Searching for play in Early Childhood Care and Education policy
Alcock, Sophie
Date
2013Citation:
Alcock, S. (2013). Searching for play in Early Childhood Care and Education policy. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies. 48 (1) : 19-33.Permanent link to Research Bank record:
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/2617Abstract
Children (and adults) across all cultures play in culturally reflective ways (Goncu & Gaskins, 2007; Rogoff, 2003). Play is one of the most interesting characteristics of groups of children. Despite play being a preoccupation of most young children, and a desirable disposition for creative adults (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Sawyer, R.K., 2003) New Zealand Ministry of Education (MoE) Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policy and curriculum documents make little or no mention of play (1996, 2004–2009, 2011, 2012).
This paper explores the invisibility of play in official Ministry of Education (MoE) ECEC curriculum, assessment and policy documents and discusses possible reasons for this invisibility.