Courses teach play is great way to learn

New courses at Emirates College for Advanced Education to emphasise the critical role of free and guided play in early childhood education.

ABU DHABI // New courses emphasising the crucial role of free and guided play in early childhood education will begin this autumn at the Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE).

“Students will learn best practices of play-based learning that incorporates cultural dimensions of play and awareness of the meaning of play within the UAE,” said Dr Mohammed Baniyas, vice chancellor of ECAE and higher education adviser to Abu Dhabi Education Council.

Students will learn how to teach the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) curriculum through play, while still focusing on academic outcomes to make sure that children were well prepared for primary school.

“They will learn about observing children, monitoring children’s progress, and ensuring that children develop their critical thinking skills from an early age while developing their knowledge of UAE heritage and culture through play-based activities,” said Dr Baniyas.

The classes are being introduced following the publication of a study that found education reforms in the emirate may be overlooking play in kindergartens in favour of academic performance.

Play is considered critical to a young child’s holistic development and future success.

“Through play, children – especially before the age of seven or eight years – develop a solid foundation for later academic success,” said Dr Francis Wardle, an American early childhood education professor and author of four books on the subject. “Many children who struggle in academics often have not been allowed to play.”

Dr Fiona Baker, an ECAE professor who wrote the study, interviewed 60 Emirati and expatriate kindergarten teachers and found that many “made attempts to embrace play in their classrooms”, but were often restricted by time and resources.

The teachers also felt pressured by government policies to focus on benchmarking and testing.

“There is not enough time in the day to play,” one teacher told Dr Baker. “I don’t think we should be learning letters the amount of time that we are. There is such emphasis on rote memorisation of letters, colours, shapes and numbers.

“There is very little emphasis on stories, meaning, building conceptual ideas, and fun in reading. I have seen wonderful classes internationally, which are play-based. I always would like to do this, but for some reason I think this is contrary to the main thrust of the curriculum which we are to follow.”

Some Arabic teachers said they felt their role was to prepare children academically for entry in Grade 1, according to the report, Tensions in Policy and Practice: Influences on Play in Abu Dhabi’s New School Model KG framework, published in Early Child Development and Care journal.

“Teachers were talking about, ‘It’s a drill and fill kind of day, we’re doing a lot on phonics and letters and numbers,’” said Dr Baker, who noted that the phenomenon of prioritising academics over play in early childhood education was not exclusive to the UAE.

“There is nothing wrong with the academic outcomes at all. I think that in kindergarten children should be learning literacy and numeracy. The question is how it’s done and to what extent it’s done. You can teach literacy and numeracy through play-based learning,” said Dr Baker.

ECAE’s dean, Dr Robert Milne, said the study had helped create awareness of the need for play in curriculum, but that more needed to be done.

“The research Dr Fiona conducted was preliminary and points to areas that should be probed in greater depth,” he said.

“The concentration will allow students to observe and work with models of best practice in Adec schools and develop their own perspectives and insights into play to relate to practice as they take up positions in Adec schools.”