The Excellence of Play

The Excellence of Play, second edition by Janet Moyles

The role of adults in providing for 'excellence' in play

As has been signalled. practitioners often express the view that they 'know' or 'feel' that play for children is, or must be. a valuable learning and developmental process; yet they are also aware that this is not often reflected in their curriculum planning or in their classroom management- let alone in the way they think about their roles in teaching and learning(Moyles and Adams 2001). Practitioners unfortunately show their values daily in the way they respond to children's play-'You can play when you've finished your work''; 'Go out to play now and make sure you come back ready to work'- all give inherent messages about the purposes and process of play as well as the lack of real value associated with it. Research doesn't always help as it is often presented in ways that make links between findings and day to day practice very challenging: in busy educational setting, there is simply not time, In any case, the findings frequently have to be interpreted in relation to those particular settings and those specific children. As has been emphasized play is where children are; 'starting from the child' is enshrined in early years philosophy and is linked firmly which the early years play movement (Fisher 2002). Yet the ideology is exceptionally difficult for teachers to fulfil in practice. Explanations presented by practitioners working with 4-8year olds include:

• Children need to learn, not to play.
• There is no time to let them play.
• Older children have grown out of that childish stuff.
• Parents don't want/expect to find their children playing in school.
• Children have plenty of opportunities to play outside school.
• We have to deliver the subject curriculum.
• Everything has to be documented for Ofsted.
• We don't have enough resources for all that active learning stuff.
• Children sooner or later have to learn to get down to work.

Some of these indicated restraints under which teachers perceive they work, for example, time, expectations of others and curriculum overload; others are related to possible confusions anout play, work and learning. Yet others do not reflect the current world eg children have less and less time for play outside school. More often than not, however, teachers comments are tempered by other underlying views and beliefs, frequently with a hint of guilt attatched.

• Play is importan for children but its hard to justify to the head and other teachers.
• Children really get fed up with the pressure- they do need to play more.
• They learn better through practical, first hand experiances but....
• Childrens social skills would be improved if we could provide more play.
• Its important to give then some choice when they've finished their tasks
• Children do tire of sitting down and need something active.
• They love doing messy things and I know I need to achieve a balance.
• I do believe that children learn through play but the work provides the written record.

Yet those who operate a more play-based approach to planning would probably ask; 'can we afford not to to give children opportunities to play, given all that we know about the psychological bases of learning and teaching'/ The national Curriculum and NLNS documents do gibe credence to children's active involvement in their own learning and assessment- by any other name, play! So we need to grasp the nettle for the sake of the children and, in doing so, make our teaching conceivably more enjoyable too.

Food for thought????