Embassy of Finland!
20 November 2015
Playful Learning in Britain
David Whitebread
Faculty of Education
University of Cambridge
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/pedal/
Playful Learning in Britain!
The Pioneers
Margaret McMillan 1860-1931
–  Early work in Bradford: focus on children’s
health
–  Founded the Open-Air Nursery School &
Training Centre in Deptford for children 18
months to 7 years (and adult trainees) 1914
–  The Rachael McMillan College 1930
(merged with Goldsmith’s college in
1970): training teachers & nurses
–  Influenced by Rudolph Steiner/Waldorf
Education
–  ‘The Nursery School’
–  Importance of the outdoor environment
Playful Learning in Britain!
The Pioneers
Susan Isaacs 1885-1948
•  Malting House School, Cambridge
1924-1929
•  Influenced by Piaget
•  ‘The Intellectual Growth of Young
Children’ 1930
•  First Head of Child Development
Department at IoE, University of
London: course for teachers of
young children
•  Play is children’s work
•  Importance of child-initiated
activity & independence
Playful Learning in Britain!
The Pioneers
Donald Winnicott 1896 – 1971
– 
– 
– 
– 
Attended Jesus College, Cambridge
Pediatrician and Psychoanalyst
‘Playing and Reality’
Playing the key to emotional wellbeing in children and adults
–  Play fosters the ‘true self’ – feeling of
being truly alive
–  Importance for children of
‘transitional objects’
The British Infant School
•  Elementary Education Act 1870
•  Infant schools for 4/5 – 7 year old children
• 
•  strongly influenced by pioneers’ ideas concerning
importance of play
•  Plowden Report 1967 – child-centred education
1988-today: schoolification of early
education
•  Education Reform Act 1988; the National Curriculum
•  Early Years Foundation Stage 2006; 0-5 years; Key Stage
1; 5-7 years; subject-based, formal instruction
•  Cambridge Primary Review (Robin Alexander) 2009
–  ‘children in England leave behind their active play-based
learning and embark on a formal subject-based curriculum. For
many this process begins at four.’
•  Over-assessment/accountability: Baseline Assessment
at 4, Phonics test at 6; SATs at 7
EYFS Revision 2012:!
The Characteristics of Effective Early
Learning
•  Play & self-regulation
–  Playing and Exploring
–  Active Learning
–  Creativity and critical thinking
Play & Learning: what is the evidence?
•  Evolution of playfulness central to humans as a highly
adaptable species:
–  ‘Nature and uses of immaturity’ (Bruner, 1972):
–  Play in hunter-gatherer societies (Gray, 2009)
•  Supports healthy brain development (Pellis & Pellis, 2009: The
Playful Brain)
•  Supports key developmental abilities:
–  Symbolic/language development: Christie & Roskos , 2006)
–  Self-regulation (cognitive control; Hyson, Copple & Jones, 2007; Ponitz,
McClelland, Matthews and Morrison, 2009; Whitebread, 2010)
•  Strongly related to cognitive development (Tamis-LeMonda
& Bornstein, 1989) and emotional well-being (Bornstein, 2006;
Gray, 2011)
British research on early play and
learning
•  EPPE Study 2003-8
–  IoE & University of Oxford
–  Extended play-based pre-school experience (i.e. 3 years)
advantageous to children from disadvantaged households
•  School Readiness Study: Claire Hughes 2015
–  Centre for Family Studies, University of Cambridge
–  strongest predictor of language/cognitive development at starting
school; teachers reporting the child ‘talks about fun activities at home’.
Crisis in childhood: the loss of play
•  At school – now confined to 0-4/5 years
•  At home:
–  Stresses of urban living; traffic, fear of strangers
–  Increasingly supervised and structured by adults:
homework, classes, clubs
–  Loss of outside, risky, adventurous play in natural
environments
•  Peter Gray 2011 The Decline of Play and the Rise
of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents
But, hopeful signs in
Britain…
Play in Education,
Development & Learning
(PEDAL) research centre
University of Cambridge
All Party Parliamentary
Group on a Fit and
Healthy Childhood
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/pedal/
And internationally…
Dr David Whitebread
With Marisol Basilio, Martina Kuvalja and Mohini Verma
University of Cambridge
Thank you for listening!