"The American kindergarten experience has become much more academic—and at the expense of play," wrote Timothy D. Walker in his October 2015 Atlantic article, "The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland."
"Finland requires its kindergarten teachers to offer playful learning opportunities to every kindergartner on a regular basis, according to Arja-Sisko Holappa, a counselor for the Finnish National Board of Education. What's more, Holappa, who also leads the development of the country’s pre-primary core curriculum, said that play is being emphasized more than ever in the latest version of that curriculum. 'Play is a very efficient way of learning for children,' she told me. 'And we can use it in a way that children will learn with joy.'
"The word 'joy' caught me off guard—I’m certainly not used to hearing the word in conversations about education in America, where I received my training and taught for several years. But Holappa, detecting my surprise, reiterated that the country's early-childhood education program indeed places a heavy emphasis on 'joy,' which along with play is explicitly written into the curriculum as a learning concept.
"'There's an old Finnish saying,' Holappa said. 'Those things you learn without joy you will forget easily.'"
Supporting Learning Through Play |
Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 CommentsPennsylvania, United States
Learning and play go hand in hand --you cannot separate them. I see the joy in the eyes of the children in my class when they are creating, experimenting, trying something new and I am there to support them when they become frustrated. Teaching young children is not a boxed-written curriculum. It is normal, everyday conversation and experiences---be part of their play---see the joy!
Honolulu Community College
Honolulu, HI, United States
When we wrote the book Meaningful Curriculum for Young Children we wanted to call it Joyful Curriculum. Our publisher would not allow this and went so far as to survey American ECE professors. We were told that joy was too trivial a concept to be included in the book title--sad.
LifeWays North America
Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Joy is a central tenant of our pedagogy for the care of young children. Rudolf Steiner, founder of Waldorf education, said that joy is a foundation of health for young children.
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