Just Playing?: Role and Status of Play in Early Childhood Education (UK Higher Education OUP Humanities & Social Sciences Education OUP)

Just Playing explores why we should encourage, promote, value and initiate play in our classrooms, and why teachers should be part of it. Janet Moyles draws on research findings from several countries which provide further evidence for establishing the value of play. She focuses on children between 4 and 8, examining the principles of play in early childhood education, and indicates how these principles can be put into practice. She provides a full justification for including play in the early years curriculum and encourages teachers, through examples of children at play, to review their own thinking on the issues in the light of core curriculum pressures. This is essential reading for trainee and practising nursery and primary teachers and nursery nurses; and for all those concerned with the education and development of young children. Janet Moyles is Emeritus Professor of Education at Anglia Ruskin University and an early years/primary specialist and consultant, particularly in the areas of play, learning and practitioner research. Her books include Just Playing?, The Excellence of Play, Interactive Teaching in the Primary School; Images of Violence and Effective Leadership and Management in the Early Years.