"It's not dead, but it's dying."
That's the warning from education experts who say the demise of play-based learning for Australian four and five year olds in schools is a crisis that demands attention.
![Research clearly shows the benefits of play-based learning.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170913133143im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/e/z/l/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gyetpn.png/1505180193481.jpg)
Childrens' advocacy group Early Childhood Australia is leading the charge for change to a system in which they say some schools are providing little or no play-based learning for even their youngest students.
ECA WA committee member Sandra Hesterman, who is Director of Early Childhood Education at Murdoch University, said the demise of play-based learning in kindergarten and pre-primary had sped up over the past 10 years, with Western Australia and Tasmania the states moving fastest towards more structured classroom environments and teaching styles for even the youngest students.
![Dr Sandra Hesterman sends her student teachers out to schools to learn best practice, but many come back without being ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170913133143im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/e/z/m/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gyetpn.png/1505180193481.jpg)
She said early childhood teachers often felt their practice was being compromised to suit the demands of the curriculum. Pre-primary classrooms now looked like Year One classrooms.
There were reports that in many WA pre-primary rooms the home play corner, blocks and easels had disappeared, she said. Sand and water play were gone. And now these things were starting to disappear from kindergartens where three and four year olds spend their days.
Comment: 'We must act now to protect our children's right to play'
As someone with a unique insight into exactly what was going on in classrooms, through the eyes of her student teachers, she said she was prepared to step forward and take on the issue on behalf of children. A groundswell of advocates, experts and parents were behind her call for the state government to lead the development of a WA Play Strategy to protect childrens' rights to play.
![Anna and Billie Weiser from White Gum Valley enjoying some creative play.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170913133143im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/e/z/l/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gyetpn.png/1505180193481.jpg)
"Alarmingly there is evidence the very word 'play' in early childhood education has become problematic and play itself has become a contested activity in schools where sedentary and rote learning have taken stronghold of the early years curriculum," Dr Hesterman said.
"While the nation has a mandated Early Years Learning Framework to ensure the provision of high quality play-based learning, the reality is child-initiated and self-directed play has been marginalised to such an extent in WA that pre-service teachers have very limited opportunity to see it in practice when completing their school practicums."
![The competitive nature of some parents is a factor in the demise of play in childrens' lives.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170913133143im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/e/z/l/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gyetpn.png/1505180193481.jpg)
National and international research showed play-based learning was the best way for young children to develop skills. Many parents were realising the pressure put on young children is increasing. Their teachers knew what was happening now was not best practice. But the top down approach, a greater focus on test scores and the competitive nature of society swept them along.
"It's really ringing alarm bells," Dr Hesterman said.
The child's right to participate in child-initiated play, to self-direct learning as you would expect, and what we have always had in the past, is disappearing.
"The sense is that while I think teachers are cognisant that there are changes in the curriculum, they feel that the pendulum has swung too far.
"The child's right to participate in child-initiated play, to self-direct learning as you would expect, and what we have always had in the past, is disappearing."
What makes the demise of play-based learning more difficult to address is the extent of the problem is often hidden. Teachers do not speak out about concerns for fear of upsetting their employer. Parents go with the flow. Schools chase better NAPLAN results. Children, many of whom are just three years old when they start kindy, bear the brunt.
"Schools internally assess how they're fairing in terms of the implementation of the national quality standard," Dr Hesterman said.
"That process is not transparent or accountable to the wider Western Australian community."
Dr Hesterman said her student teachers were being sent to schools to complete the practical part of their degrees, but reporting back to the university that they could not fulfil the practicum criteria. They needed to learn how to engage children in play-based learning in the classroom by watching experienced teachers do it. But there were schools where it was not possible to get hands on play-based learning experience. There was no play.
"That's a real crisis situation for me, we may end up with a whole new generation of teachers, early childhood teachers, who may have read about the importance of play-based learning but they're not actually getting the experience of observing it in action," Dr Hesterman said.
WA and Tasmania were the most extreme examples of the swing away from play in schools.
"Our demise and pressure for formal learning on young children is more significant," Dr Hesterman said.
"I think one of the reasons for WA being that way is our four and five year olds are coming into the school system, whereas in other states those children would still be in early learning and development centres. Our four and five year olds come under primary school administrations.
"The model in WA and Tasmania is less play based. It's not something that occurred overnight but I believe it's at crisis point now because I can't get my pre-service teachers seeing it in action."
ECA WA was calling on the West Australian State Government to lead the development of a WA Play Strategy, that would protect the rights of children to learn through play and ensure greater transparency so that the community was aware of what is happening inside schools.
The government-led strategy, developed in partnership with key stakeholders, experts and advocates, could be similar to strategies already in place in Scotland and other countries around the world.
"If we have a play strategy and somehow it enables some surveillance of the quality of play-based learning then we wouldn't be having this discussion," Dr Hesterman said.
"But at the moment there is no monitoring, or it's internal auditing. The school might just say, we are working towards it, and that's good enough."
Western Australian Council of State School Organisations president Kylie Catto said more parents were raising concerns about the structured nature of early childhood education.
"They feel that it doesn't fit with what the early childhood experts are saying," Ms Catto said.
"They're worried about the effect it will continue to have on the children. A lot of them are saying they think it's a negative impact in terms of their children's opportunities to practice skills like different forms of communication, taking on challenges and taking on problems in fun and enjoyable ways."
Parents did not want their young children sitting still too much. They did not want their creativity stifled.
"We have had similar feedback from some early childhood teachers who are parents," Ms Catto said.
"They are similarly concerned that at the schools that they are in, the focus is more on that structured learning and less on the play. As early childhood professionals, and as parents, they're not supportive of it either."
WACSSO supported the development of a WA Play Strategy and was happy to work with government on this.
"Parents want their children to be happy, stimulated learners," she said. "With the absence of play this is not supported.
"We don't want that fun and enjoyment to go out of the early years because we think it sets them on a good path for the future."
WA Education Minister Sue Ellery has met with Dr Hesterman on the issue.
When asked about the concerns raised by Dr Hesterman and her call for a WA Play Strategy, Ms Ellery responded:
"A balance of play-based experiences and literacy and numeracy programs using an explicit approach is what works best.
"There are no plans to change the statement that informs and guides early childhood teachers and school leaders."
Dr Hesterman said the recent changes to how children are taught could be underlined by the new narrative about 'school readiness'.
"Prior to more recent times, it was always the case that the school would be ready for the child," Dr Hesterman said.
"Because there was an appreciation, and a valuing, that there was a lot of diversity in the community and so when children first commence school there is all this cultural and linguistic diversity.
"How would the school accommodate it and value it?
"Now the narrative is, the onus is on parents to get your kids ready for school."
The pressure starts earlier. Children are conscious of expectations and their ability to deliver on them in the classroom.
Dr Hesterman said the decline in play-based learning in schools had happened under the watch of the WA Education Department. The new strategy needed to be led by the state government, with help from key stakeholders and childrens' advocates.
"If we have a play strategy and somehow it enables some surveillance of the quality of play-based learning then we wouldn't be having this discussion," she said.
"But at the moment there is no monitoring, or it's internal auditing. The school might just say, we are working towards it, and that's good enough."
The growing backlash from parents, teachers and advocacy groups was not going to go away while the problem still existed, she said.
"The government needs to be proactive in this space….at the moment it's all very airy-fairy. Ad hoc.
"Some are doing it, and some are not. But increasingly, they're not."
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