The Erosion of Play in Early Childhood Education Frameworks

This analysis delves into the decreasing emphasis on play within early childhood education policies. It highlights contributions from scholars like Sophie Alcock, who argue that recent educational frameworks prioritize formal academic readiness over play-based learning. This shift is observed in various regions including New Zealand, the U.S., and Europe. Such changes potentially hinder children's holistic development—encompassing cognitive, intellectual, emotional, cultural, and social growth—as play has been traditionally recognized as a vital component for fostering these areas. The summary emphasizes the necessity to integrate meaningful play within educational systems to support well-rounded child development effectively.

Running head: PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Executive Summary
Engagement in playful activities ensures not only cognitive and intellectual development
among children, but social and emotional competency as well. However, over the years and
with the changing trends in the education sector, the implementation of play in the early
childhood education has become a much neglected issue. The reasons behind this can be
stated as the highly competitive academic environment where parents and teachers are
constantly striving to give the children formal education preparing them for academic
success. This decline in enabling children to engage in free play in their early childhood
education is a rising global concern This paper aims at analyzing the issue of the replacement
of play with academic stress on literacy and numeracy in the education of young children. To
serve this purpose, the paper examines an academic research paper and aligns the arguments
put forth by the scholar with the arguments of three other scholars supporting either
completely or partially the arguments of the main paper under evaluation. In conclusion, it is
obvious to state that the disappearance of play in the education of children is a neglected
issue on the global level.

2PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

3PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Introduction
Most research claim that young children especially the ones in their early childhood
learn in the most effective manner through experiences of play that are meaningful. However,
over the years, the trend has arisen that demonstrates a decline in learning through play and
instead a more academic nature of the preschool curriculum has become prominent. This is
mostly because parents, teachers and other education officials have shifted their focus from
learn-through-play to a more organized and academic learning for the children in their early
childhood. In fact, playing outdoors has become a less prioritized experience even though
children are more probable to gain and build the foundation of their academic and practical
knowledge through free and active playing. In this context, the thesis statement of the paper
is that there has been a steady decline in the provisions and policies for play in early
childhood education. To this end, the paper examines Sophie Alcock’s academic paper on
‘Searching for play in Early Childhood Care and Education Policy’, published in the New
Zealand Journal of Educational Studies in the year 2013. The paper provides a critical
analysis of the stance of Alcock that despite much emphasis that is given on the importance
of including play in the early childhood curriculum, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of New
Zealand and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) does not provide much
importance to the implementation of play in the early childhood education.
Discussion
There has been an evident disappearance of children’s play from the current policies,
documents and curriculum of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). However,
there has been a prominent growth in the global transformation of children’s learning into
highly academic dimensions. This is demonstrated in the recent policies of the ECCE. The
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that it is the inherent

4PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
right of children to play (Alcock 2013). In the recent times, a report by the International Play
Association demonstrated that neglect of play for children has become a rising global concern
providing excess pressure on the children towards academic achievement (Alcock 2013). The
cause for this neglect has been identified as a lack in the awareness among the adults of the
necessity for play in the development of children. Alcock (2013) is of the opinion that the
neglect in the realization of the importance of play in the ECCE stands on an illogical ground,
as it is a known fact that initiative and imaginative play contributes highly towards the
development and learning of children. She demonstrates how in the past decade,
notwithstanding the growth in the scholarship of educational play, the freedom of the children
especially in their early childhood has been endangered more than in the 1990s. Alcock
(2013) presents a wide view on the complex nature of play and playful attitude and identifies
it with the ways of adults for connecting, understanding, creating and relating with children.
According to Alcock (2013), learning is a process that is relational and is associated with
work, play, care, development and love all of which are important to the concept of play in
the sense of a verb. Hence placing this statement in context of the settings of the ECCE it can
be stated that play forms its ways in enabling the children to demonstrate playful curiosity
and to be creative and imaginative collectively.
Alcock (2013) discusses on the various stances of the ECCE theorists regarding play.
These theorists can be generally divided into two categories of different understanding of the
nature and importance of play. These two categories are sometimes contradictory and
overlapping. While one group supports and promotes all play forms, the other category is
more inclined towards concentrating on the educational and instructional play. The second
category of theorists focuses on the necessity of the creation of situations and environments
offering extensive opportunities for imaginative play supporting the development and
learning of children (Alcock 2013). In this context, it is important to note that teachers play a

5PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
key role for the promotion and creation of play that is appropriate towards the development
of children. This can be done by the creation of environments that engage children in play
through play spaces that are rich in literacy and supports the imagination of the children
while keeping in mind the learning outcomes. Such a method also requires teachers to engage
in playful activities with the children ensuring success in the educational agendas (Alcock
2013). The first category of the theorists consider the rights of the children to play to be an
aspect of fundamental freedom that is related with both the physical and emotional
development in children. These theorists stand for the importance of play of all kinds while
not undermining their educational aspects as well. They consider play to be inclusive of more
agendas other than just learning. They are of the opinion that play is an integral element of
most of the creative processes.
Keeping in mind the above-stated contradictions in the nature and importance of play
it can be stated that theorists of educational play have often been under misinterpretation and
under-presentation due to their narrow and limited understanding of educational play
associated with the trends in policies and curriculum that place its focus mostly on the
academic and cognitive aspects of learning. Alcock (2013) is therefore, of the opinion that
confining play within the dynamics of control transforms it into a play-less educational
process by resisting freedom that is the fundamental essence of play. Moreover, given to the
recent trends, active and free play does not fit with the educational agendas easily. Moreover,
the theorists who accept all forms of play for children to ensure physical and emotional
development fails to align children’s play within an academic framework (Alcock 2013). To
state the obvious, children’s play faces possible danger when placed in the sense of a right in
simplistic terms as well as when placed as the natural being of children.
The Early Childhood Curriculum of New Zealand, Te Whariki, includes implicit play
within the curriculum definition as the collective response of both indirect and direct

6PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
activities, experiences and event occurring within an environment created for the
development and learning of children. The official webpage of the Early Childhood
Education (ECE) of the Ministry of Education (MoE) provides a very narrow understanding
of the curriculum. The ECE curriculum demonstrates focus on the early childhood learning
assessment as preparing the young children for school (Alcock 2013). It states its emphasis
on the development of children through literacy and numeracy. This demonstrates a bleak
future for the Early Childhood Education Curriculum (ECEC) that is evidently play-less. The
development of children demands growth in all spheres –social. Emotional, cognitive,
cultural, spiritual and physical. The concepts of play, care and development have been under
and misrepresented in ways that are reductionist as demonstrated in the curriculum and
policies of the ECCE (Alcock 2013). Although, a discourse of learning dominates the
framework of the policies and curriculum of the ECCE, the understanding of the policy-
makers of the concept of learning as a holistic development has degraded into a narrow
domain of academic focus reluctant of including appropriate play in the children’s
curriculum.
The curriculum for early childhood learning in New Zealand, Te Whariki, mentions
play on a minimal and superficial level as one of the other 22 goals that it propagates as part
of the curriculum (Alcock 2013). It mentions that the children will be enabled to experience
an atmosphere where play will be identified as important and associated with learning that is
meaningful and that the necessity of spontaneity will be realized. At this point it is important
to mention that the concept of play and playful attitude include much more than exploration
that is future-focused. Many of the other 21goals of Te Whariki do not even indicate the
involvement of play (Alcock 2013). In fact, it is evident that not one play scholar was
involved among the developers of the curriculum while structuring the curriculum. ‘Kei tua o
te Pae, Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars’ are assessment examples in

7PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
early childhood curriculum of New Zealand that demonstrate the value of learning helping
the community of learners to gauge the diverse and ongoing pathways of learning (Alcock
2013). Most of the books included in this series of examples place priority on the learning
dispositions of each children and hence ignores the complex understanding of children
playing and connecting with each other while creating relational meaning. Alcock (2013)
states that the weakness of the Te Whariki is that it fails to use the word ‘play’ appropriately
and efficiently which makes its position and approach towards play vulnerable. However, it
provides a framework that might be able to involve the concept of play as an activity
especially if the concept of playfulness is applied relationally to the learning process and
attitude.
Bearing with the above stated arguments put forth by Alcock (2013) in her paper, it
will not be incorrect to say that there has been a decline and degradation in the understanding
of including play in the early childhood learning curriculum. Losing sense of the necessity of
play in the learning programs of the children in their early childhood is a rising global
concern. Educational authorities fail to provide as much value and emphasis on the
importance of playfulness and play in children’s learning as is placed on the importance of
development of literacy and numeracy among children. Most of the research conducted have
proven and established a relation among play, literacy and numeracy as it is widely believed
that educational creativity, curiosity and collaboration are effectively induced in children by
ensuring their engagement with others through play. The strength of Alcock’s paper lies in
the firm affirmation of the problem of declining implementation of play in the early
childhood curriculum. Alcock impressively presents in an organized manner the importance
of including play in children’s education policies. However, despite such firm evidence and
organized presentation of the paper, it must be noted that Alcock fails to provide a detailed

8PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
and practical solution to the problem as well as provides a vague overview of the problem on
a global level.
The arguments placed by Alcock can be supported by the views of other scholars as
well who have equally addressed the problem of the disappearance of play from early
childhood learning. Darbyshire (2007) claims that with the rising understanding in
technological and instrumental knowledge, parents have been highly influenced towards a
performance oriented upbringing of the children that is highly driven by results and solutions.
Children are confined within a structural and active discourse that prevents them from just
playing. That is to say, children are no longer allowed to play in their free mind just for the
sake of playing. Children are no longer free to imagine and fantasize just for the sake of
dreaming (Darbyshire 2007). The present educational curriculum demands high and adequate
productivity form the children as evident from the rising shift and transformation of the toy
shops into centers for early learning. It is a rising trend that children are often trapped indoors
in a harmless environment. Moreover, any outdoor activity of the children is closely
supervised by parents and adults. Hence, it is realized that the childhood of the young
children are bound within strict adult confines that simulates an adventurous playground
where the harm is minimized (Darbyshire 2007). This hinders the free emotional, cognitive,
physical and practical development of the children. Children’s play have lost its fundamental
essence due to the continuous efforts of the adults of turning play into a purposeful and
meaningful activity.
Brooker and Woodhead (2013) argues in support of the importance of play in
childhood. Supporting Alcock’s case in this context, Brooker and Woodhead (2013) claim
that the importance of play in childhood is seldom recognized by the government despite the
repeated emphasis on the necessity of play regarding the development of children health,
learning and well-being. The children of the present generation fail to recognize their right to

9PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
play on a complete level. Brooker and Woodhead (2013) argues that the children brought up
in Europe and North America are primarily occupied in playful activities. However, in the
larger part of under-developed and developing countries, play is considered to be a secondary
requirement. Instead, children are expected to help with the common chores of the household
(Brooker and Woodhead 2013). It must be realized that playing ensures emotional regulation
among children enabling to handle stress in the future. Furthermore, the universal
conceptualization of play leads the playful activities to lose their vitality. In order to
overcome such challenges of universalizing the concept of play, the importance of play must
be understood in cultural contexts understanding the potential of play in promoting the
development and well-being of children in both encouraged as well as restricted
environments. Brooker and Woodhead (2013) argues that the present generation views the
time in which children engage in playful activities as non-productive and deficit. In fact, the
increasing pressure on children to achieve academic success is reducing the legitimacy of the
necessity of play in the curriculum. In fact, the early childhood curriculum focuses widely on
formal learning and academic targets at the cost of the engagement of children in play to
achieve wider learning outcomes (Brooker and Woodhead 2013). Moreover, children are
often engaged in homework and extracurricular tuition providing them no free time to initiate
playful activities.
Nicolopoulou (2010) argues putting forth the scenario of the United States of America
(U.S.A.) that play is being driven out of the early childhood education in America. The
scholar argues that the facilities of play in the preschools and pre0kindergarten have been
significantly replaced by the focus on providing direct instruction to the children towards
inculcating academic skills. The focus on the content-based and academic approach to pr-
school learning has been brought about at the cost of an approach that is more children and
play oriented as well as is more constructive and have been dismissed and ignored as obsolete

10PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
(Nicolopoulou 2010). These tendencies towards a play-less children’s learning have grown
with the support of the parents, administrators of school, politicians and professional s of
child service. Moreover, there is evidence that the resources available in the preschool
training aims mostly at a formal education preparing the children for school. For example, the
early childhood curriculum usually maintains an emphasis on the early attainment of literacy
skills that are trending. This is usually supported by parents who desire their children to get
the best training preparing and getting them ready for school. Nicolopoulou (2010), however,
argues that although free play initiated by a child is important for the necessary development
of the child, it is necessary that there must be some guidance offered in that context. What he
means to say is that free play does not essentially mean enabling the children to play without
any adult supervision and guidance. Additionally, the solution to the increasing academic
instruction that is imposed upon the preschool children is not to engage them in periods
offering free play. According to Nicolopoulou (2010), it is important to design an organized
educational plan that would incorporate the play element in a systematic manner into the
curricular plan such that it would promote development and learning among children. It is
possible to make this happen by the adults without hampering the natural and initiative
engagement of children. To state in simpler terms, free play as well as meaningful learning
through play both should be implemented centrally in ensuring appropriate and high-quality
preschool education (Nicolopoulou 2010). This is because the shifting nature of the
preschools into academic dynamics helps in the identification of the importance of literacy
for the long-term academic success of children (Nicolopoulou 2010). Moreover, it is also
important to note that cognitive development is not sufficient and that social competence is
also important for the holistic development of the child which can be brought about through
playful activities that also contribute towards the cognitive accomplishments of the children.

11PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Conclusion
In conclusion, after examining the academic paper by Sophie Alcock and other
arguments by different scholars supporting either completely or partially with Alcock’s
arguments, it can be stated that play is an important element contributing towards the
effective development and learning in children in their early childhood. It is evident from the
above arguments that there has been a steady decline in the implementation of playful
activities in the early childhood education curriculum hindering the free development of the
children. It is also evident that the present time preschool education demonstrates and focuses
widely on imparting formal education developing academic readiness for school among
children and paying little or no attention to the need for a playful environment for the
development of cognitive, intellectual, emotional, cultural and social development of
children.

12PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
References
Alcock, S., 2013. Searching for play in early childhood care and education policy. New
Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 48(1), p.19.
Brooker, L. and Woodhead, M., 2013. The right to play (Vol. 9). The Open University with
the support of Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Darbyshire, P., 2007. Childhood': are reports of its death greatly exaggerated?. Journal of
Child Health Care, 11(2), pp.85-97.
Nicolopoulou, A., 2010. The alarming disappearance of play from early childhood education.
Human development, 53(1), pp.1-4.