Play in the Junior School – becoming master players
SEMINAR
Play is considered to be highly significant for young children’s learning and development, and there is substantial research to support the benefits of many different forms of play in early childhood (Broadhead, Howard and Wood, 2011). However, within the ‘play as education’ literature, there is an assumption that play tails off beyond the age of five/six years old, and that children gradually make the transition to more formal activities, in which productive ‘work’ takes priority. This assumption is exacerbated by ‘anti-play’ ideologies in which recess time is banned, risky play is constrained, and computer-based games have drawn disapproval from the ‘toxic childhoods’ discourse. In this presentation, I will discuss research on progression in play, on how play develops over time, and the forms of play and playfulness in which older children engage. Drawing on sociological and anthropological perspectives, I will identify the benefits of play activities as social and cultural practices in relation to concepts of power, agency and control, and in developing ethical identities in play (Edmiston, 2008; Millstein, 2010).
Date: Tuesday 8 May Time: 3:30 pm for a 4:00 pm start until 5:30 Reply to: Anthony.shearer@acu.edu.au
Venue:
Australian Catholic University 1100 Nudgee Road Banyo Room NA 07