Play Pedagogy in St Agatha’s Primary School
At St. Agatha’s RC Primary School, we believe in ensuring that all children reach their full potential and are happy in our school.
Staff are committed to ensuring that children are provided with a stimulating and nurturing learning environment that encourages the children to take responsibility for and lead their own learning.
Through a play-based approach to learning practitioners will promote creativity and curiosity that gives the children opportunities to become leaders of the curriculum and allow practitioners to adopt inquiry-based learning approaches that meet individual children’s needs, abilities and interests.
This page aims to inform you fully about what ‘playing’ at school is and how valuable play in to learning and development.
What is play?
“Play is fundamental to children and young people’s quality of life but first and foremost it is a child’s right and one which the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is keen to see actively applied” (Scottish Government, Play Strategy).
Through play children create their own culture, develop their abilities, explore their creativity, challenge their limitations and assumptions and learn about the people and places around them.
At St Agatha’s RC Primary School practitioners commit to ensuring that planning, evaluation and application of play allows the children to access the key ways that play supports learning:
• Cognitive, social and emotional challenges that are embedded in play.
• Play helps develop meta skills for thinking, learning and acting in social worlds.
• Play facilitates perceptions of new connections across ideas, experiences, skills and knowledge.
• Play allows meaning to be constructed from experience.
• Play is intrinsically motivating, and this helps develop problem-solving abilities.
• Physical play builds brain connections and coordination.
• Exploration of feelings in play develop resilience, self-regulation and stress management.
(Educational Psychology Service)
‘Play creates a brain that has increased flexibility and improved potential for learning later in life’. (Lester & Russell, 2008)
Involvement in play stimulates a child’s drive for exploration and discovery. This can motivate the child to gain ownership over their environment, promoting focus and concentration. It also enables the child to engage in the flexible and higher-level thinking processes deemed essential for the 21st century learner. These include processes such as problem solving, analysing, evaluating, applying knowledge and creativity.
As with traditional approaches, play-based learning is focused on teaching and learning. Play can be in the form of free play (activity that is spontaneous and directed by the child), and guided play (also child-directed, but the teacher is involved in the activity as a co-player) with intentional teaching. Both have benefits for children’s learning.
To capitalise on these benefits, an optimum play-based program will provide opportunities for both free play and guided play theconversation.com/play-based-learning
Free play
Free play is typically described as play that is child directed, voluntary, internally motivated and pleasurable. One type of free play frequently endorsed is sociodramatic play where groups of children practice imaginative role play by creating and following social roles such as pretending to be different family members.
Guided play
This play refers to activities with some level of adult involvement to extend the learning opportunities within the play itself. Examples of adult-directed and mutually directed play Adult directed play can be modified by the adult such as changing a board game to include the practice of literacy or numeracy thinking skills. Mutually directed play allows the adult to observe and be involved without taking over. (observation of a child’s involvement of an activity where they then involve their peers) this allows children to work in a collaborative manner and research their roles i.e. learning walls.
The distinction between free, guided, mutually directed and adult-directed play is useful to examine the growing body of literature on different types of play based learning.
Why play matters!
One of the main ways’ children learn is through play and it is beneficial to their development. Children’s self-esteem and worth can be fostered through play as it allows them to feel good about themselves and their abilities. Children become absorbed in play because it’s fun and a wealth of learning happens as a result. Play is crucial for child development and should be an integral part of Early Years education and beyond. Many skills are fostered through play; language skills, emotions, creativity and social skills.
Through play imagination is nurtured and gives children a sense of adventure, due to these children learn vital skills like problem solving, working with others, sharing and much more. Adults have a vital role to play by ensuring there is sufficient time and resources available to support and extend learning and development.
“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” Joseph Chilton Pearce
What is the role of the teacher/adult?
Staff commit to providing high quality play experiences throughout the curriculum that will ensure that children are provided with a variety of opportunities to engage in structured play activities within a wide range of activities, of which the children can make secure links and build upon their knowledge and learning.
• The teacher will ensure that interventions will:
• Engage children’s curiosity and questions.
• Help children reflect and extend their thinking.
• Support children to solve their own problems.
• Challenge the children through questioning.
• Offer appropriate materials and activities to support all learners’ needs and abilities.
The teacher will ensure that observations of the child are conducted to assess each child’s unique abilities and talents. Staff will ensure that activities will be structured, well-planned for and have the appropriate resources to meet the developmental needs of each child. The foundation of these assessments will be based upon the child’s interests, to enable the practitioner to appropriately plan for their learning and next steps.
The teacher will ensure that observations are meaningful and respond to what they see to enrich and extend a child’s learning. Key points are to ensure that observations and assessments are:
• An effective use of time.
• Increase understanding of the child’s learning.
• Inform future curriculum decisions.
• Enable evidence of children’s learning.
In the early year classes at St Agatha’s we timetable our day to include periods of three different types of learning:
• Child-initiated learning – a learning activity that children initiate themselves, as opposed to learning activity that is initiated and directed by adults. Children plan and select their own activities, and adults participate rather than lead them.
• Teacher-directed learning – teacher leads and chooses the lessons and content recognising the need for certain new and specific concepts and skills to be taught.
• Teacher–initiated learning – teacher introduces a starting point, invitation, provocation, theme or stimulus to the play environment in the hope of capturing interest to create moments which further spark children’s play.
We hope that gives you an understanding of what ‘playing’ at school is. If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher.
