Benefits of play lost in a system locked on learning

Play time is on the decline at home, in childcare and in the early years of schooling, causing concern for educators and parents.

Sisters Jaylyn and Lillian Start enjoy the great outdoors at Russell Brown Adventure Park in Perth. Picture: Colin Murty.

Play time is on the decline at home, in childcare and in the early years of schooling, causing concern for educators and parents.

Early Childhood Australia is working on a play strategy model that it says could be adopted ­nationwide to restore play to its natural role in child development. A major problem was teachers being mandated to put more time into explicit instruction of children aged three to five, to ­prepare them for literacy and numeracy testing, said Sandra Hesterman, director of early childhood at Murdoch University.

“It means play is disappearing and more structured, sedentary programs are being put in their place,” she said. “Even in childcare centres, the impact of ‘schoolifi­cation’ processes is evident with a ­reductionist focus on getting children ready for school.”

The decline in play appears to be borne out by findings released this month from the largest global study into physical activity in children aged 2-5. In the two-year Child’s Play study, activity monitors were placed on 1600 children at more than 100 Perth childcare centres and at home.

The study found 66 per cent of children were not getting the nat­ionally recommended “more than three hours” of daily activity.

Early Childhood Australia ­national president Ros Cornish said the WA chapter was being “actively encouraged” to develop a strategy to counter the “teacher-driven push-down approach” that had marginalised child-initiated play. She said the pressure of early testing, fear of litigation in “risky” play settings, and parents not being educated about the value of play were all factors.

Mother of four Christine Start said she supported the push for more play. “Kids just aren’t ­designed to sit down, and formalised learning doesn’t take into ­account a young child’s developmental steps,” she said.

For daughters Ebony, 3, Lillian, 8, Jaylyn, 10, and Ashlea, 12, she found early learning settings that balanced directed learning with play time. “I’ve been lucky — there’s the blocks corner, the home corner where kids can role-play by themselves,” she said.

But Danielle Linthorne had to find the money for a private pre-primary school for her super-­active son Byron, after the five-year-old said he didn’t want to go to class.

“At his age, he’s not designed to sit on the mat,” she said.

Dr Hesterman said: “The fact is that play is disappearing.”