Sandra Hesterman

In 2019, ECA convened a multidisciplinary Advisory Group, with national and international expertise (find more details at www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eca-statement-on-play), to advise on ECA’s first Statement on Play for the early childhood sector. The Advisory Group, many critical friends and contributors helped discuss and sift ideas, identify evidence, resources and gaps in understanding and practice. ECA thanks all who contributed to and shaped our thinking.

The Statement reflects ECA’s commitment to protect and promote the right of every child in Australia to play. It also builds on ECA’s previous work on the rights of the child, inclusivity, digital play, equality (along with SNAICC—National Voice for Our Children) and particularly on the ECA WA Play Strategy.

The Statement draws on robust evidence from diverse disciplines on the essential nature of play and its impact on every child’s wellbeing, learning and development. It contains important work by Australian and international researchers and practitioners as well as the efforts of international and national bodies to recognise the importance of play to children.

These include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No 17 on the Child’s Right to Play, the International Play Association, the World Health Organization and the Learning Through Play advocacy brief by UNICEF and the LEGO Foundation. Sources cited are listed at the end of this Statement and each principle has a section on follow-up resources. For a wider range of references, research and guides on play, play theorists and practice, go to ECA’s play resources page: www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eca-statement-on-play.

ECA recognises the need to continue building on this Statement, develop more culturally nuanced understandings of play, and invest in educator play resources. We invite those of you with different play traditions and diverse contexts to share your experience with us, so that together we can better understand play in every child’s learning, wellbeing and development. Our aim is a Statement that helps ‘find’ play and to share rather than limit it.

Introduction This study was initiated by the SSTUWA to investigate the perceptions of teachers on matters related to the provision of play-based learning in WA schools. Since 2013, key WA Early Childhood Education (ECE) advocacy organisations (including Early Childhood Australia WA and the Early Years in Education Society) and members of the SSTUWA Early Years Reference Committee have expressed concerns regarding what they cite as a significant decline in opportunities for children to learn through self-initiated and self-directed play experiences. This has been particularly noted in the early years of schooling. The findings derived from this study will inform the SSTUWA and the WA Department of Education (DoE) about training and resourcing needs for promoting play-based learning at school.