Recently New Zealand has been honoured with visits from some of the most highly regarded international movers and shakers of the education world. In March, Sir Ken Robinson presented his vision for an education system that values creativity, innovation and curiosity as precursors to successful student learning outcomes. More recently, Pasi Sahlberg has shared the many components of the Finnish education system that has seen it highly regarded and successful on the international stage. Both these educational leaders, alongside their esteemed peers, all advocate different aspects of a very similar message. That an education system needs to have a firm foundation of key values and principles that reflect the society in which it is created to serve. Sahlberg has spoken recently about the importance in obtaining equity within an effective education system. A system which serves all those within it, rather than those who have access to it, or those who can succeed within it. Robinson has continually advocated for those who are often overlooked for their creativity within the traditional school setting.

The past decade has seen New Zealand education following in the shadow of other international education initiatives intent on ensuring higher academic standards and teacher accountability, among other foci. Much of this policy direction has resulted in similar outcomes to those seen in the United States and United Kingdom, from which inspiration for these approaches was taken. Those vocal in their concerns regarding this direction have, on many occasions, promoted alternative models, such as the Finnish and other Scandinavian systems. Similarly, many have journeyed to Reggio Emilia for Early Years inspiration. These systems reflect approaches that are developmentally responsive, focused on holistic learning and have at their core values that reflect key 21st century skill development. So why then does New Zealand continue to look to less successful international models for inspiration?

With the recent reform initiatives now underway in New Zealand, perhaps it is time to ask some more deep seated questions about what underpins our education system and what values should inform the direction this system should head in. Sahlberg, in his recent New Zealand events outlined the value wellbeing has within Finnish society, and therefore how it is reflected in education policy. He advocated moving from a focus of achievement, to one of equity, best achieved through holistic approaches to teaching and learning. Through equal access to education, children have the same opportunities to high quality learning. This, in turn, leads to a sense of well-being and self-efficacy, and potentially a desire to contribute back into New Zealand society.

So what values would reflect New Zealand if policy were formed around what Kiwis hold near and dear to their hearts? What does it mean to grow up in New Zealand and participate in an education system that reflects the most important values of all Kiwis? New Zealand has a reputation for hosting a range of adventurers, innovators, pioneers and DIY’ers. The Number 8 wire mentality that sees Kiwis macgyvering their way through life. Whether Māori or non Māori, our ancesters all arrived here through the challenges of a sea voyage to a place so far south of anywhere else known to our early ancesters. If a new immigrant to New Zealand, the decision to uproot from what is known (whether by choice, or by situation) and relocate to a small country at the bottom of the South Pacific is an equally adventurous one to make.

So we are bred from some adventurous stock, putting ourselves into a situation where we are required to overcome challenges in order to better our ‘lot’ in life. However, this adventurous streak didn’t stop in our relocation to Aotearoa. New Zealand is proud of its adventurous leaders, including Sir Edmund Hillary, Jean Batten and Sir Peter Blake travelling around the world to conquor further challenges. Equally adventurous and legendary within New Zealand were Māori adventurers, such as Kupe and Tamatea, exploring the ruggedness that was Aotearoa in their day.

Not just adventurous and resilient to challenges, Kiwis also hold their own against the wider world when it comes to innovation and creativity. Whether we are exploring scientific thought through chemistry by splitting atoms (Sir Ernest Rutherford), or contributing to world-leading DNA research (Maurice Wilkins); thinking creatively and innovatively on battlefields (Te Ruki Kawiti, Charles Upham, Keith Park), or behind the scenes in espionage (Nancy Wake); inventing and innovating in out-of-the-box type thinking (Robert J Dickie, Ernest Godward, Colin Murdoch, Burt Munro and John Britten) or contributing to the world of culture and creativity (Sir Peter Jackson, Frances Alda, Colin McCahon and Katherine Mansfield); and leading social change by inspiring others to challenge injustice (Kate Sheppard, Rewi Alley, Dame Whina Cooper) New Zealanders have not sat complacently on our island of paradise waiting for the rest of the world to lead the way in adventure, creativity, innovation and world change. This spirit has driven New Zealand to be a highly regarded, small but fierce leader that the world, at times, is required to sit up and watch. Our anti-nuclear stance and our protests during the Spring Bok tour all demonstrate that we may be little, but we have a lot to contribute.

So what does this mean for our current education reform? Should we be modelling our ideals, our education values and aspirations from those countries who seem to be getting things right in their neck of the woods? Or should we be looking back on what drives our nation, what we have already done and what we will have to contribute in the future? New Zealanders have all the values we need – we don’t need to be aspirational from other countries. We have all the experience we need – we have and continue to meet many challenges as our society learns to knit together from all walks of life and background. So perhaps it is now the most ideal time to really decide, as a nation, on what our values and ideals are as Kiwis, so that we can establish our own pathway as educational leaders of the world. So that we can set our own path to meet the educational needs of our future generations, through the lense of values and principles important to New Zealanders instead of following the lead of others. Whatever the direction our education reform discussion heads in, one piece of advice policy makers should heed is Sahlberg’s warning – to rush reform is to ruin it. This is a considered process and should be given the time it warrants. Only then will education policy truly be built on a firm foundation of true Kiwi values.

When the coalition government was confirmed last week, I joined with many of my teacher colleagues in a frenzy of jubilation and relief as we comprehended the significance of this outcome on the future of NZ education. One campaign promise, in particular – the abolishment of National Standards policy that has plagued schools since its introduction in 2009.

But after the initial elation and resultant hope that those in education experienced upon hearing the appointment of the new Minister, the reality of what this might mean for many teachers is beginning to creep in. There is little debate among educators that the Standards were having a significant and detrimental impact on our students. Furthermore, teachers were faced with the enormous workloads, over-testing and pressures to ‘get kids’ to the standard which, in turn, were sucking the joy out of teaching at all levels. However, at the signing of the coalition, and the confirmation from Minister Hipkins that the standards were to be abolished, so began the rhetoric about what these might be ‘replaced with’.

For those who have taught before the Standards era, there will be the vague recollection of the introduction of the New Zealand School Curriculum Document in 2007. This document signaled an approach to education that reflected international evidence of the need for integrated and holistic opportunities learning opportunities for our students. At its inception, it was lauded as a world-leader, innovative and reflective of the type of ‘21st Century learning’ that our future students were facing.

From this document came tools for teachers to specifically measure the progress of their students in the key areas of literacy and numeracy. The Literacy Learning Progressions, a document that describes specific literacy knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students draw on in order to meet the reading and writing demands of the curriculum; and the Number Framework enabling teachers to clearly establish their students’ current knowledge and mathematical skills, and determine the next point for them in progressing this knowledge and skill base.

With the arrival of the National Standards, so too was the well-orchestrated public perception that up until their arrival, teachers were not actively involved in the assessment and documentation of their students’ learning progress. That they were almost ‘winging it’ when it came to knowing what current skills and knowledge their students had, and were not actively planning for and responding to these in order to progress this knowledge and skill base. These Standards were clearly needed.

The vision, values and other learning areas of the New Zealand School Curriculum subsequently took a back seat. Literacy and numeracy were elevated to being the key focus of learning that teachers needed to focus on in order to demonstrate that they were doing their job, and that they could progress students to a stated benchmark.

The predicted side effects of the arrival of the National Standards also came to pass. Reduction in time spent on learning areas such as the Arts, Health & PE, Sciences and Social Sciences. Reduction in opportunities for students to be creative, innovative and develop problem-solving skills and independent thought. Reduction in time available for those ‘teachable moments’. And teacher well-being impacted negatively, with excellent practitioners leaving the classroom.

So what now? How do we recover from nine years of National Standards policy and the resultant side-effects? There will be a significant portion of the teaching profession that have not known any other system to work within. Their entire career has been governed by this policy. There are also an overwhelming population of teachers that, through no fault of their own, have not been supported to develop their knowledge of the New Zealand School Curriculum document and the way it was intended to be implemented.

The intense focus on literacy and numeracy reporting has had the side effect of a lack of time to measure progress in other curriculum areas. Concernedly, many teachers now worry that they will be faced with ‘more work’ as they are required to assess the other areas of the curriculum. Some of our teachers simply won’t know how to assess areas such as the arts and social sciences. There are many teachers who have invested a significant amount of time and energy into establishing (now well embedded) systems of assessment and reporting, and invested in training of the use of such tools as PaCT.

Many will be wondering ‘what on earth were the last nine years all about’?

If the new government is serious about aligning New Zealand education to successful international models that incorporate integrated and holistic curriculum delivery, soft-skill and executive functioning skill development, coverage of STEM and the Arts and a promotion of creativity and innovation, they need to provide teachers with significant support to do so in the post-Standards era. Not only have sound teaching practices been systematically eroded over the past nine years, but teacher confidences have been stretched to dangerously low levels.

To rebuild these, teachers need to feel valued and supported. The government can communicate the way in which the profession is valued, by providing significant professional learning support for teachers to confidently deliver the New Zealand School Curriculum in the manner in which it was intended.

Furthermore, teachers need support to understand that the Standards don’t need ‘replacing’ with another form of assessment or reporting. Instead, teachers should draw on what we have always done and the tools we have at our disposal to adequately determine the progress of our learners. The Literacy Learning Progressions and the Number Framework can sufficiently provide the data required in order to inform the teacher in their response to their learners.

Finally, teachers need ongoing professional learning support to understand what learning is important for our 21st century learners, and how the learning areas of the curriculum can be integrated in such a way that meets the needs of our students in order to prepare them for a future workforce that will continue to look drastically different from our current one.

The damage caused by the National Standards policy of the previous government will not be easily undone. The side effects have had somewhat of a cancerous impact on our education system, and a careful approach will be needed in order to support teachers through this next transition.

However, the feeling of hope and optimism that has ensued following the confirmation of the coalition government does provide a positive outlook for the redirection we are about to encounter. We have a government espousing a desire for policies that are more aligned to evidence-based practice than we have ever had in recent times. We have a Minister knowledgeable on the needs and wants of the teaching profession, and above all has demonstrated he is connected and is listening to the ‘ground’ – unlike our previous Ministers. Time to put on the kid gloves and go to work!

Longworth Forest selected as part of

Finnish "HundrED’s 100 Global Education

Innovations Project"

Longworth Forest, a private education initiative for 5 - 7 year old children in Napier, New Zealand, has been announced by global education non-profit HundrED, as one of its 100 innovative education projects across the world, all of which have been gathered over the past two years.

HundrED aims to share inspiring ideas and projects across borders to help improve the future of education globally. To achieve this, a team of researchers investigated innovations from around the world to determine 100 projects that are changing the face of education. The innovations were identified through research, events and recommendations; over 700 projects were evaluated based on their originality, impact and scalability.

Longworth Forest was chosen due to its unique pioneering status and ability to create a scalable impact. Longworth Forest was established in Poraiti, Napier, in 2014 by Linda and Bruce Cheer, and seeks to provide children 5 - 7 years of age with safe and semi structured opportunities to experience risk and challenge, to problem solve and enterprise, all at the child’s own pace. It is a child led approach which gives children the power to initiate and drive their own learning, to make meaningful choices and to discover and develop their interests. Through regular outdoor play, children learn to develop positive relationships with themselves and others as well as a bond with nature and an understanding of their place in the natural world. Parents choosing to have their children attend Longworth Forest cited a desire to delay formal education for their children, all the while building and maintaining confident learning dispositions as well as literacy and numeracy skills required as they moved into more formal education settings.

Linda Cheer at Longworth Education said: “We’re so pleased to have been selected as one of HundrED’s 100 global innovations. The project was created to ensure teachers are able to engage learners, and improve outcomes. Being offered the opportunity to extend this beyond New Zealand using the HundrED platform is amazing and we are excited to see just how much further the project can be scaled.”

The selected 100 projects cover various fields of education from learning environments and holistic well-being to collaborative learning and game-based education, as well as a range of themes including small teacher-led practices, ambitious not-for-profit initiatives, viral Edtech products and unique whole school models.

Saku Tuominen, creative director of HundrED, said: “Longworth Forest clearly stood out to us as a project that needed to be shared with the world. Being able to showcase these innovations marks the beginning of a drive to get all teachers involved in revolutionising education. We will continue to encourage as many schools and organisations as possible to get involved so that we can work towards a positive future”.

To share the projects, HundrED has created an online platform so that educators around the world can trial and review Longworth Education and all the other innovations using the resources, for free. To explore the global innovations, please visit: www.hundred.org

More information about the project can be found by visiting: Longworth Forest, Longworth Education and www.hundred.org.

One of the biggest perceived barriers schools face when choosing to implement a learning through play approach is a fear of the response from their parent community. Many schools worry that their parents will believe that the school, in adopting play as the medium for which teaching and learning will be delivered through, will ill-prepare their children for the competitive world of employment in the future.

While there are certainly pockets of parents who misunderstand the complexity of the learning that occurs through what appears to be trivial play, there are more and more parents who are now seeking something different for their children. They see that the current system is causing increased anxiety, school-reluctance and low levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy. In other words, their children worry about going to school, don't want to go to school, and don't believe that they are capable learners, or that they are successful in their learning.

These are very real concerns for parents, battling with sad, disconnected or reluctant children in their homes day in and day out. While work force preparation and capability is certainly an important goal for all parents, what outweighs all other concerns is their child's happiness and well-being. For parents who have seen their child move from a learning environment that causes this level of stress, into learning through play, the outcomes far outweigh any future concerns about their children's preparedness. Research demonstrates that children who learn through play and are self-directed in their learning have increased rates of motivation for school, along with other well-documented benefits such as increased self-efficacy, confidence and resilience. Anecdotally, parents of these kids tell us that their children can barely stop for a kiss goodbye at the school gate. They enjoy seeing their children run towards their classroom already with plans afoot for their morning of learning ahead.

And while there is the continued rhetoric that children must be prepared to be successful in the workforce, the actual conversations that parents want to have is whether or not their children are making progress in all areas of their development. More and more parents recognise now that while reading, writing and maths are important tools for success, many more want to know that their children are liked by others, can play cooperatively, can manage themselves independently and responsibly and can overcome problems and challenges. They now see that in the 21st century, these skills of flexibility and adaptability supercede any basic skills of literacy and numeracy. In other words, children who grow to be kind adults, flexible problem-solvers, independent, resilient and responsible are more likely to be successful in the workforce than those who are not.

So while parent communities should and are being consulted in the move towards a learning through play approach, schools should be reassured that there are more and more families now that simply want to see their children happy and secure at school. To garner this support does require consistent and ongoing education and information being provided to parents. Schools who have experienced concern from their parent communities are often the ones who have implemented changes without adequate notice and preparation for their families. As such, parents have expressed their concern and objection to the 'new' ways of learning occurring in their children's classrooms. At the opposite end of the spectrum, schools who have adopted a measured, educative response to their communities have only been met with support and positive feedback from their parents. When parents feel they understand and are aware of the benefits, the pedagogy itself is accepted as a valid way of improving their child's whole-development.

Too often, the education community in its enthusiasm can alienate itself from its 'clients' by adopting a 'we know best' approach. When schools respectfully take the time to ensure their communities are well-informed about the major changes occurring in the teaching practices in their classrooms, parents are far more likely to be supportive of the approach. Furthermore, many become a valuable resource in the implementation themselves - providing loose parts, advocating the work of the teachers to other parents, as well as sharing learning stories and learning vocabulary with their children.

While there is a long way to go in embedding a positive understanding of the power play has in the primary school classroom, there is a momentum growing within parent communities. This should be celebrated by schools and seen as a positive shift towards supporting this teaching and learning approach. The perceived barrier of 'parents' in a school's implementation of play should not be the large hurdle it may appear. In defense of parents - schools need to start the conversations......they may be pleasantly surprised with the outcomes.

In the era of Modern Learning Environments and all the various rhetoric around what constitutes 21st Century Learning Environments, one key point seems to be lacking in the conversation. Money is heavily invested in making our learning environments look ‘modern’ (bright colours, lack of walls, access to alternative working spaces) and teachers are required to adapt to these environments and ‘move with the times’.

But for all the investment in these spaces, and the focus on responding to a new ‘type’ of learner, the key ingredient in any successful learning journey is under-funded, under-resourced, and under-supported to ensure this is money well spent.

The teachers operating in these environments find themselves being thrown into the new spaces facing the inevitable steep learning curve that comes with a significant veering ‘off course’ of traditional teaching pedagogies. Those funding the provision of these environments have a sort of ‘she’ll be right’ approach to supporting the teachers moving into these spaces, with many often expecting teachers to adapt quickly and respond promptly to the various challenges modern-learning provides.

Why is this? Why is there a fairly relaxed approach to ensuring teachers have the adequate knowledge and skills to teach in ways that enable modern learning environments to be responsive to 21st century learners? Perhaps because the pivotal role the teacher plays in this type of environment is so very misunderstood.

Teachers working in these environments, seeking to gain the outcomes modern learning approaches provide, are challenged beyond any previous trends in education to be highly creative, responsive and innovative with their learners. The teacher’s role in an MLE requires a high degree of skill and expertise if the learning outcomes are to demonstrate the success sought by those implementing these approaches.

So what are these skills and why are they so significant for our learners? Creativity is required now of teachers in ways previously unknown in the classroom. The creative teacher has always been a gem, a hidden sort of jewel amongst the profession. In a MLE, these teachers can excel in creating exciting and passionate opportunities for learning by their students. They can extend learning far beyond the monotony of the traditional classroom. But creativity takes time to blossom. It takes time to plan and grow. And in an age of extreme workload, the creativity of teachers, is limited to moments between assessments, reporting, planning and inquiring.

Creative teachers create creative classrooms. Creative teachers create creative students. 21st Century learning advocates cite creativity and innovation as leading ‘soft skills’ for our future workforce. School managers, educators and the wider education community acknowledge the importance creativity plays in a child’s learning journey. And yet, little time is allocated for both teacher and student to foster creativity in the already jam-packed school timetable. Teachers need to be able to move into the mind-space to become creative in their practice.

With any MLE, teachers need to move away from replicating the traditional classroom practices within a brightly coloured, open-spaced, jam-packed MLE, and be enabled to respond to this learning space with creativity, flair and innovation. Teachers need time to move into this creative space. Teachers need support to understand that teaching in this environment looks fundamentally different to the more traditional single-cell approaches many (if not most) have trained to work within.

The result of teachers feeling supported to understand their role in an MLE? The student outcomes sought by those promoting this modern learning approach. Teachers will come to understand how crucial their role is and feel they have the time to create the sort of learning opportunities available to students within these environments. They will move away from some of the practices inhibiting creativity in the classroom and model the kinds of thinking needed by the learners before them. They will see themselves as part of the learning journey, rather than the expert in the room. And the physical space will work to support all learners, rather than simply be another ‘pretty’ space with untapped potential.

Creativity is a key skill of any effective teacher. Within a modern learning environment, it plays a significant role in generating the soft-skills required of our modern learners. And yet, creativity is difficult to generate with the myriad of workload requirements faced by teachers presently. For modern-learning environments to be successful, it is the role of the teacher, not the physical space, that is the key ingredient to successful student outcomes.

Before I decided to become a teacher, I tried my hand as a travel agent. The idea of travel and exotic places as a career really excited me and I, at age 18, enthusiastically entered the vocation with ideas of glamour and adventure.

The reality, however, was a little more sobering. Most of my time as an agent was about sending other people on exotic adventures, while I, remained behind the desk, on a telephone and computer ensuring nothing went wrong. My working week was consistently mundane and predictable. I was due in at 8am and clocked out at 5pm. I had a series of jobs that needed doing in the morning and a series of wind-down jobs as we closed the shop at night. I had a responsibility to report to my boss, provide information about my clients, ensure sales targets were met and make sure I wasn't putting anyone in danger, or at the very least sending someone somewhere without the appropriate visa or legal documentation.

Life was predictable, consistent, non-creative, and boring. The most exciting responsibility I had was to come up with a new window display to encourage people it was time, in the middle of winter, to book a holiday to the tropics.

So I decided to answer the call to teaching - a call I had been ignoring for a significant amount of time. My rationale for becoming a teacher - life was never dull, never predictable and working with children allowed me to be creative and imaginative, and to have fun in my profession. Being a teacher would not only challenge me but provide me with academic stimulation, as I was a learner in the journey of life just as much as those learning alongside with me.

And this rationale was very much answered when I entered the teaching profession as a beginning teacher almost two decades ago. Within the structure of a profession that asks for and should have accountability, I was able to be autonomous in my style of teaching. My methods of delivery were not put under a microscope, but were celebrated, by carefully considering those children who would be placed in my classroom. Children who would connect with me, and I with them. It was not a judgment call, but a recognition of my ability as a teacher to speak to some children more successfully than others. Other children were placed carefully with other like-minded teachers. There was a trust that our unique teaching methods and styles would get the job done.

The autonomous nature of the teaching profession was a big selling point for me in choosing to become a teacher. The professional trust communicated to me early on in my career allowed me to work extremely hard to be the best teacher I could be. I wanted to do the job more than well, because I enjoyed it, because I was dedicated to my students, because I wanted my management team to continue to have faith in me, and because I relished the idea of being creative and adventurous with my kids. I wanted my kids to enjoy the learning adventure just as much as I did. I achieved this in a teaching culture that did not question my every decision or every bit of assessment data. I achieved this by not feeling like someone or something was waiting for me to 'mess up', or slack off, or demonstrate that perhaps I wasn't a 'good enough' teacher after all.

This teaching culture did not require me to teach reading at the same time as the rest of the school - just so that the school could say without a doubt reading was being taught. This teaching culture trusted that I, the professionally trained (degree-holding) educator, also believed teaching reading was fundamental to my role (let alone crucially important) and that it would happen every day (as I was trained to do).

This teaching culture did not require me to hand in my planning every week, or month, or term and microscopically examine it to identify where I may have missed a dotted i, or a crossed t, indicating I was an inept professional. Instead, I was trusted to have my plan and only needed to show it if an issue arose where we needed to reflect on a way to tackle the issue in a different way - going back to the start and looking at a creative alternative to solving a problem instead.

This teaching culture did not look for the deficits in my assessment data, raising an eyebrow if I had some (or in some cases nearly all) students 'below' a standard or target....as if I may have been simply slacking off that week causing thus causing the slump in the data graph. Instead, if I had a concern about the progress of a child (and yes, I was concerned as a teaching professional) I could confidently discuss these with others without fear of being judged in my teaching ability.

As I weave my way around New Zealand, working now with teachers, I am sad that this teaching culture, for many, no longer exists. This culture of professional trust and professional dignity is being eroded and replaced with one that has teachers......good teachers......looking over their shoulders and feeling devalued as trained professionals. Teachers now are being treated with distrust and contempt.....questioned by those without the knowledge or skills to be able to stand in front of a class of 30 children and get through the day while remaining sane.

The culture of standardisation, 'outcomes' and 'accelerating achievement' is sucking the very life out of a profession that draws its strength from those who can work in an environment of autonomy, creativity, flexibility, and at times mild-madness. Many teachers I meet have been working 'on the shop floor' for well over 30 years, and who have sound and proven skill as practitioners. They know how children learn best, and how to establish a learning culture in their room that provides the necessary conditions for children's successful learning. And yet they express a frustration that they have lost that autonomy to be the teacher they know to work - because of the requirement to be able to justify and explain every single decision they make. This culture of mistrust is extending its tendrils across the country and into our classrooms in an epidemic manner.

Just as the standards approach sucks the very joy out of learning for our students, so too, does it suck the very joy out of teaching for our most successful and talented teachers. It does this by communicating to these teachers they are not trusted, not valued and not respected as the qualified and experienced professionals they are. We often ask our teachers, when they visit a doctors surgery and received a diagnosis - do they challenge the doctor? Do they question the doctor's credentials, or perhaps suggest that they re-read the text book with which they consulted? When a plumber responds to the call to fix a blocked pipe - do we suggest they need to use a more appropriate tool from their tool bag, or perhaps a different diameter pipe to better do the job? Do we ask to see their rate of success on previous blocked pipes?

Why, then, are we doing this to our teachers? Why do we allow the culture of teaching to be bullied by those without the professional knowledge, academic understanding or simple courage to stand in front of a class of children on a daily basis? Perhaps its time, as a profession, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and bravely challenge those challenging us. For this is what we would tell our students in the face of a bully - stand up for yourselves and be confident in your skills, talents and abilities as the trained professional you are.

As an advocate and facilitator of play based learning I am in contact with teachers who are at varying stages on their play based learning journey. Making connections with like-minded practitioners is to say the least uplifting and inspiring.

We are kindred spirits who share a common belief and understanding of the way children learn. Kindred spirits help us to continue our journey. They question and challenge our practice from an informed view point. They support us through the difficulties of swimming against the tide. A kindred spirit also supports us when we find it difficult to understand the practice of teachers who make ill-informed choices about their classroom practice.

Teachers who not only treat play as a Trojan horse but also alter its name cannot claim to run authentic play based learning classrooms. If we question young children who are playing as to what they are doing what will they answer? I guarantee it will not be "I'm discovering", "I'm inquiring", "I'm active learning". If we want to capture the child's voice then let's use their voice - "I'm playing".

By opening our minds and our understanding of play it will become clear that the notion of timetables for learning become a nonsense. Young children do not learn in subjects. They learn through play all day. Timetables are for adults. So, interrupting a child's play for a whole class teacher directed lesson invalidates the value of play. It says "now the real learning begins".

Teachers who run authentic play based learning use the word play and try to ensure interruptions during the day are at a minimum. They recognise the learning embedded in play. They see links to the curriculum and understand holistic learning. Play is valued.

These teachers are confident in their understanding that play is the highest form of learning for their children. I urge these teachers to find kindred spirits and continue their journey safe in the knowledge they are providing the very best environment for their learners.

Kia kaha.

As a researcher, facilitator and advocate of teaching and learning through play in the primary school sector, I am continually asked “it all sounds great, and we know the benefits – but what do we call it….because it can’t just be called play”.

Decades of research provides evidence that play is the most valuable and successful way in which children engage in learning. Through play, children can build all the necessary skills and knowledge required of them in readiness for adulthood. Social-learning theory, constructivism, cognitive development theories, socio-emotional theories and physical development theories all uphold the power play has in the holistic development of children.

More recently, neuroscience has also identified the important link between learning through play, physical movement and the successful development of key executive functioning skills now viewed as paramount for the adult workforce.

Yet in the face of the mountain of research, primary school educators still avoid at all cost the use of the word play to describe the teaching and learning pedagogy within their school setting. In primary-school based literature itself, play is not a useful search term to input. It simply brings up very little with regards to the play - by researched definition- that equates to powerful learning opportunities for children.

Instead, educators look for ways to camouflage play pedagogy in a myriad of other packaged-type terms. ‘Enriched curriculum’, ‘discovery’, ‘developmental’, ‘powerful learning activities’, ‘active learning’, ‘student ownership’ – all terms used by schools to justify the use of play pedagogy in their learning environment.

The need to package and market play suggests that educators are yet to truly understand and value the importance and validity of play as a powerful tool to support children’s learning. It demonstrates an almost embarrassment at something that seems so trivial as being so vital within the school environment. It also indicates a wariness of image and appearance – that play does not look like ‘real learning’, hence the need to make it sound as important as it is with a more academic title. Parents, who vote with their feet, may not accept a school’s competency to provide maximal learning opportunities for their children because by all appearances children are ‘just playing’.

A further paradox in calling play by its name exists in the mere fact that the light-heartedness of play is key to its very success. In needing to call play something else – a more formalised label for example – educators contradict the very essence of what makes play so effective.

Children do not see play as difficult. Play may be a challenge, but often it is the challenge itself that makes play even more enticing. At no time, however, should true play be rigorous and laborious (as often much of formal schooling tends to be). The fact that play is light-hearted and fun contributes to its profundity. By renaming play we extinguish this very characteristic, and in turn reduce its effectiveness.

If we continue to be embarrassed by a term such as play it will never be used as a valid form of teaching and learning. In avoiding the use of the word play it can only be assumed that educators are embarrassed that something that appears so trivial can in fact have such an impact on students’ learning.

Would this be the case if the terms were ‘reading’ and ‘writing’. Why are these terms so readily accepted, and play is not? Reading is not marketed as an ‘Accessing Visual Information for Purpose (AVIP)’ program. Writing is not validated as an ‘Effective Communication Skill Development (ECSD)’ program. Yet both reading and writing have a depth of skill and knowledge within their ‘label’ that is not fully understood by those untrained in the teaching of these areas.

Play is the same. Play, as a teaching and learning tool, cannot be easily defined or explained in a single term. The teaching skills and learning outcomes associated with authentic play are multi-layered, as is with the teaching skills and learning outcomes associated with reading and writing. And yet, the terms themselves are widely accepted by all within the greater school community. Play as a term still struggles to join this party.

How does play become accepted as a valid and powerful teaching and learning tool? By starting with being called what it is. Play. Educators need to stop trying to camouflage the pedagogy by calling it something other than what it is. It should not be embarrassing to say that the way in which children learn best and in a meaningful way is through play.

Teachers know what works for children. Teachers understand what is developmentally appropriate for their students. Parents and the wider school community need to be supported to understand this also. By using the word play as part of an evidence-based, carefully considered and professionally implemented pedagogy, teachers can ensure play gets the recognition it deserves and is accepted as the valid and powerful learning tool it is designed to be.

When children are engaged in dramatic, creative play of their own choosing, they are operating at a high level of cognitive and social development. Dramatic play allows space for the development of executive functioning skills, identified now as key skills for the modern adult world.

Almost three years ago, when Longworth Forest opened it’s doors, creative, dramatic play occurred occasionally. Now, I am privileged to observe this type of play happening on a daily basis.

This week, a large branch from a gum tree was felled in order to make room for a tree house. Once the area was safe, our learners couldn’t wait to visit the site. After an initial explore, our current urge for enclosures and hut building began. The first afternoon was taken up with dragging branches to the site.

Although the first constructions were made by individuals or small groups, the high level of co-operation among our learners no longer surprises us. Branches were shared along with any problems that individuals happen to experience. Some branches were too heavy, so the older learners were only too happy to help fix them into the best positions.

Work continued on the first afternoon for well over an hour. There was time for some risk taking. The tree stump was just too inviting!

Just climbing along the felled branch proved to be risky for some learners.

The next day, we took our lunches to the huts to enjoy the feeling of being enclosed.

After lunch the enclosures suddenly changes shape and the two main ones were joined together to form one large construction that could house everyone. This seemed to”just happen” with very little negotiation. Here is the final structure.

On the third afternoon, again by mutual agreement, the building phase was over and the dramatic play began. As with all creative, dramatic, play the twists and turns in the plot were hard for an adult to follow. I do know there were a number of tigers who had to be captured and trained. The most magical part of the play was their decision to create a new language. Our learners made up their own special way of communicating by substituting and altering letter sounds There was no place for adults in this self chosen play. No adult could teach or prepare for this level of learning. Once again it was a privilege just to observe.

As a part-time educator and homeschooling family, we are extremely fortunate to be able to enable individualised and tailored learning opportunities for our children within our home-learning environment. When I work with teachers to examine how to do just this in a class-setting, I am very mindful that being responsible for two children’s education is entirely different to that of 30 children in a classroom. I do wonder how the same principles of wondering and curiosity can be encouraged in a classroom setting. Many working in such a busy learning environment will find it very difficult to have rich conversations with their students particularly directed at an individual’s interests and passions. Why is this? Why do the sheer number of children make this a barrier to being able to scaffold our children’s learning desires?

For many teachers it comes down to the programming. Focused on teaching to a specific subject in a compartmentalized way, or ensuring that children are working to an arbitrary timetable, teachers are constantly engaged in ‘busy’ work. ‘Busy’ with groups, ‘busy’ with whole-class, ‘busy’ with those highly challenging individuals, But simply ‘busy’. Teachers do not allow themselves time to simply ‘be’ with their learners in the classroom. When a teacher is the main Traffic Management Controller and Keeper of all Knowledge, they simply do not have the time to listen, observe and most importantly, converse with their students in an authentic manner.

And authentic is the key concept. Sure, teachers will engage in an ‘oral language’ activity with their students. They will facilitate a discussion regarding the lesson focus. But how many teachers can say with any conviction that they sat alongside their students while they were engaged in topics they were very passionate about, and simply conversed with them? That they were able to talk about an enormous array of topics and authentically allow the conversation to go where the students directed it? For many teachers, while the desire to do this is very real, the reality is that the pressures of school timetables and external policies means that time is far too precious to engage in authentic activities.

So how can teachers create these more authentic learning opportunities and rich conversations with children? How can they pose ‘wonderings’ and ‘curiosities’ that enable them to learn more about the students they are responsible for and their passions? How can they even spark a passion or an interest?

By changing the classroom program.

Rather than being in control – the Keeper of all Knowledge, or Traffic Management Control – that the reins are handed over to the students to do their own ‘wonderings’. The role of the teacher then becomes a much more active and equal one within the authentic learning the children engage in. Rather than directing the learning, the teacher becomes an observer of the learning, judging when it is appropriate to provide a scaffold to new ideas and knowledge, when to be a resource provider, when to be a commentator and when to be a silent partner in the process.

It is a far trickier role to have, as the students’ ‘guide’ than the traditional role teachers have held since the establishment of the western schooling system. In fact, it can be absolutely and utterly exhausting. I find, with the intensity of our children’s learning passions, my brain is somewhat of a quagmire as I have had to keep one step ahead of the children’s learning throughout the day! I have to be able to recall where to find interesting facts and figures that might extend the curiosity of our children’s areas of learning. I have to be able to quickly think of possible suggestions, terminology and resources to point my children towards in order to further their learning experiences. And this is exhausting. So times by 30 and this is a potentially very intimidating concept for even the most adventurous of teachers.

And yet, it can be done. And the more children are supported to take control of their learning passions, the more enjoyable teaching becomes for the teacher. The role changes, but if it is to be anything like what we experience as home learners, it is so much more rewarding to see how far children will extend themselves when truly passionate and engaged in their own self-chosen learning. The possibilities are endless.

So look for authentic learning opportunities and reconsider your role as a teacher…….Keeper of All Knowledge……Traffic Management Controller……or Authentic Adventurer alongside the students themselves?

-Learning at Longworth Forest-

How many Parents and Teachers take the time to sit and watch a child’s dramatic play? The demands placed on our daily lives do not often allow us the privilege of spending time observing and listening. If we decided to prioritise what learning is important in the classroom, we may be able to make time for this important practice.

This week I had the privileged of sitting and observing a group of Forest learners during their self chosen dramatic play. Firstly, they constructed a new bridge between two existing structures. This bridge building required some planning, an understanding of stability and a great deal of team work. Trial and error followed the planning, the bridge was constantly tested to see how strong and stable it was and then finally, our learners knew when it was completed because everyone could stand on it safely. The conversations and discussions throughout the process were constant. Each learner learning from each other.

After lunch the bridge turned into a boat as did the two other bridges. Our learners divided themselves into boat builders and proceeded to work in these small groups to load their boats with provisions for a ” trip to London”

The provisions were made from natural materials in the Forest. Soups and stews were concocted from grasses, moss and dirt. The scurrying around for these resources happened naturally without interrupting the flow of the dramatic play.

Next, oars were needed. Spades and sticks were transformed.

One of our learners suggested they all take photos as they sailed past the Queen’s palace. Then, quite abruptly, boats became pirate ships! Another call went out that sharks had been spotted and they all had to save themselves. The separate groups joined together to assist one another with words of encouragement. So engrossed were these learners that no-one was aware I was observing and taking photos.

Not only should we take the time to observe children at play but more importantly we should allow time for children to play. Providing time for uninterrupted creative, dramatic play ensures that our learners are operating at the highest level of creative thinking.

We cannot effectively teach the skills that these learners practised during that afternoon. I could only observe and marvel at their social skills, their problem solving and their creativity. The twists and turns occurred quite naturally in their narrative and in the way they organised their social groupings.

I am so pleased that time enabled this to happen.