Why we need to stop hijacking childrens' play under the guise of "interest based learning"

By Nicole Halton from InspiredEC

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about interest based learning. As someone who worked with young children in the early 2000s, when the concept of "emergent curriculum" was quite popular, I have always been a proponent of interest based learning. I always felt that by observing the children and understanding what they were interested in, I would be able to plan a program that facilitated those interests. Yet, over the last few years as my understanding of play has deepened to a level I perhaps never thought possible, I find myself critical of the concept of interest based learning and to be quite honest, of the whole concept of a program.

Recently I have been listening to the Child Care Bar and Grill Podcast series on Peter Gray's definition of play. We were fortunate enough to bring Peter to Australia a few years back (and again later this year - yay!) and I greatly admire his work, but it has also really challenged my thinking about what we do in early childhood. I feel like everything I learnt at TAFE all those years ago, and even when doing my degree, actually has very little bearing on how I view early childhood education now!

Almost daily on various early childhood Facebook groups, I see questions such as "my toddlers are interested in trucks and only want to play with the trucks in the dirt, how can I extend that?" followed by an abundance of suggestions for songs, books, craft activities and other ideas for "extending" the truck interest. Every time I read these I wonder - why are we hijacking children's play?! Why can't we let them play in the dirt with the trucks for weeks on end if that is what they want to do? Why do we feel the need to do more than that? Surely children can be trusted to direct their own play and if that looks the same for weeks on end, is that actually a problem?

I feel like the early childhood profession has come a long way in recent years, with most educators and services claiming to value play, yet I wonder if they truly understand play. I don't say this to be condescending. I was once there myself. I was always looking for the children's interests and then latching on to them and launching projects (some of which, I might add, lead to some amazing discussion, insight etc.) and thinking "yes, I am facilitating children's interests and play." But, as I do more and more research on what play really looks, feels and sounds like, I know that I was so far from the mark.

I find myself daydreaming of what I would do now, with the knowledge I have now. I would start by ditching the "program". Although our program was always very basic, there was still the expectation that there would be things added to support children's interests. If we have an environment where children are free to explore, create, access materials and have meaningful connections with adults, who are responsive to their needs/requests etc. for resources to build on their play, then is there a need for that to be planned a week in advance?

Instead of focussing on getting educators to plot out the program and link to the EYLF, I would focus on inspiring educators to be critical thinkers and to respond "on the fly", to question, to reflect, to adapt the environment in response to the children's play. I would spend more time being present than "observing" or "supervising" or even getting involved in the play. I would spend less time creating Pinterest worthy small world scenes and more time embracing the messiness of children's play, when they are free to play in the way that they desire. I would give children more time. Time where they choose what it is that they want to do, how they want to do it and who they will do it with.

Okay, it sounds like some sort of play utopia to me, but I know that there are educators out there reading this and thinking "you're crazy lady." And… maybe I am! But I honestly feel that we have gone too far. We have injected ourselves far too heavily into something that should be natural to children. We are guilty of micromanaging children's play to the point where it no longer resembles actual play, and is now some sort of play mutant. You might also be reading this and thinking that not doing a "program" would be lazy or poor teaching.

In fact, I think it is quite the opposite. When we plan a week (or even more) ahead, listing what we will do and how we will do it, it is easy for our practice to feel routine or mundane. We have a pre-conceived notion of what each day will look like. On the contrary, when we have no real plan (that is, the plan belongs to the children) we need to expect the unexpected. We need to be more tuned in to the play, we need to be more responsive, we need to be able to think on our feet. That's exciting! There will also, no doubt, be educators saying "but what about routine, that's important" or "how will they be ready for school?"

My answer to those sorts of questions is usually that there is enough routine in a child's day without adding more, and just because you give children control over their play and their time, does not mean that they won't actually embrace some sort of routine for themselves - we need to give them more credit. The school "readiness" thing is something that get's me worked up and I have blogged about it many times before, but I can say with confidence that the research supports play. Children have opportunities to develop the physical, social and emotional skills needed for the transition to school, during their play. They have 13 years to sit at a table and write, to sit cross legged on the mat for story time, to count to 100 or recite their ABCs - early childhood need not be the place for this. We have a brief window (how I wish it were more) to embrace play in its truest form, let's not invade that with unnecessary expectations and rote learning!

As educators (and as a society in general) we need to give play back to children. We need to let them do with it what they will.

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By Nicole Halton

* I strongly recommend reading Peter Gray's article (hyperlinked above) and also listening to the Child Care Bar and Grill Podcast series on "defining play"

* I may have borrowed the term "hijacking play" from the amazing Kisha Reid from Discovery Early Learning Center

This article has been reproduced with permission from InspiredEC