Suzanne Axelsson on Being Play Responsive

Photo by rahmat taufiq on Unsplash

Suzanne Axelsson, who presented at our Kootenays/Vancouver Coastal training, discusses in a recent article the difference between ‘play-responsive’ and ‘play-based’ work with children and the roles of playworker/fritidsledare - wrap around care leader in an educational setting.

Suzanne Axelsson outlines the differences between ‘play-based’ and ‘play-responsive’ as follows:

Play based can be interpreted as the teaching is based on play, the learning is based on the play... which technically immediately stops it being play and becomes a lesson or an activity (which of course can be exciting, fun, and engaging - but is not the children's own play that they can choose to participate in, choose to quit when they want, or have any real sense of agency or autonomy over).

Play- responsive indicates that my teaching, the learning and the activities are in response to the children's play. This means I need to set aside time and space for the children to engage in their own autonomous play that I (or any other adult) interferes with, unless it is a matter of safeguarding. I am observing this play - it informs me of the children's interests, the children's abilities, their competence and capabilities, their interactions, their needs etc... I write down notes, take films and photos etc to ensure I don't forget and can also see patterns, or return to and reflect on over time.

Responding can be adding/changing/removing materials, changing the environment, introducing new knowledge through books, films, experiences, visits, dialogues...

The response strives to be in tune with the needs, abilities and interests of the children as adults and also as a group.

In an educational setting, she notes that the playworkers will notice things about the children that teachers often don't get to see as they are busy communicating information and seldom see the children engaged in freeform play. A playworker is able to create opportunity for the children to explore and enhance ideas being introduced in the classroom by making suitable materials/resources/stuff available for the children to explore concepts, or process thinking, through play. “This means it is a choice, not a must for them... otherwise it would be a playful activity that the children engage in to explore the concept - which I am all for, but it should not replace the play.”

She stresses that “it is absolutely necessary that children access adequate amounts of just play - no agendas... just play. Adults can be a part of that play... but they need to let go of their agenda, they need to be aware of the power imbalance and counteract that and they need to know when to step out and let the children get on with it.”

The Original Learning Approach involves both allowing for free play and also responding to that play as an educator to facilitate children’s learning and understand:

As a play-responsive teacher you need to slow down and observe the children and the play... to really take notice of what you see (look closely) and what you hear (listen closely) - with your ears, eyes, heart and mind - hear, see, have empathy and think critically and creatively. If we are in too much of a hurry, and the agenda is dictating the pace then it will become harder to notice the multiple things that occur and only on those that fullfil the agenda or disturb the agenda.

We also need to be focusing on the relationships... our relationship with the children, with the space, with time, with the stuff, with what we know and what the children know, with stereotypes and bias... just as we need to support the children build relationships with all of these - with us, with each other... because if the children are not able to listen to each other then the power balance will always weigh heavy of the adult side of the fulcrum. Reciprocity, democracy, collectivity, equity are all important words to connect to relationships.

We also need to be constantly researching... our observations of the children at play are a part of this research - but equally important is to dip into trans/interdisciplinary research theories (both theoretic and practical knowledge) to learn more. There is no point observing that some children struggle with an area of learning or play if you are not going to research how you can best respond to that - either by changing the play landscape, and/or by designing experiences (so both your playworker and pedagogue roles).

Noting how play time allows children to process constructs and make connections, “the creative process of reworking the facts, skills and knowledge that they are co-constructing with you”, she comments on how:

Within the Original Learning Approach my role as a play-responsive educator is to ensure that children can access wonder, curiosity, joy, knowledge, imagination, interaction, risk, time, reflection and listening - in the play and the learning. I would also like to add trust and agency here, despite them being included with joy (it is hard to feel joy of you lack trust in the teachers, children and the space) and agency is found within curiosity, risk, interaction and listening.

She concludes:

As adults we have the benefit of time to have collected more facts, to have experiences more things, and to have practiced more skills/doings - our bodies are bigger, taller, stronger and have fully developed balance and fine motor (which many young children are still developing). BUT children can still know things that we do not know, think of things that we have never thought of or have forgotten to think about, dare to do things that we don't (because if we fall we fall harder than their smaller, lighter bodies do) or can bend more or... We have to remember that different is not lesser value... it's just different. Being play-responsive is valuing the difference.