision of appropriate activities
Pressure for educational achievement
Overly structured programmes and schedules
Growth of electronic media
Marketing 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
Fun
Uncertainty
Challenge
Flexibility
Non- 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 manmade 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 play
Montessori; Pestalozzi;
Froebel;
Contraints/ Opportunities ctd.
• Money for a range of
quality materials for play
• Create a rationale for
funding for a range of
quality materials for play
• Providing inclusive
materials for play
representing a variety of
cultures
• 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?
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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
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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.