On Tuesday November 8, a Mail & Guardian Critical Thinking Forum will be hosted at the Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria by the department of basic education, Cotlands and Unicef, with support from the Lego Foundation. This public forum will bring together experts in the field to discuss the role of play in early childhood.
According to Yulia Privalova Krieger, deputy representative, Unicef South Africa, speaking at PLAY: The Conference in July this year, “Play is a fundamental child right.”
Researchers agree on the importance of play for young children and warn that reducing playtime in favour of classroom time isn’t as beneficial as it may appear. Josie Gleave and Issy Cole-Hamilton, writing for the British Toy & Hobby Association and Play England in 2012, found that “playing is central to children’s physical, psychological and social well-being. While playing, children can experience real emotions, create their own uncertainty, experience the unexpected, respond to new situations and adapt to a wide variety of situations. Play enables children to form friendships and attachments to adults and to places, allowing for the development of familiarity and intimacy with both. It can provide opportunities for independent learning and building confidence, resilience, self-esteem and self-efficacy”
However, a Lancet study from October this year showed that “the proportion of children younger than 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries at risk of not attaining their developmental potential because of extreme poverty and stunting remains high (43%).” It claims that a staggering 279-million children in these countries are affected. Early childhood development in South Africa has to address this.
Towards such a goal, a partnership was announced earlier this year between Cotlands, Unicef and the department of basic education to train 150 000 South African teachers and early childhood development practitioners on play-based learning. The scheme, which uses forms of learning like gamification in a web-based community, will begin as in-service training, but will later be integrated into the curriculum for an early childhood development degree programme to be offered in the future.
The Critical Thinking Forum will explore how play works for young children’s development and how learning through play in the home and classroom can be used to form foundations in creativity, reasoning, problem-solving, communication and other skills.
The Critical Thinking Forum will begin at 18:30 at the Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria. For more information or to reserve your spot, contact Mahlodi Makate ([email protected]) or Thato Lekitla ([email protected])