Essay: Critique of Play-Based Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education

This essay critically examines play-based pedagogy, a popular teaching method for early childhood education. It defines and explains the approach, highlighting its various types, such as sensory, socio-dramatic, and constructive plays, and their roles in developing communication, literacy, and cognitive skills. The essay then delves into the criticisms of play-based pedagogy, focusing on its child-centered nature, which can lead to unstructured learning experiences and a lack of teacher intervention. It also addresses the absence of evidence-based practices and the difficulty in measuring the impact of play on cognitive development. Furthermore, the essay critiques the effectiveness of imaginative play and suggests that the success of these techniques depends on the learners' backgrounds. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for structured implementation and teacher guidance to maximize the benefits of play-based learning.

Running head: Critique of play based pedagogy
CRITIQUE OF PLAY BASED PEDAGOGY

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Critique of play based pedagogy
Pedagogical teaching approaches are very helpful for teaching skills of
communication, literacy and language to the little learners. Among various pedagogical
approaches, the play based teaching approach is commonly regarded as one of the best
pedagogical approach for the learners belonging from the early childhood stage. However,
this pedagogy has its limitations and drawbacks. So, this study has been focused on a critique
of the play based pedagogical teaching approach in the context of teaching communication,
literacy and language. For that reason, this pedagogy has been defined, explained and
discussed n brief. Moreover, the critique has been based on the basic essence of this play
oriented teaching approach.
The play based pedagogy is a playful method of learning that helps the learners of a
very tender age to learn various skills such as communication, literacy, cognitive skills, and
motor skills and so on. The main purpose of this pedagogical teaching approach is to prepare
the learners of the early childhood stage for the upcoming learning journey. Learning
practices can be enhanced through a perfect application of this pedagogical approach in the
classroom (Pyle & Danniels, 2017). As an outcome, learners can learn to deal with various
real life challenges that ultimately enhance their problem solving and social skills.
In the play based pedagogy, the plays can be of various types such as sensory plays,
socio-dramatic plays, constructive plays, exploratory plays and imaginative plays. Each one
of the above mentioned type of plays serve a different purpose. For example, the constructive
plays allow the learners to create something out of the given materials on their own. On the
other hand, the exploratory plays allow the little learners to explore the world around them
slowly. Apart from these, imaginative plays increase the creativity level of the learners that
enables them to understand the abstract aspects of learning or the world in general. Moreover,
all of the above mentioned type of plays can be fruitful in increasing communication or social
skills of the learners.
There are many techniques of the play based pedagogy that are helpful for improving
the language acquisition abilities of the learners (Fesseha & Pyle, 2016). These techniques
include repetitions, extensions, parallel talk, and self talk and so on. The purpose of the
techniques like extensions and expansions is to improve the knowledge of speech, syntax and

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Critique of play based pedagogy
semantics in the little learners. However, all these techniques and types of play based
pedagogy have been criticized by many scholars.
The main essence of the play based pedagogy is that it is a child centered approach.
However, the child centeredness of this pedagogy increases the chances of unstructured and
unplanned play based techniques. As a result, the learners do not get the opportunity to
improve their communication and other skills. This implies that the lack of teachers’
interventions is one of the reasons behind getting critiqued. Thus, pre planning is highly
required that can be helpful in avoiding any accidental outcomes. It is important to create a
learning environment for the learners of the early childhood stage.
The apparent simple form of this pedagogy becomes a challenge for the teachers to
understand the complex nature of this pedagogy. Many teachers employ techniques of play
based learning without delving into evidence based practices (Honig, 2017). There are many
schools that employ these techniques without setting any goals. This implies that the play
based pedagogy is treated as a mere play time by the teachers. However, in reality, it should
be regarded as an effective teaching approach especially for the learners. Communicative
skills cannot be enhanced if the learners are left unguided by the teachers.
Thus, like any other teaching approaches, the role of teachers needs to be that of the
facilitators who can motivate the learners externally in order to build internal motivations in
them. On the other hand, there is a lack of research in the field of lay based learning that
leads to lack of evidence based practices. For that reason, it becomes hard to measure the
degree or level of improvements that each play based technique can have on the learners.
Consequently, the true value of this pedagogy cannot be proved until the importance of the
pedagogy can be measured.
Furthermore, the play based pedagogy can also be critiqued on the basis of the fact
that there is no detailed analysis of what the play does to increase the cognitive level of the
learners. For example, the constructive play techniques can visibly increase the constructive
or problem solving skills of the learners in the context of the play itself (Pelatti, Piasta,
Justice & O’Connell, 2014). However, it cannot be certainly claimed that these constructive
plays can be helpful in enhancing this skills in general. Moreover, the imaginative plays have

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Critique of play based pedagogy
been highly criticized as many researchers have opined that these make belief plays cannot
necessarily improve the creativity or social skills of the learners. Thus, the success rate of
these techniques does not always depend on the techniques themselves but on the learners
and their social and family backgrounds.
This study has focused on critiquing the play based pedagogy in the context of
teaching the learners of the early childhood stage. For that reason, the play based pedagogy
has been explained here. Furthermore, some of the major types of this pedagogy have been
discussed. The study has revolved around a critique of this particular pedagogical teaching
approach.

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Critique of play based pedagogy
Reference list 2
Fesseha, E., & Pyle, A. (2016). Conceptualising play-based learning from kindergarten
teachers’ perspectives. International Journal of Early Years Education, 24(3), 361-
377. Retrieved on: 24th Aug, 2019, From:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angela_Pyle/publication/301893757_Conceptua
lizing_play-based_learning_from_the_kindergarten_teacher%27s_perspective/links/
58ca99a892851c72629942eb/Conceptualizing-play-based-learning-from-the-
kindergarten-teachers-perspective
Honig, A. S. (2017). Language insights for caregivers with young children. Early Child
Development and Care, 187(3-4), 527-541. doi:10.1080/03004430.2016.1263917
Pelatti, C. Y., Piasta, S. B., Justice, L. M., & O’Connell, A. (2014). Language- and literacy-
learning opportunities in early childhood classrooms: Children’s typical experiences
and within-classroom variability. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(2014),
445-456. doi:10.1016/jcresq.2014.05.004
Pyle, A., & Danniels, E. (2017). A continuum of play-based learning: The role of the teacher
in play-based pedagogy and the fear of hijacking play. Early Education and
Development, 28(3), 274-289. Retrieved on: 24th Aug, 2019, From:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10409289.2016.1220771?
journalCode=heed20